GIFT   OF 
Mrs.    W.    Bar stow 


•n\o  History 

~  if  the  Pi^ 
Kii. 

Willia... 
•he 

->CvS 


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;~ 
r- 


TRAVELS    IN    EUROPE; 


viz., 


IN  ENGLAND,  IRELAND,   SCOTLAND,  FRANCE,   ITALY,  SWITZER- 
LAND, GERMANY,  AND  THE  NETHERLANDS. 


BY    WILBUR    FISK,    D.D., 
i  ( 

PRESIDENT    OK   THE    WESLEYAN    UNIVERSITY    AT   MIDDLETOWN,   CONN. 


WITH  ENGRAVINGS. 


FIFTH   EDITION. 


NEW-YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  CLIFF- STREET. 

1839. 


E47 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  ia  the  year  1838,  by 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


PREFACE 
TO    THE   FIFTH   EDITION. 


As  a  fifth  edition  of  "  Travels  in  Europe"  is  called  for,  and  that 
in  the  short  space  of  about  nine  months  from  the  issuing  of  the  first, 
it  becomes  the  author,  doubtless,  to  make  his  acknowledgments  ta 
the  public  for  the  liberal  and  gratifying  notice  his  work  has  received. 

That  the  imperfections  of  the  work,  of  which  none,  it  is  believed, 
can  be  more  sensible  than  the  author,  have  been  so  far  overlooked 
as  to  make  way  for  so  large  a  sale  in  so  short  a  time,  affords  some 
evidence  that  the  author's  well-meant  endeavours  to  interest  and 
profit  the  public  have  not  been  wholly  unavailing. 

The  world  is  already  too  full  of  books  which  afford  mere  amuse- 
ment, or,  what  is  unspeakably  worse,  which  corrupt  the  heart  while 
they  sport  with  the  fancy.  A  cordial  reception  of  such  a  work 
could  afford  no  occasion  of  self-gratulation  to  the  writer,  except  from 
the  sordid  motive  of  covetousness  or  a  love  of  dishonourable  fame* 
But  as  mere  amusement  is  as  foreign  from  the  design  as  it  is  from 
the  talents  and  taste  of  the  author  of  the  present  work,  and  as  he 
has  carefully  avoided  contributing  knowingly  to  anything  that  should 
court  popularity  at  the  expense  of  correct  principle,  the  inference^  is 
drawn  with  the  more  confidence,  from  the  extensive  sale  of  these 
"  Travels,"  that  the  public  have  been  profitably  interested  in  them. 

This  patronage  does  not  make  the  author  vain  enough  to  suppose 
that  the  work  is  without  fault.  Some  verbal  errors,  typographical 
or  otherwise,  have  been  noticed  by  the  author ;  some  have  been  kind, 
ly  pointed  out  by  friends  ;  and  in  one  case  at  least,  a  reviewer,  whose 
style  and  manner  indicate  anything  but  a  friendly  feeling,  has  been 
pleased  to  give,  if  not  a  full  catalogue,  at  least  very  liberal  samples, 
of  the  author's  imputed  errors.  On  comparison,  however,  it  has 
been  found  that  a  large  portion  of  the  reviewer's  corrections  are 
themselves  errors,  and  the  text,  which  in"^  these  instances  he  has  at- 
tempted to  improve,  is  correct.  However  foreign  from  the  design 
of  the  writer  it  may  have  been  to  gratify  the  author  of  the  work, 
he  nevertheless  has  my  thanks  for  any  real  corrections  whujh  he 


11  PREFACE. 

has  suggested ;  and  his  attempted  criticism,  moreover,  has  afforded 
much  gratification  from  another  consideration.  If  one,  with  the  ob- 
vious purpose  of  finding  fault,  has  been  able  to  find  so  few  real 
errors,  and  those  mostly  of  an  unimportant  character,  it  may  be  no 
great  presumption  in  the  author  to  hope  there  are  fewer  mistakes 
than  was  at  first  feared,  even  by  himself.  At  any  rate,  the  success 
which  has  attended  the  publication  affords  evidence  that  the  style 
and  manner  have  not  so  offended  public  taste  as  to  render  the  sub- 
jects presented  unpalatable ;  and  the  author  trusts  that  the  new 
edition  will  not  be  less  acceptable,  since  all  the  errors,  typographical 
or  others,  which  escaped  notice  in  the  other  editions,  have,  as  far 
as  ascertained,  been  rectified  in  this.  These  certainly  are  not  of  a 
very  important  character,  nor  very  numerous,  and  do  not  alter  the 
sense  or  sentiment,  probably,  of  half  a  dozen  sentences  in  the  entire 
work. 

Two  classes  of  readers  the  author  could  not  with  propriety  even 
attempt  to  please.  The  first  class  are  such  as  differ  from  him  in 
his  religious  or  political  creed,  and  take  offence  because  that  differ- 
ence appears,  however  incidentally,  in  the  pages  of  his  work.  The 
generous  mind,  however,  will  not  take  offence  at  this  ;  he  would  ex- 
pect  it,  and  take  pleasure  in  comparing  the  inferences  and  sugges- 
tions of  persons  of  different  creeds,  for  he  knows  full  well  that  in 
this  way  only  can  enlarged  and  enlightened  views  on  any  subject  be 
obtained. 

The  second  class  are  those  persons  of  foreign  nativity,  whether 
emigrants  to  our  country  or  still  resident  in  their  own,  whose  na- 
tional prejudices  will  not  bear  the  imputation  of  imperfection  upon 
anything  appertaining  to  their  native  land.  Europeans  charge  us 
of  the  United  States  with  being  too  sensitive  under  the  lash  of  foreign 
tourists.  This  charge  may  be  true  to  some  extent.  And  yet  who 
does  not  know  that  we  have  had  provocations  of  this  kind  of  a  strong 
character  ?  Imputations  have  been  cast  upon  us,  which,  with  some 
mixture  of  truth,  have  consisted,  principally,  of  unfounded  asper- 
sions, mingled  with  much  apparent  national  hostility  and  bitterness. 
If,  under  all  this,  we  have  been  restiff,  who  can  wonder  ?  and  if,  in 
some  cases,  we  show  too  much  sensitiveness,  a  little  observation  and 
experience  have  convinced  the  author  of  this  work,  that,  to  use  a 
homely  phrase,  we  came  honestly  by  it.  If  a  work  which  was  cer- 
tainly dictated  by  no  malevolence  or  bitterness,  and  which,  as  every 
candid  reader  must  bear  witness,  manifests  a  much  greater  disposi- 
tion to  commend  than  to  find  fault,  has  been  complained  of  because 
its  strain  of  remark  is  not  in  all  cases  uninterrupted  eulogy,  the 


PREFACE.  Ill 

complainants  certainly  cannot  wonder  that  we  are  not  passive  under 
the  reiterated  and  bitter  charges  of  foreign  travellers.  Communi- 
ties and  nations  are  too  apt  to  claim  a  perfection  that  does  not  belong 
to  them.  They  are  in  a  great  measure  blind  to  their  own  faults,  but 
the  stranger  sees  them ;  and  when  he  points  them  out,  in  the  spirit  of 
candour  and  with  an  evident  regard  to  truth,  his  course,  instead  of  pre- 
senting a  just  occasion  of  offence,  is  honourable  to  the  nation  he  de- 
scribes and  indispensable  to  his  own  reputation.  How  far  the  au- 
thor of  the  following  pages  has  pursued  this  honourable  course,  he 
leaves  it  for  others  to  decide.  As  he  has  not  been  convicted  of 
any  injustice  to  foreign  nations,  he  sends  out  this  edition  with  his 
views,  his  descriptions,  and  his  inferences  unchanged. 
•  In  conclusion,  while  the  author  tenders  his  sincere  acknowledg- 
ments to  the  public  for  their  liberality  and  candour  in  the  reception 
of  his  work,  he  would  not  fail  to  express  his  conviction,  that  the 
taste  and  faithfulness  of  the  publishers  have  in  no  small  degree  con- 
tributed to  its  success.  In  this  respect  the  present  edition  will  vie 
with  any  of  the  preceding. 

Wesley  an  University,  January,  1839. 


NOTE    BY    THE    PUBLISHERS. 


IT  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  inform  any  reader  of  the  foregoing 
preface,  that,  while  the  new  edition  for  which  it  was  prepared  was 
yet  in  the  press,  all  that  was  mortal  of  the  distinguished  author  was 
mouldering  in  the  grave.  His  health  had  been  declining  for  several 
years  ;  and  the  benefit  which  he  received  from  his  voyage  to  Europe 
and  his  residence  in  Italy  proved  only  temporary.  His  complaint, 
one  of  the  most  tedious  and  distressing  in  the  whole  range  of  human 
ailments,  renewed  its  attacks  with  increased  violence  and  frequency 
soon  after  his  return,  and  on  the  22d  of  February,  1839,  his  exhaust- 
ed  frame  yielded  to  its  severity. 

This  is  not  the  place,  nor  are  his  publishers  the  fitting  parties,  for 
rendering  the  just  tribute  of  eulogy  to  his  worth.  It  is  ascertained 
that  the  late  President  of  the  Wesleyan  University  has  left  a  consid- 
erable number  of  manuscripts,  intended  for  publication,  which,  with 
extracts  from  his  correspondence  and  a  memoir,  will  speedily  be 
issued  from  the  press.  The  latter  will  be  written,  and  the  former 
edited,  by  one  most  richly  qualified  by  long  and  intimate  friendship 
with  the  lamented  deceased,  by  talent  and  education,  by  the  pos- 
session of  a  kindred  spirit,  and  by  the  enjoyment  of  all  those  facil- 
ities which  the  unreserved  communication  of  manuscripts  and  the 
assistance  of  friends  and  relations  can  bestow. 


INTRODUCTION. 


WHAT  !  another  book  of  travels  !  and  that,  too,  describing  the 
ground  over  which  so  many  have  travelled  before !  What  good 
reason  can  a  man  of  principle  and  of  sound  judgment  give  for  such 
a  publication  ?  The  author  of  the  following  pages  for  some  time 
doubted  whether  he  could  give  any  good  reason  for  bringing  such 
a  work  before  the  public ;  especially  so  much  of  it  as  relates  to 
his  travels  on  the  Continent  of  Europe.  He  might  plead  the  old 
excuse,  the  wish  of  friends  ;  he  might  say,  what  every  one  is 
aware  of,  that  the  rapid  changes  in  this,  that  has  been  justly  char- 
acterized the  "  transition  age,"  constantly  bring  up  new  phases 
of  observation  to  the  discerning  traveller  ;  and  he  might  strength- 
en these  considerations  by  the  known  fact,  that  the  varieties  of 
tastes,  and  professions,  and  intellectual  habits  lead  different  obser- 
vers to  notice  and  describe  different  aspects  of  the  same  thing ; 
and  thus  not  only  does  each  successive  traveller  give  a  new  view, 
but  the  sketches  of  many  are  indispensable  to  complete  the  por- 
traiture. All  these  might  have  some  weight;  but,  perhaps,  not 
sufficient  to  satisfy  every  one  that  the  present  publication  was 
strictly  needed,  or  would  compensate  the  well-read  public  for  the 
expense  of  purchasing  and  time  of  reading.  Another  considera- 
tion, however,  has  influenced  the  author  in  this  publication.  It 
is  this ;  if  the  subjects  of  discussion  and  the  objects  of  description 
are  not  new  to  a  great  portion  of  the  public,  they  nevertheless  are 
to  some,  and  very  probably  to  many,  into  whose  hands  the  follow- 
ing sheets  may  fall.  Almost  every  writer  has  his  own  circles  of 
association,  greater  or  less,  to  which  his  personal  or  public  influence 
may  be  extended,  when  more  distant  influences,  although  superior, 
might  not  reach  them.  It  is  only  in  this  way  that  all  classes  and 


INTRODUCTION. 


parts  of  society  are  made  to  share  in  the  vast  accumulations  of 
knowledge  which  characterize  the  age.  If  the  religious  associa- 
tions, or  professional  pursuits,  or  extensive  personal  acquaintances 
give  the  writer  of  the  following  pages  any  chance  for  extending 
the  knowledge  of  facts  with  which  so  many  are  already  acquainted, 
he  will  esteem  it  a  pleasure  to  be  the  humble  channel  of  such 
communications.  He  is  well  aware  that  such  an  agency  will  be 
attended  with  no  posthumous  reputation  ;  that  the  production 
must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  of  only  an  ephemeral  char- 
acter ;  and  that,  at  best,  after  it  has  secured  its  temporary  object, 
it  will  fall  into  the  great  mass  of  transient  literature,  that  passes 
into  oblivion  with  the  age  that  gave  it  birth.  Still  it  may  produce 
some  good  effects,  that  will  remain  after  their  origin  is  forgotten. 
Especially  some  of  the  rising  generation,  to  numbers  of  whom 
the  author,  by  his  calling,  holds  an  interesting  relation,  may  receive 
some  favourable  impressions  and  gain  some  additional  knowledge, 
which  will  not  be  lost  on  them,  or  those  whom  they,  in  their  turn, 
may  influence.  This  is  what  the  author  ventures  most  to  expect, 
and  it  is  certainly  what  he  most  desires. 

The  reasons  just  given  for  publishing  the  following  journal  have 
influenced  the  matter  and  manner  of  the  composition.  I  have  de- 
sired to  call  my  readers,  and  especially  the  young,  not  only  to  such 
facts  as  will  merely  enlarge  their  knowledge  of  the  existing  state 
of  the  world,  physical  and  moral,  but  also  to  such  facts  and  prin- 
ciples as  will  more  effectually  prepare  them  for  the  great  purpo- 
ses of  their  being.  The  signs  of  the  times  clearly  indicate  that 
the  moral  conflicts  which  have  heretofore  been  conducted  with 
but  partial  success,  because  they  have  been  conducted  by  but  few, 
and  have  been  circumscribed  in  their  sphere,  must  take  a  wider 
range,  and  must  be  carried  on  with  greater  efficiency  in  the  various 
departments  of  political,  moral,  and  religious  reform.  For  this 
great  work  our  youth  should  be  trained.  But  an  essential  part  of 
that  training  is  an  acquaintance  with  the  present  conditions  of  so- 
ciety. By  this  one  is  taught  not  only  what  is  to  be  done,  but  how  ] 


INTRODUCTION.  V 

and  where,  and  when  he  may  exert  his  influence,  be  it  great  or 
small,  in  the  common  cause.  If  mere  pleasure  were  to  be  com- 
municated, I  should  not  write  on  these  subjects,  which  others  can 
adorn  more  tastefully  than  myself  ;  if  mere  description  of  foreign 
objects  were  the  design,  I  should  not  delineate  scenes  which  have 
been  so  often  delineated,  and  by  pencils  far  more  skilful  than  mine. 
But  if  any  important  truths,  any  facts  connected  with  politics  or 
morals,  education  or  religion,  can  be  wrought  into  the  incidents 
of  a  journal  so  as  to  make  them  readable  or  acceptable,  this  is 
most  that  I  can  hope. 

With  respect  to  the  truth  and  general  accuracy  of  the  state 
ments  here  made,  I  think  I  may  pledge  myself  to  the  public ;  but 
still  some  errors  will  undoubtedly  be  noticed.  When  I  see  how 
many  mistakes  the  late  foreign  journalists  who  have  travelled  in 
our  country  have  made,  and  made,  too,  with  an  apparent  desire  to 
tell  the  truth,  I  cannot  but  feel  there  is  great  danger  that  I  also 
should  make  similar  mistakes  with  respect  to  the  countries  through 
which  I  have  travelled  ;  especially  as  I  have  had  too  little  time  to 
accomplish  all  I  desired  in  rny  investigations  abroad,  and  too  little 
leisure  since  I  returned  to  review  and  digest  the  materials  which  I 
had  so  hastily  collected. 

In  my  notes  on  England,  it  may  be  thought,  without  a  word  of 
explanation,  that  I  have  made  the  affairs  of  my  own  denomination 
there  too  prominent.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that,  in 
connexion  with  other  objects  that  claimed  my  attention  abroad,  I 
was  specially  delegated  by  the  General  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  to  represent  to  the 
Wesleyan  body  in  England  the  state  of  the  church  here,  and  to 
keep  up  that  friendly  interchange  of  Christian  salutation  and  that 
official  intercourse  between  the  two  churches  which  has  heretofore 
existed.  To  Methodists  this  must  be  a  matter  of  interest,  because, 
ecclesiastically  speaking,  it  is  with  them  a  family  concern.  To  oth- 
ers, the  subject  may  possess,  to  some  extent,  the  interest  of  novelty. 
The  internal  organization  and  practical  working  of  this  modifica- 


Vi  INTRODUCTION. 

tion  of  Christianity  is  but  little  known,  I  apprehend,  in  this  coun- 
try ;  and  yet  it  is  a  subject  worthy  the  attention  of  the  philosopher, 
the  philanthropist,  and  the  Christian.  Few  communities  are 
wielding  such  an  extended  and  efficient  influence  in  our  world  at 
the  present  day  as  the  Wesleyan  Methodists.  As  one  of  the  ex- 
traordinary features  of  the  present  age,  therefore,  this  subject 
should  be  understood ;  and  hence  I  have  not  hesitated  to  give  it  a 
prominent  place  in  that  part  of  the  following  journal  that  relates 
to  England. 

Many  of  the  letters  that  are  incorporated  in  the  following  work 
were  written  at  different  times  during  my  tour  to  the  persons  to 
whom  they  are  addressed;  but  these  covered  but  a  smaller 
portion  of  the  topics  which  I  wished  to  introduce.  A  question, 
therefore,  came  up,  in  preparing  the  materials  for  the  press, 
whether  these  letters  should  be  enlarged  and  multiplied  so  as  to 
place  all  the  matter  in  the  same  form ;  or  whether,  letting  these 
stand  essentially  as  they  were,  with  the  necessary  revision  and 
corrections,  the  additional  matter  should  be  thrown  into  the  form 
of  plain  narrative.  The  latter  method,  as  will  be  seen,  has  been 
adopted.  This,  I  know,  is  rather  out  of  the  common  course,  and 
may  be  the  cause  of  a  noticeable  difference  in  the  style  ;  but  it  has 
occurred  to  me  that  this  may  be  no  objection  ;  nay,  that  perhaps 
the  monotony  of  one  unvaried  form  may  be  relieved  by  the 
change,  and  be,  at  least,  no  drawback  upon  the  interest  of  the 
work.  I  had  much  more  matter  which  I  might  have  inserted ; 
but -I  have  made  my  book  already  too  large,  according  to  the  fash- 
ion of  the  day  ;  and  fashion  will  have  its  influence  in  the  size  of  a 
book  as  well  as  in  everything  else. 

I  commit  the  work  to  the  public  not  without  some  solicitude ; 
but,  such  as  it  is,  as  it  has  been  promised,  the  public  must  have 
it.  If  it  does  little  good,  I  trust,  at  least,  it  will  do  no  harm ;  and 
that  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  all  that  falls  from  the  press  at  the 
present  day. 

Wesleyan  University,  January,  1838. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Incidents  of  the  Voyage.— Packet  Accommodations.— Letter  on  Sea-sickness.— Passage 
from  England  to  France. — Boulogne. — Journey  to  Paris. — Amiens. — Incidents  of 
Travel. — Arrival  at  Paris. — Lodgings. — Acquaintances  formed  .  .  .  Page  9 

CHAPTER  II. 

Paris. — Avenue  de  Neuilly. — Elysian  Fields. — Place  de  Concorde. — Views. — Bloody 
Executions  here. — Boulevards. — Faubourgs. — Seine. — Public  Gardens. — Tuileries. — 
Louvre.— Palais  Royal.— Palais  of  the  Luxembourg.— Churches.— Hospitals.— Place 
Vendome.— The  Exchange 20 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Paris. — Markets. — Fountains. — Cemeteries. — Catacombs.— Pere  la  Chaise. — Manufac- 
tories.—Gobelin  Tapestry.— Porcelain.— St.  Cloud.— Versailles.— Centralization  of 
France.— Government  of  France.— Galleries  of  the  Louvre.— State  of  the  Fine  Arts.— 
Mechanical  Arts. — Philosophical  Apparatus. — Surveillance  of  the  Police. — Mode  of 
Building 36 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Education  in  France. — University. — Literary  Institutions  and  Schools. — Literary  and 
Scientific  Associations. — Libraries. — Museums,  &c 53 

CHAPTER  V. 

State  of  Religion.— Letter  to  the  Students  of  the  Wesleyan  University,  containing  illus 
trations  of  French  Infidelity. — Protestantism  in  France. — Missionary  Meeting.— De- 
cline of  Romanism.— Proper  Ground  for  American  Missions.— British  Missions. — Proper 
Cause  for  establishing  Missions  in  France. — Americans  in  Paris  ....  68 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Departure  for  Lyons. — French  Diligences. — Notice  of  several  small  Towns. — French 
Landscapes.— Comfortless  Villages.— Female  Degradation.— Hotels.— Cookery.— Cha- 
lons.— Arrival  at  Lyons. — Description  of  Lyons. — Departure  for  Mount  Cenis  and 
Turin. — Pont  de  Beauvoisin. — Passage  of  Eschelles. — Grotto. — Picturesque  Winter 
Scenery. — Aerial  Exhibition. — Chamberry. — Appearance  of  the  Villages  and  of  the 
Inhabitants. — Mountain  Cottages. — Donkeys.— Goitrous  Swellings. — Natural  Aque- 
duct.— Lans-le-bourg—  Passage  of  Mount  Cenis.— Arrival  at  Turin  ...  85 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Sketches  of  Italian  History  from  the  Fall  of  the  Ancient  Empire.— Conquest  of  the  Ostro- 
goths, of  the  Lombards,  and  of  the  Franks.— Feudal  System.— Growth  and  Indepen- 
dence of  the  Cities,— War  of  Investitures,— Papal  Assumptions.— Origin  and  Decline 
1 


X  CONTENTS, 

of  the  Italian  Republics. — Frederic  Barbarossa. — League  of  Lombardy. — Wars  with 
Frederic,  and  their  Termination. — War  of  the  Crusades.— Guelfs  and  Ghibelines. — 
Cruelties  of  the  Age.— Spanish  Supremacy  in  Sicily  and  Naples. — Various  Wars. — 
Dawning  and  Progress  of  Literature. — Fall  of  the  Mercantile  Republics. — Reforma- 
tion in  Italy. — Its  Progress. — Persecutions. — Final  Extinction  of  the  Reformation. — 
French  Revolution. — Conquest  of  Italy.— Cisalpine  Republic.— Kingdom  of  Italy.— 
French  Influence,  and  its  Effects.— Dethronement  of  Napoleon,  and  consequent 
Changes  in  Italy.— Present  Political  Divisions Page  102 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Further  Particulars  of  our  Entrance  into  Italy. — Roman  Catholic  Superstitions. — 
Turin. — King  of  Sardinia. — River  Po. — Route  to  Genoa. — Asti. — Allesandria. — Ma- 
rengo. — Passage  of  the  Apennines.— First  View  of  the  Mediterranean. — Reflections  on 
its  Historic  Associations,  and  the  present  Character  of  the  Population  on  its  Shores. — 
Arrival  at  Genoa. — Its  Location.— Military  Defences. — Harbour. — Palaces. — Church- 
es.— History. — Departure  from  Genoa. — Gardens  and  Orchards. — Mountain  Scenes. — 
Grottoes.— Splendid  Views. — Sestri. — Passage  of  the  Bracco. — Splendid  Exhibition. — 
Modena. — Vexations  of  Travellers  from  Health-officers  and  from  Passports.— Lucca. — 
Washwomen 131 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Arrival  at  Florence. — Protestant  Worship. — Description  of  Florence. — Royal  Gallery. — 
Venus  de  Medicis,  &c.— Reflections  on  Statuary. — Pitti  Palace.— Gardens. — Picture 
Galleries. — Museum. — Academy  of  Fine  Arts. — Manufacture  of  Pietra  Dura. — Chapel 
of  the  Medici.— Cathedral. — Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  and  its  Monuments. — Educa- 
tion in  Tuscany. — Infant  Schools. — Advantage  of  Travellers  to  Italy.— Grand  Duke. — 
His  Superstition  and  uncontrolled  Power 149 

CHAPTER  X. 

Departnre  from  Florence.— Route  to  Pisa. — Sickness  of  Mrs.  F. — Arrival  at  Pisa. — Sepa- 
ration of  our  Company. — My  own  Sickness. — M.  Pevarada. — Pisa. —Foreign  Expendi- 
tures in  Italy.— Beggars. — River  and  Lung'  Arno. — Cathedral. — Baptistry. — Leaning 
Tower. — Mode  of  building  their  Houses. — Neighbourhood  of  Pisa. — Farm  of  the  Grand 
Duke.— Camels.— University.— Professor  Foggi.— Preparatory  Schools,— Learned  Pro* 
fessions*— Romanism  the  Religion  of  the  Natural  Heart.— The  Carnival  .  .  163 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Departure  from  Pisa. — Leghorn.— Its  Business. —  General  Characteristics. —  Steam- 
boats.— Passage  to  CivitaVecchia. — Arrival,  and  Incidents  of  Travel. — Route  toRome. — 
Entrance  into  Rome. — Departure  for  Naples. — Appian  Way. — Pontine  Marshes. — The 
"Three  Taverns." — Fondi  and  Itri. — Incidents  with  Beggars, — Catholic  Priest. — 
Cenotaph  of  Cicero. — Mora. — Three  Ancient  Republics. — Reflections  on  their  Down- 
fall.— Capua. — Vegetation.— Arrival  at  Naples 177 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Situation  of  Naples. — Views  from  the  Royal  Observatory. — Reflections. — Population  of 
Naples. —  Lazaroni. — Beggars. — Army. — Public  Garden. — Architecture. — Church  of 
St.  Martin.— Cathedral.— Blood  of  St.  Januarius.— Chapel  of  St.  Severus,  and  its  veiled 
Statuary. — Royal  Observatory. — Reflections. — Cemetery. — Funeral.— Literature  and 
the  Arts.— Government.— Caprice  and  Fears  of  the  Government. — History. — Museum.—* 
Different  Halls  and  Galleries  of  Statuary  and  Bronzes. — Antiques  from  Pompeii. — An- 
cient Manuscripts  and  Paintings ,  185 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Environs  of  Naples.— Route  to  Paestum.— Towns  and  Scenery  on  the  Way.— Situation 
of  Psestum. — Ancient  Temples. — Description  of  them.— Associations. — Pompeii. — 
General  Description  of  Pompeii. — Streets,  Temples,  Houses,  Shops. — Tombs. — Villa 
of  Diomedes. — Torre  del  Greco. — Herculaneum. — Virgil's  Tomb.— Grotto  of  Posolipo. 
— Pozzuoli.— Donkey  Riding.— Solfatara.— Lake  d'Agnano.— Grotto  of  the  Dog.— 
Monte  Nuovo.— Lake  Avernus.— Grotto  of  the  Sibyl. — Fables  of  the  Sibyls. — Cimme- 
rian Forests. — Baths  of  Nero. — Baiae.— Ruins  of  Temples. — Piscini  Mirabile. — Ache- 
rusia  Palus.— Cuma. — Arco  Felice. — Excursion  to  Vesuvius. — Mode  of  Ascent  and 
General  Description. — Cone. — View  from  the  Summit.— Appearance  of  the  Crater. — 
Inner  Crater. — Descent  to  it.— Danger  incurred  in  returning.— Former  Characteristics 
of  the  Mountain. — Descent  from  the  Mountain. — Preparations  for  leaving  Naples. — 
Travelling  in  Italy .-Caserta Page  205 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Arrival  at  Rome. — Hotel  Spilman. — Hired  Lodgings.— Safety  in  Rome. — Letter  to  the 
Editors  of  the  Methodist  Magazine. — Passion  Week. — Palm  Sunday. — General  of  tho 
Franciscans. — Pope. — Distribution  of  the  Palms. — Procession. — Tenebrae. — Maundy 
Thursday.— High  Mass. — Procession  of  the  Host.— Benediction. — Washing  Feet.— 
Dining  of  the  Apostles.— Good  Friday.  —  Offerings. — "Three  Hours  of  Agony." — 
Saturday  before  Easter.  —  Baptism. —  Ordination. —  Easter  Sunday. —  Procession.— 
Tiara  and  other  Robes  of  the  Pope. — High  Mass  by  the  Pope. — Roman  Courtesy. — 
The  Holy  Relics.— Second  Benediction.— The  Flagellation.— The  Pilgrims.— Wash- 
ing  Feet.— Supper. — Don  Miguel. — Female  Apartment. — Taking  the  White  Veil. — 
Conversion  to  Romanism  of  an  English  Lady. — Church  of  the  Trinity.— Italian  Music 
—  Illumination  and  Fireworks. — Religious  Processions. —  Holy  Staircase.— Second 
Letter  to  the  Editors  of  the  Methodist  Magazine. — Tendencies  of  Romanism  to  Idol- 
atry.— Rev.  Mr.  Dewey. —  Romanism  incompatible  with  Freedom. —  Tends  to  En- 
courage Vice. — Impoverishes  a  Community 228 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Roman  Antiquities. — The  Forum. — Remains  of  Temples. — Triumphal  Arches. — Columns, 
— Colosseum.—  Palatine  Hill. —  Capitoline  Hill. — Velabrum. — Antiquities  near  the 
Capitol. — Mamertine  Prison. — Relative  Position  of  the  Seven  Hills. — Trajan's  Forum 
and  Pillar.— Pantheon.— Roman  Baths.— Ancient  Tombs.— Catacombs.— Aqueducts. 
—Columns  and  Obelisks *  291 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Vatican  Palace.— Different  Galleries  of  Statuary.— Churches.— The  Basilicae.— St. 
Peter's. — St.  John  Lateran. — St.  Maria  Maggiore  and  other  Churches. — Introduction 
to  the  Pope. — Singular  instance  of  Servants. — Palaces  of  Rome. — Picture  Galleries 
and  Frescoes.— Halls  of  Raphael.—  Mosaics. — Professions. — Libraries. — Propaganda.— 
Jews.— Dimensions  of  the  City.— Bridges.— A  Modern  Hill.— Pincian  Hill.— Piazza 
del  Popolo.— Borghese  Villa.— Letter  to  G.  P.  Disosway,  Esq.— Excursions  to  Tivoli 
and  Adrian's  Villa. — Tartarean  Lake. — Solfatara.— Cascades  and  Cataracts  of  the 
Anio.— Different  Views.— Villa  of  Horace.— Grotto  of  the  Sibyl.— Grotto  of  Neptune. 
— Temples  of  Neptune  and  Vesta.— Adrian's  Villa. — Ancient  Edifices. — Theatres.— 
Barracks. — Palace. —  Historic  Reminiscences. —  Solitude  of  the  Place. —  Departure 
from  Rome •••••  813 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Different  Routes  to  Florence. — Embarrassments. — Nero's  Tornb. — Campania,  Shepherd*, 
and  other  Incidents. — Falls  of  Terni. — Different  Views.— Mineralogical  Formations. 
— Donkey  Driving.— Spoleto.— Perugino.— Lake  Thrasymene.— A  Frenchman  and  his 
Daughter.— Battle-ground  of  Hannibal  and  Flaminius. — View  of  Florence. — Revisit 
of  the  Galleries.— Circumstances  of  our  Departure  from  Florence. — A  Consumptive. — 
Incidents  of  Travel  over  the  Apennines.— Bologna.— Arcades.— St.  Mary  of  St.  Luke. 
— Leaning  Towers. — Bologna  School  of  Painting. —  Picture  Galleries. — University, 
&c. —  Ferrara. — Ariosto. —  Library. — Tasso's  Prison. —  Discontent  of  the  Citizens.— 
Journey  to  Padua. — Different  Objects  on  the  Route. — Euganean  Hills. — House  and 
Tomb  of  Petrarch.— Padua.— Church  and  F&e  of  St.  Anthony.— University.— Hail- 
storm.— Arrival  at  Venice. — Festival  of  St.  Mark. — General  Remarks  on  Venice. — 
Canals  and  Bridges. — Architecture. — Public  Squares. — Piazza  of  St.  Mark. — Church 
of  St.  Mark.— Bronze  Horses.— Palace  of  the  Doges.— Paintings  —Reflections  on  the 
most  appropriate  Field  for  the  Arts. — Venetian  School  of  Painting.— Halls  of  the  Secret 
Tribunals. — Progress  of  Venice  from  Democracy  to  Tyranny. — Bridge  of  Sighs. — 
Dungeons. — Imperial  Palace. — Tower  of  St.  Luke. — Tower  of  the  Clock. — Mechan- 
ical Procession. — Legacy  to  the  Pigeons. — Churches.— Masses  for  the  Dead. — Cano- 
va's  Monument.— Religious  Character  of  the  Venetians.— Decline  of  Venice. —  Its 
Causes. — Farewell  to  Venice. — Incidents  of  Travel. — Vincenza.— Verona. — Tomb  of 
Juliet. — Tombs  of  the  Scaligeri. — Ancient  Amphitheatre. — Mountain  of  Fishes. — Lake 
Garda. — Brescia. — Face  of  the  Country. — Incident. — Reflections  on  Italian  Character. 
—Arrival  at  Milan Page  344 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Milan. — Improved  by  Napoleon.— General  Description. — Triumphal  Arch.— Cathedral. 
—Feast  of  Pentecost.— The  Ambrosian  Church. — Business  of  Milan.— Education. — 
Government,  Manufactures,  and  Commerce. — Canals. — Climate. — Palace  of  the  Brera 
and  its  Various  Institutions.— Libraries. — Last  Supper  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci. — Church 
of  St.  Ambrose. — St.  Carlo  Borromeo. —  Departure  from  Milan. — Como. —  Lake. — 
Villa  of  Queen  Caroline. — Passage  up  the  Lake  and  Description  of  the  Scenery. — 
Lake  Maggiore.— Borromean  Isles.— Isola  Bella.— Bovena.— Reflections  on  leaving 
Italy % 384 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Fellow-travellers.— Bad  Road. — Granite.— Doruo  d'Ossola. — Character  of  the  Route. — 
Grottoes. — Entrance  to  Switzerland.— Cascades.— Commingling  of  Winter  and  Sum- 
mer.— Village  of  Simplon. — Obstructions  from  Snow. — Descent  of  the  Mountain. — 
Brigg.— Swiss  Mountain  Cottages. — Cascade. —  Sion. —  Martigny. —  Mountain  Dis- 
eases.—Swiss  Love  of  Home. — Cascade.— Lake  Leman.— Vevay.— Scenery.—  Lau- 
sanne.— Nyon.— Rev.  J.  William  Fletcher— Associations  of  Home.— Arrival  at  Ge- 
neva    ...  .398 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Geneva.— Strictness  of  the  Police.— Reason  for  this.— Intolerance  vf  the  Sardinian  Gov- 
ernment.—Evangelical  Society.— Decline  and  Revival  of  the  Evangelical  Cause.— 
Promising  Characteristics  of  that  Cause.— Some  unpromising  Features.— General 
Description  of  Geneva.— Schools  and  Learned  Men.— Cathedral.— Sketches  of  His- 
tory and  Government. — Society  and  Scenery 409 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Departure  from  Geneva.— Incidents  and  Scenery.— Cottages.— Costumes  —Friburg.— 
Schools. —  Site. —  Suspension  Bridge.  —  Linden-tree. —  Canton  of  Berne. —  City  of 
Berne. — General  Description.— Curious  Clock. — Institutions. —  Hofwyl. —  Notice  of 
Hofwyl  School. — Mr.  Fellenburg's  Opinion  of  Religious  Instruction.— Interspersed 
Reflections. — Agriculture  of  Hofwyl.— Mr.  Fellenburg's  Family. — Soleure. — Passage 
of  the  Jura. — Bale. — Division  of  the  Canton.— Cause,  and  Reflections  upon  it.— Mis- 
sionary Institution. — Early  Christian  Movements  in  Bale.— College. — Library,  &c. — 
Cathedral.— Manufactures  and  Trade. —  Specimen  of  the  Ludicrous.— Environs. — 
Departure  from  Switzerland Page  420 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Duchy  of  Baden. — Country. — Peasantry.— Friburg  Cathedral. — Stork's  Nest. — Stras- 
bourg.— Cathedral. — Telegraph,  &c. — Town  of  Baden. — German  Baths. — Old  Cas- 
tle.— Secret  Tribunal.— Older  Castle. — Carlsruhe. — Fair. — Coarse  Females.— Scwhit- 
zingue. — Heidelberg. — University.— Instruction  and  Discipline  of  German  Universities. 
—Castle.— Route  to  Darmstadt.— Sketch  of  the  History  of  Baden.— Smokers.- 
Darmstadt.— Town  and  Duchy 439 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Frankfort. — Jews. — Edifices. — Fine  Arts. — Schools.— General  Character  of  German 
Schools. — English  on  the  Continent. — Trouble  with  a  Coachman. — Mayence. — Forti- 
fications.— Hanseatic  League.— Invention  of  Printing. — Troubadours. — Passage  of  the 
Rhine. — Scenery. — Associations  of  Romance. — "  Seven  Mountains." — King's  Stool. — 
Partition  of  the  Rhenish  States  by  the  Allies.— Frederic  William  III.— His  Religion. 
— Religion  of  the  State. — Prussian  School-system. — Libraries. — Universities. — Per- 
fidy of  the  King  454 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Passage  of  the  Rhine  renewed. — Coblentz. — Bonn. — Cologne. — Cathedral. — P.  P.  Ru- 
bens.— Cologne  Water. — German  Princess. — Advantages  of  Female  Company  to  the 
Traveller.  —Hydraulic  Works.  — Nimeguen.— Loevestein.— Dort.— Rotterdam.— Mad 
Dog.— Cleanliness. — Canals  and  Hydraulics.— Churches.— Statue  of  Erasmus. — Com- 
merce.— Belgic  Question. — Excursion  to  the  Hague. — Scenery  of  Holland. — Hague. 
—Route  to  Leyden.— Notice  of  the  University  and  Town.— Passage  to  London.— 
Business  of  the  Thames.— Parting  with  the  Princess.— Reflections.— Feelings  on 
landing  in  London 473 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Resumption  of  our  Journal  at  Liverpool. — Letter  to  G.  P.  Disosway,  Esq. — Introductory 
Remarks. — Liverpool. — Docks. — Public  Buildings. — Second  Letter  to  G.  P.  Disosway, 
Esq.— Chester.— Roman  Bath.—"  Rows."— Walls.— Bishop.—  Cathedral.—  Castle.— 
Highland  Regiment. — Excursion  to  Eaton  Hall.— Scenery. — Palace. — Gardens,  &c. 
Railroad  to  Manchester. — Rains. — Potteries. — Nocturnal  Exhibition.— Reflections. — 
Coventry.— Dunstable.— English  Manufactures  Sectional.— St.  Albans.— Arrival  in 
London ,  ,  ,  .  ,  488 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

London.— Its  early  History. —  Plague.— Gieat  Fire. — Crowded  Population. — Altera- 
tions.—Size  and  Population.— Influences  of  these.— Places  of  Public  Worship.— In- 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

temperance. — Temperance  Movements. — London  Police. — Literary  Institutions. — 
Fine  Arts. — Other  Institutions. —  British  Museum.— Colosseum. — Zoological  Gar- 
dens.— Regent's  Park.— Hyde  Park.— Green  Park. — James's  Park. — London  Diet. — 
St.  Paul's.— Westminster  Abbey.— Chapels.— City  Road  Chapel.— Dr.  Clarke's 
Tomb.— Tower.— Bridges.— Tunnel.— Docks Page  509 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Parliament. —  Principal  Speakers. —  Present  Administration. —  Reform. —  O'  Connell's 
Course. — Reflections  on  Popular  Agitations. — Morbid  Excitability  of  the  English. — 
Manner  of  conducting  Public  Assemblies. — Public  Meeting  of  the  "  Protestant  Asso- 
ciation."— An  Imposition. — Question  of  Church  and  State. — Agitation  and  Difficulties 
respecting  it. — Objectionable  Features  of  the  English  Church. — Danger  of  sudden 
Changes. — Impropriety  of  Foreign  Interference. — Modes  of  Business  in  the  British 
Parliament.— Eloquence.— Influence  of  Irreligion  in  the  Ranks  of  the  Liberals.— Colo- 
nial  Policy 534 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Excursion  to  Greenwich. — Royal  Observatory.— Royal  Hospital  and  Schools. — Wool- 
wich.— Dover. —  Situation. —  Chalk-cliffs. —  Barracks  and  Fortifications. — Castle. — 
Shakspeare's  Cliff. — English  Watering-places. — High  Charges. — Characteristics. — 
Value  of  a  Title.— Excursion  to  Bedfordshire.— Charity  School  of  Bedford.— John 
Bunyan's  Birthplace,  &c. — John  Howard's  Birthplace. — Lord  John  Russel's  Election 
to  Parliament. — Missionary  Meeting. — Missionary  Tea. — Cambridge. — College  Edi 
fices. — King's  College  Chapel.— Founding  of  the  Colleges. — Sketch  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  Regulations  of  Cambridge  University. — Reflections. — Excursion  to  Wind- 
sor Castle. — Eton.— Fagging. — Windsor  Castle. — Apartments. — Plate. — St.  George's 
Chapel. — Excursion  to  Birmingham. — Oxford. — Mr.  Hill. — Episcopal  Succession. — 
Sketches  of  the  University. — Libraries. — Museum. — Marbles. — Royal  Honorary  De- 
grees.— Costumes. — Warwick  Castle. — Stagecoach  Conversation  ....  553 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Wesleyan  Conference. — Methodist  Connexion  in  England. — Schism  of  Dr.  Warren. — 
Chancery  Decision. — Mr.  Wesley's  Poll-deed. — Kilhamites. — Finances  of  the  Wesleyan 
Conference. — Order  of  building  Chapels.—  Missionary  Operations. — Stationing  of  the 
Preachers.— Opening  of  Conference. — Dr.  Bunting. — Respect  for  Seniority  and  Office. — 
Mr.  Sturge's  Circular. — Views  of  the  Conference  respecting  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.— Ordination. — Public  Breakfast. — Ministerial  Character. — Theological  Insti- 
tution.— Manner  of  Preaching 582 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Birmingham.— Manufactures,  &c.— Coal  and  Iron  Mines.— Character  of  the  Operatives.— 
Bishop  Asbury's  Birthplace.— Anecdotes  of  Bishop  Asbury.— Return  to  London.— 
Irish  Reapers.— Agricultural  Products.— Landscapes.— Route  to  Bristol.— English 
Stagecoach.— Dinner.— Bath.— Lodgings  at  Bristol.—"  British  Association."— Situa- 
lion  and  General  Description  of  Bristol.— Celebrated  Men.— Wesleys  in  Bristol.-— 
Kingswood. — Voyage  to  Dublin 603 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Approach  to  Dublin.— Incidents  of  Landing.— General  View  of  the  Town.— St.  Patrick's 
Cathedral.— Dean  Swift.— Trinity  College.— General  Education.— Hatred  of  the  Eng- 
lish.—Difficulties  in  the  Relations  of  the  English  Government  to  Ireland.— Remedies.— 
Methodists  in  Ireland.— Cars.— Departure  from  Dublin.— Drogheda.— Beggars.— Af 


CONTENTS.  XV 

feeling  Cases. — Wretchedness  of  the  Peasantry. — Bogs. — Arrival  at  Belfast.— Route 
to  Coleraine.— Fellow-traveller. — Coleraine. — Dunluce  Castle. — Giant's  Causeway. — 
Neighbouring  Headlands. — Port  Coon  Cave. — Return  to  Belfast. — Balleymena  Mar- 
ket.—Loch  Neagh.— Notice  of  Belfast,  &c.— Presbyterian  Church.— Passage  to  Scot- 
land.—Ailsa  Craig Page  620 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Greenock. — Port  Glasgow. — Clyde. — Glasgow. — Its  Growth  and  Business. — Edifices.— 
Morals. — Christian  Charities. — Cathedral. — Cemetery. — University. — Other  Institu- 
tions.—Sir  William  Hooker  and  the  Botanical  Garden.— Tour  to  the  Highlands.— 
Dumbarton.— Leven  Water. — Loch  Lomond.— Islands. — Effects  of  Highland  Scene- 
ry.— Ben  Lomond. — Rob  Roy. — Mountain  Pass  to  Loch  Ketturin. — Rob  Roy's  Fowl- 
ingpiece.— Loch  Ketturin.— Boatmen.— Trosacks.— Hotel.— Route  down  the  Venna- 
char.— Stirling.— Castle.— Route  to  Edinburgh.— Entrance  into  the  City.— North 
Loch. — Sabbath  in  Edinburgh. — Scottish  Courtesy. — University. — Botanic  Garden. — 
Gallon  Hill. — Lord  Melville's  Monument. — Castle. — Holy  Rood  House. — Old  and  New 
Town. — Incorporated  Trades. — Magistracy.— Roule  to  England. — Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne. —  Durham. —  Races. —  English  Propensity. — York.— Cathedral. — Yorkshire. — 
Route  to  Leeds. — Accident. — Lodgings  at  Roundhey. — Leeds. — Its  Business,  &c. — 
Factory  Children. — Yorkshire  Dialect.— Ignorance  of  America. — Yorkshire  Metho- 
dism.— Dissenters. — Quakers. — Woodhouse  Grove  School. — Kirkstall  Abbey. — Route 
to  Manchester. — Advertisements. — Musical  Festival. — Cotton  Manufacture. — Stock- 
port.— Chimneys.— Derbyshire  Peak. — Castleton. — Caverns. — Sheffield. — Mr.  Mont- 
gomery.— Manufactures  of  Sheffield. — Rodgers's  Showroom. — Grinders. — State  of 
Religion. — Return  to  Manchester. — Missionary  Meetings. — Departure  for  Liverpool. — 
Chapels.— Church  Service.— Mr.  M'Neal.— Reflections  on  English  Character.— Fare- 
well to  England. — Passage  Home. — Conclusion 643 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Isola  Bella Frontispiece. 

View  of  Naples 204 

St.  Peter's 316 

St.  Mark's 373 

Suspension  Bridge 422 

Tunnel 534 

King's  College  Chapel 563 

Edinburgh 662 


JOURNAL,    &c, 


CHAPTER  I. 

Letter  to  the  Editors  of  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal. 

Liverpool,  Oct.  28, 1835. 

REVEREND  AND  DEAR  SIRS, 

I  have  at  length  arrived  in  Liverpool,  after  a  short  passage  of 
about  eighteen  days.  And  I  hasten,  according  to  promise,  to  give 
you,  and,  through  you,  my  friends  generally,  the  information  that, 
through  Divine  mercy,  we  are  all  in  health  and  good  spirits. 

Before  giving  you  any  account  of  the  events  of  the  passage,  I 
beg  the  privilege  of  acknowledging  my  obligations  to  the  kind  at- 
tentions of  my  friends  in  your  city,  who  manifested  to  the  last  such 
kind  offices  of  friendship  as  will  not  be  easily  erased  from  my 
memory.  One  looks  back  with  feelings  which  none  but  those 
who  have  them  can  fully  comprehend,  to  the  expressions  and  acts 
of  friendship  and  sympathy  which  they  have  received  from  those 
they  love  and  honour  in  their  own  country,  when  in  the  land  of 
strangers  they  find  themselves  alone  in  the  midst  of  multitudes. 
Such  is  our  present  situation.  As  we  approached  the  pier  of 
Prince's  Dock,  many  of  our  passengers  looked  out,  and  hailed 
some  acquaintance  or  friend,  some  brother  or  sister,  who  stood 
ready  to  clasp  them  by  the  hand,  and  welcome  them  on  shore. 
It  was  then  that  I  felt  the  contrast ;  the  thought  came  over  me 
like  the  chill  of  winter,  not  one  stands  ready  to  welcome  me  !  We 
left  a  land  of  friends,  who  attended  us  to  the  last — to  the  dock — 
to  the  steamboat — to  the  ship — to  the  Hook ;  nor  did  they  leave 
us  till  the  last  opportunity  of  returning ;  but  here  all  are  strangers. 
But  enough  of  this.  We  shall  doubtless  find  or  make  friends  here 
— and,  if  not,  we  may  maintain  an  intercourse  with  those  we  have 

B 


10  THE    VOYAGE. 

left,  second  only  in  its  pleasures  to  the  delights  of  a  personal  in- 
terviet\y.    .     .  . 

3/Hao!  heferd  mnch  or  the  accommodations  of  the  New-York  and 
Liverpool  line  of  packet  ships  ;  but,  after  all,  my  expectations  did 
nut  coioe  up  to  ..he  reality.  Everything  was  arranged  in  the  best 
order.  The  fixtures  about  the  ship  are  just  such  as  they  should 
be.  In  fact,  almost  everything  is  a  fixture.  Your  bed,  your  table, 
your  sofa,  is  made  part  and  parcel  of  the  ship  itself,  so  that  the 
rocking  and  pitching  of  the  vessel  cannot  disturb  your  accommo- 
dations. The  dining-table  is  not  only  firmly  attached  to  the  floor 
of  the  cabin,  but  the  leaf  is  divided  into  three  parallel  compart- 
ments, with  elevated  mouldings  on  the  outer  edges  and  between, 
so  as  to  form  three  grooves — one  for  the  public  or  common  dishes 
in  the  centre,  and  the  two  outer  ones  for  the  plates  of  the  guests 
Thus  prepared,  with  an  immoveable  support  for  the  back  and  an- 
other for  the  feet,  you  may  bid  defiance  to  the  rocking  of  the  ship 
and  eat  on — provided,  however,  the  motion  does  not  rock  you  out 
of  your  appetite,  which  was,  in  fact,  my  case  most  of  the  passage, 
as  you  may  learn  by  my  letter  to  Dr.  R . 

As  to  food,  we  had  an  abundance,  and  of  a  great  variety.  We 
had  on  board  a  cow  for  furnishing  the  ship  with  milk ;  and  for 
fresh  provisions  we  had  an  ample  stock  of  live  geese,  turkeys, 
ducks,  hens,  pigs,  and  sheep,  besides  the  dressed  meats  brought 
from  New-York.  These,  with  puddings,  pastry,  vegetables,  and 
fruits,  were  furnished  us  in  suitable  variety  and  appropriate  ar- 
rangement four  times  each  day. 

The  Roscoe  is  a  fine  ship,  and  the  commander,  Captain  Delano, 
is  not  only  an  excellent  commander  and  navigator,  but  he  is  a  gen- 
tleman of  intelligence  and  politeness.  He  gave  universal  satisfac- 
tion to  the  passengers,  and  is  certainly  entitled  to  our  warmest  ac- 
knowledgments. The  subordinate  officers  were  also  fine  men, 
the  crew  excellent,  the  servants  remarkably  active  and  attentive 
to  our  every  want. 

One  of  the  causes  of  the  quick  passages  of  the  New- York 
packet  ships  undoubtedly  is  the  unwearied  and  incessant  attention 
that  is  paid  to  the  management  of  the  ship.  Every  veering  and 
varying  breeze  is  not  only  noticed  when  it  comes,  but,  it  would 
seem,  anticipated  also,  so  that  nothing  is  lost.  The  whole  of  na- 
ture's agency,  as  we  may  say,  is  used  up  to  help  us  on  our  course 


SCENERY    OF    THE    OCEAN.  11 

We  had  a  pleasant  company  of  twenty-five  in  the  oabin,  be- 
sides about  forty  in  the  steerage.  It  will  hardly  be  of  sufficient 
interest  to  you  or  your  readers  to  give  either  a  detailed  account  of 
the  passengers  or  of  the  events  of  the  voyage.  What  is  there  in  an 
ordinary  sea  voyage  worth  journalizing  and  publishing  ?  We  may 
indeed  rhapsodize  upon  the  fathomless  depths  and  the  shoreless  ex- 
panse of  old  ocean;  we  may  talk  of  its  coral  reefs  and  pearly 
beds,  which  we  cannot  see  ;  we  may  descant  upon  the  rising  and 
setting  sun,  ascending  and  descending  like  a  globe  of  fire  from 
and  into  the  mighty  waters ;  upon  the  phosphorescent  glow  of  the 
evening  ripple,  and  of  the  white  crest  of  the  heaving  billow — all 
this,  if  it  had  not  been  worked  up  into  poetry  and  prose  a  thou- 
sand and  a  thousand  times,  might  be  very  well ;  but  what  ordinary 
genius  can  give  a  new  form  or  additional  interest  to  these  oft -re- 
peated descriptions  ?  In  viewing  these  scenes,  the  contemplative 
mind  finds  much  10  admire,  the  devout  mind  much  to  excite  his 
veneration  for  the  God  of  nature,  and  the  imaginative  mind  much 
to  enkindle  the  fires  of  poetry.  The  whole,  however,  soon  be- 
comes monotonous,  and  a  desire  for  a  change  seems  to  absorb 
every  other.  Whether  it  will  be  construed  into  a  deficiency  of 
imagination,  a  want  of  taste,  or  a  lack  of  the  spirit  of  devotion  on 
the  part  of  our  company,  I  cannot  say ;  but  sure  I  am,  that  nothing 
we  met  with  during  the  voyage  seemed  to  diffuse  such  universal 
pleasure  over  all  minds  as  the  sight  of  the  light  on  Cape  Clear, 
which  we  made  in  about  fifteen  days  :  and  best  of  all  was  the  mo- 
ment when  we  set  foot  on  the  pier  of  Prince's  Dock  in  Liverpool, 
near  the  close  of  our  eighteenth  day  from  the  Battery  in  New- 
York.  So  much  for  our  voyage ;  and  let  this  suffice — with  the 
exception  that,  for  variety's  sake,  and  that  those  who  are  longing 
for  the  opportunity  of  careering  sublimely  and  poetically  upon  the 
mighty  ocean  may  know  something  of  the  pleasures  of  such  a  voy- 
age, I  have  attempted  a  sketch  of  sea-sickness,  which  possibly 
may  meet  you  through  another  channel. 

The  letter  alluded  to  was  to  an  errlinent  gentleman  of  the  med- 
ical profession  in  New-York,  and  is  here  inserted. 

MY  DEAR  DOCTOR, 

You  will  learn  from  other  sources  of  my  safe  arrival,  and  other 
circumstances   connected   therewith,  particularly  that  we  were 


12  THE   VOYAGE. 

highly  pleased  with  the  captain,  the  ship,  the  passengers,  and,  in 
short,  that  we  had  nothing  to  complain  of  except  that  most  un- 
pitied,  and,  I  may  almost  say,  that  most  distressing  of  all  diseases, 
the  sea-sickness.  This  lugubrious  topic  I  have  reserved  for  you, 
partly  to  retaliate  upon  the  faculty  for  not  providing  a  remedy, 
and  partly  because  you  will  better  judge  than  one  of  the  uninitia- 
ted in  the  mysteries  of  physiology  whether  or  not  what  I  may  say 
on  the  subject  will  be  of  any  consequence  to  the  untravelling 
public — if  there  be  any  such  in  these  stirring  days.  I  say  of  any 
consequence,  by  which  I  certainly  do  not  mean  for  the  enjoyment 
of  the  reader,  but  for  his  information,  and  for  the  enlargement  of 
his  sphere  of  sympathy,  and  possibly  for  the  gratification  of  his 
curiosity.  If  I  supposed  that  any  sketch  of  this  disease  would 
produce  even  the  premonitory  symptoms  upon  my  readers,  I  could 
not  find  it  in  my  heart  to  inflict  the  misery  upon  one  of  the  sons 
of  Adam — except  'on  the  physicians ;  nor  even  upon  them,  except 
in  hope  that  it  would  put  them  upon  extra  exertions  to  find  a  cure. 
On  board  the  steamboat  which  conveyed  us  to  the  Hook,  you 
suggested  and  sanctioned  the  theory,  which  I  believe  has  gained 
extensive  authority  with  the  faculty,  and  certainly  seems  very 
plausible,  and  accords  well  with  many  of  the  symptoms,  that  the 
disease  is  the  inversion  of  the  peristaltic  motion  of  the  digestive 
muscles  through  the  stomach  and  viscera.  Alas  !  what  a  picture 
of  this  distressing  disorder  !  Only  conceive  the  unpleasant  sen- 
sation which  this  unnatural  action  must  produce  ! — the  loathing, 
the  shrinking  back,  and  the  spasmodic  action  of  all  the  digestive 
organs  !  And  when  this  system  of  internal  "  agitation"  is  begun, 
it  is  increased  by  its  own  action.  The  spasm  increases  the  irri- 
tation, and  the  irritation  increases  the  susceptibility  to  spasmodic 
action,  until  the  coats  of  the  stomach  and  all  the  abdominal  viscera 
are  convulsed.  The  sensations  produced,  however,  are  not  those 
of  pain,  as  we  commonly  use  the  term,  but  of  loathing — of  sick- 
ness— of  deathlike  sickness,  until  nature  is  wearied,  and  the  poor 
sufferer  feels  that  life  itself  js  a  burden.  He  is  told  he  must  not 
give  up  to  it — he  must  keep  about,  take  the  air,  and  drive  it  off. 
At  first  he  thinks  he  will — he  believes  he  can — and,  perhaps,  after 
the  first  complete  action  of  his  nausea,  feels  relieved,  and  imagines 
that  he  has  conquered ;  but  another  surge  comes  on,  and  rolls  him 
and  his  vessel  a  few  feet  upward ;  and  again  she  sinks,  and  he 


SEA-SICKNESS.  13 

with  her — but  not  all  of  him  ;  his  body  goes  down  with  the  ves- 
sel, as  it  is  meet  it  should,  according  to  the  laws  of  gravitation ; 
but  that  which  his  body  contains  cannot  make  ready  for  so  speedy 
a  descent.  The  contained  has  received  an  impetus  upward,  and 
it  keeps  on  in  this  direction,  while  the  container  goes  down  with 
the  ship.  The  result  may  readily  be  inferred. 

But  even  then  the  worst  is  still  to  come.  When  the  upward 
action,  the  distressing  nausea,  the  convulsive  retching  continue, 
the  deeper  secretions  are  disturbed,  and  the  mouth  is  literally 
filled  with  gall  and  bitterness.  All  objects  around  you  now  lose 
their  interest ;  the  sea  has  neither  beauty  nor  sublimity ;  the  roar- 
ing of  the  wave  is  like  the  wail  of  death ;  the  careering  of  the  ship 
before  the  wind  "  like  a  thing  of  life"  is  but  the  hastening  and  ag- 
gravation of  agony.  Your  sympathy,  if  not  lost,  is  paralyzed ; 
your  dear  friend — perhaps  the  wife  of  your  bosom — is  suffering 
at  the  same  time,  but  you  have  not  the  moral  courage,  if  you  have 
the  heart,  to  go  to  her  assistance.  And  even  that  very  self,  wtiich 
is  so  absorbing  and  exclusive,  seems,  by  a  strange  paradox,  hardly 
so  interesting  as  to  be  worth  an  existence. 

If  the  theory  already  alluded  to,  of  the  inversion  of  the  peristal- 
tic motion,  be  true,  it  may  yet  be  a  curious,  and  perhaps  not  un- 
profitable physiological  inquiry,  what  are  the  intermediate  links 
between  the  motion  of  the  vessel,  which  is  obviously  the  primum 
mobile  of  all  the  agitation,  and  this  inverted  action  of  the  digestive 
organs  ?  Is  this  latter  the  effect  of  a  previous  action  upon  the  ner- 
vous system  ?  Is  it  the  effect  of  sympathy  between  the  brain  and 
the  stomach  ?  If  a  nervous  derangement  is  a  prior  link,  are  the 
nerves  wrought  upon  by  the  imagination  ?  and,  if  so,  through  what 
sense  is  the  imagination  affected  ?  Is  it  through  the  general  feel- 
ings of  the  frame,  the  entire  system,  or  is  it  chiefly  through  the 
organ  of  sight  ?  I  have  not  skill  or  knowledge  sufficient  to  answer 
these  questions.  I  cannot  but  think,  however,  that  the  eye  has 
much  to  do  in  this  matter.  If  you  look  at  the  vessel  in  motion,  it 
seems  to  increase  the  difficulty  ;  and  hence,  while  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  disease,  you  cannot  bear  to  look  on  anything  around 
you,  but  are  disposed  to  close  the  windows  of  the  soul,  and  give 
yourself  up  to  dark  and  gloomy  endurance. 

One  of  the  social,  or  rather  anti-social  concomitants  of  this  dis- 
ease is,  that  it  excites  but  little  pity  in  those  around  you  who  are 
2 


14  THE    VOYAGE. 

not  suffering.  One  tells  you,  "  It  will  do  you  good" — this  is  the 
highest  comfort  you  get ;  another  assures  you  that  it  is  not  a  mor- 
tal disease,  and  that  you  will  feel  a  great  deal  better  when  it  is 
over.  (" Hope  so"  thought  I.)  Another  laughs  you  in  the  face, 
with  some  atrocious  pleasantry  about  "  casting  up  accounts,"  or 
"  paying  duties  to  old  Neptune."  A  "  searching  operation,"  this 
paying  custom  to  the  watery  king !  My  friends  forewarned  me 
of  the  vexations  of  the  custom-house  before  I  left  America ;  and 
if  this  is  a  fair  specimen,  I  shall  beg  to  be  excused  from  the  fur- 
ther prosecution  of  my  tour.  If  his  majesty  demanded  but  a  large 
per  centage  of  your  wares,  it  might  be  tolerable  ;  but  he  takes  all 
you  have ;  he  searches  you  through  and  through. 

Wearied  out  at  length,  you  throw  yourself  into  your  berth, 
where,  by  keeping  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  sinking  into  the 
stupor  of  a  mere  oyster  existence,  you  find  the  only  mitigation  of 
your  suffering.  But  here,  too,  you  have  painful  annoyances.  Is 
it  cold,  your  extremities  become  numb  and  icy — the  system,  as 
in  the  cholera,  has  all  the  heat  and  action  within,  while  the  entire 
surface  is  torpid,  and  the  extremities  are  cold  as  death.  Is  it  hot, 
you  have  a  sense  of  suffocation  for  the  want  of  air ;  you  open  your 
eyes,  and  see  the  white  drapery  of  your  bed  waving,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment you  anticipate  the  fanning  of  the  breeze.  No,  no !  that  waving 
motion  is  not  from  the  zephyr — it  is  from  the  same  baneful  agita- 
tion that  is  the  source  of  all  your  distress.  To  this  hour  I  can 
scarcely  think  of  the  waving  of  that  white  drapery  in  the  stagnant 
air  of  my  stateroom,  without  associating  with  it  the  idea  of  a 
ghostly  visitant  in  the  hour  of  midnight,  flapping  his  sepulchral 
wing  around  the  bed  of  agony,  and  boding  evil  to  the  sufferer. 
Again  you  close  your  eyes  ;  you  think  of  home — of  land  anywhere 
— of  the  terra  Jirma  beds  of  the  lower  animals,  even  of  the  worst 
accommodated  among  them — the  horse  or  the  swine — and  you  feel 
their  lodgment  would  be  a  paradise  compared  with  your  billow- 
tossed  couch.  'But  all  is  in  vain,  and  you  find  no  other  alterna- 
tive but  to  give  yourself  up  to  passive  endurance.  And  such  en- 
durance !  You  listen  to  the  bell  dividing  off  the  hours,  and  you 
feel  that  time,  like  the  slow  fires  of  savage  torments,  has  slackened 
his  pace  to  prolong  your  sufferings. 

But  I  fear  that  my  sketch  will  become  tedious  by  its  length,  if 
not  otherwise.     Suffice  it  to  say,  I  have  been  describing  what  I 


ARRIVAL    AT    BOULOGNE.  15 

have  actually  felt,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  with  occasional  in- 
terruptions, for  fifteen  days.  But  it  is  all  over  ;  and,  now  that  it 
is  past,  it  seems  like  a  dream.  I  can  hardly  identify  myself 
with  that  being  who  so  lately  passed  the  painful  process.  The 
recollection,  however,  is  sufficiently  vivid  to  lead  me  to  pray  that 
I  may  be  called  to  cross  the  Atlantic  but  once  more.  I  cannot 
go  the  full  length  with  an  English  lady  whom  we  met  in  America, 
and  who,  in  speaking  of  her  sufferings  on  her  voyage,  said,  "  Dear 
as  is  old  England  to  me,  I  never  can  consent  to  recross  the  At- 
lantic to  visit  her."  No ;  America — her  institutions — my  friends 
there — and,  above  all,  my  duties,  my  delightful  duties,  are  too  dear 
to  me  to  be  foregone  to  avoid  fifteen,  or  fifty,  or  one  hundred  days 
of  suffering. 

If,  then,  a  kind  Providence  spares  my  life,  I  shall  once  more 
throw  myself  upon  the  billows,  and  give  myself  to  the  tossing  of 
the  merciless  waves.  If,  in  the  mean  time,  you  discover  a  spe- 
cific for  this  horrible  disease,  the  very  thoughts  of  which  give  me 
the  hydrophobia,  do  not  fail  to  let  it  meet  me  at  Liverpool  before 
September  next ;  and  believe  me,  in  the  mean  time, 

Yours  in  great  respect, 

W.  FISK. 

We  spent  in  England  the  remainder  of  September  and  the 
whole  of  October;  but  poor  health  and  bad  weather  prevented 
making  as  extensive  observations  as  might  otherwise  have  been 
made  in  that  time.  However,  we  were  not  idle  ;  but  shall  reserve 
for  the  present  any  and  all  matters  that  were  there  noticed,  for 
the  purpose  of  preserving,  as  much  as  may  be,  a  unity  in  the  sub- 
jects treated  of,  which  is  deemed  of  more  consequence  than 
mere  continuity  in  the  journal. 

There  are  three  lines  of  steam-packets  from  Dover  to  the  Con- 
tinent: one  for  Ostend  in  Belgium,  one  for  Calais,  and  one  for 
Boulogne  in  France.  We  chose  the  latter,  because  there  was 
but  little  difference  in  the  sail,  and  Boulogne  is  four  posts  nearer 
Paris  than  Calais.  In  about  four  hours  we  came  to  anchor  in  the 
harbour  of  Boulogne — up  to  that  time  we  had  been  comfortable ; 
but  now  the  increase  of  the  swell,  from  the  shallowness  of  the 
water  and  the  irregular  motion  of  the  steamer,  from  its  being 
hove  to  for  casting  anchor,  brought  on  anew  all  the  horrors  of  sea- 


16  FRANCE. 

sickness,  from  which  we  had  suffered  so  much  in  crossing 
ocean  and  in  the  trip  from  London  to  Dover.  We  had  to  be 
landed  in  a  small  boat,  for  at  low  water  the  steamer  cannot  ap- 
proach the  wharf;  the  boatmen  refused  to  take  our  baggage,  be- 
cause they  said  the  swell  was  high,  and  after  much  contention  we 
at  length  were  let  down  into  the  batteau,  and  with  some  difficulty 
reached  the  shore :  the  breakers  or  rollers  were  so  high,  our  boat- 
men had  to  watch  their  opportunity  and  ride  in  upon  the  top  of  a 
breaker.  This,  if  it  had  not  been  for  a  little  apprehension  of 
danger,  would  have  been  quite  amusing,  especially  in  connexion 
with  the  blowing,  whistling,  and  bluster  of  our  boatmen.  How- 
ever, we  were  landed  safe  upon  a  wet,  slippery  beach,  rendered 
rough  and  difficult  by  rocks,  water,  and  seaweed,  over  which  for 
a  long  distance  we  had  to  walk;  an  undertaking  for  which  Mrs. 
F.  was  by  no  means  fitted,  debilitated  as  she  was  by  her  recent 
illness,  for  she  had  been  sick  at  Dover.  But  there  was  no  escape ; 
we  must  walk  or  stay  where  we  were,  and  therefore  pressed  on. 
It  is  a  most  surprising  thing,  that  both  on  the  French  and  English 
coasts  there  are  no  accommodations  for  landing  at  low  tide,  but 
in  this  inconvenient  way,  and  at  an  expense,  too,  which  is  nearly 
half  of  the  entire  passage-money  besides.  It  is  the  more  unbear- 
able from  the  fact  that  such  multitudes  are  crossing  and  recrossing 
daily ;  but  I  suppose  all  due  allowance  should  be  made  for  the 
infancy  and  poverty  of  the  nations  concerned  ;  perhaps,  when 
they  get  more  advanced,  in  age  and  improvements,  they  may  have 
accommodations  by  which,  in  their  great  thoroughfares,  ladies  and 
invalids  may  pass  with  some  decency  and  safety ;  albeit  that 
America  can  have  no  allowance  made  for  her  on  this  score. 

We  passed  on  to  the  Hotel  du  Norde ;  but,  before  we  arrived 
there,  we  found  ourselves  more  emphatically  than  ever  in  a  land 
of  strangers — a  strange  language  saluted  our  ears — strange  cos- 
tumes, new  customs — all  seemed  changed.  A  soldier  met  us  at 
the  shore,  and  conducted  us  to  the  police-office,  where  our  pass- 
ports were  taken,  and  sent  on  to  Paris  in  advance,  and  provisional 
ones  were  given  us,  by  which,  when  we  arrived  at  the  capital,  we 
might  recover  our  original  passports.  In  this  way  every  stranger 
is  advertised  at  Paris  before  he  arrives  himself;  and,  in  addition  to 
this,  he  must  be  reported  as  soon  as  he  arrives  by  the  keeper  of 
the  hotel  where  he  stops,  or  the  former  is  liable  to  a  prosecution. 


BOULOGNE.  17 

It  is  thus  that  the  government  is  aware  of  all  that  come  in  or  go 
out  of  the  nation,  and  of  all  their  movements  and  journeyings 
while  there ;  for  at  every  considerable  town  our  passports  are  ex- 
amined, and  the  names  entered  upon  the  registers. 

Boulogne  is  rather  an  interesting  town,  pleasantly  situated  on 
the  mouth  of  the  river  Saone.  It  is  one  of  the  several  places 
which  claim  to  be  the  Itius  portus  of  Caesar,  whence  he  embark- 
ed for  Britain.  At  any  rate,  the  Romans  were  here,  for  they  show 
the  vestiges  of  a  Roman  tower  still  remaining.  It  is  fortified, 
and  contains  about  thirty  thousand  French  inhabitants,  besides  a 
great  number  of  English  residents,  transient  or  more  permanent  • 
more,  probably,  than  are  found  in  any  other  town  of  its  size  in 
France.  I  inquired  of  the  landlord  for  a  Protestant  church,  of 
which  he  seemed  to  know  but  little;  but  stated,  if  I  wanted 
amusement,  the  theatre  was  open  that  evening,  as  it  would  be  also 
on  Sunday  evening.  I  thanked  him,  and  made  inquiries  of  others, 
by  which  I  found  the  Wesleyan  missionary,  who  preaches  in 
English  to  an  English  congregation,  with  whom  we  spent  an 
agreeable  Sabbath,  in  a  chapel  that  had  been  changed  from  a 
theatre  and  consecrated  to  the  sacred  purposes  of  Divine  worship. 
I  preached  in  the  evening  with  some  satisfaction,  although  one  of 
my  hearers,  at  some  remark  bearing  upon  Roman  Catholicism, 
audibly  pronounced,  "  That  is  a  lie !" 

During  my  stay  at  Boulogne  I  visited,  at  a  little  distance  to  the 
north  and  east,  the  encampment  of  the  army  with  which  Napoleon, 
during  the  early  years  of  the  present  century,  menaced  England. 
Many  speculations  have  been  afloat  as  to  the  question  whether  he 
ever  seriously  intended  to  invade  England,  or  whether  this  was 
only  a  feint  to  cover  some  other  design.  There  is  every  reason, 
however,  to  suppose  that  he  was  serious  in  this  project,  and  his 
entire  history,  and  especially  his  last  and  fatal  enterprise,  shows 
that  he  was  wild  enough  to  design  any  extrayagance  of  a  warlike 
character.  Indeed,  all  great  warriors, 

"  From  Macedonia's  madman  to  the  Swede," 

have  shown  clear  indications  of  insanity  on  the  subject  of  their 
profession.  The  fact  that  Napoleon  kept  his  position  here  so 
long,  and  only  left  it  when  his  fleet  was  destroyed,  shows  that 
he  was  seriously  meditating  this  invasion.  But  greater  folly 
2  C 


18  FRANCE. 

never  entered  the  heart  of  man.  What  could  he  have  done  if 
he  had  even  crossed  the  British  Channel,  and  landed  an  army  of 
half  a  million  upon  the  English  coast  ?  But  how  was  he  to  do 
even  this  ?  All  the  time  the  French  army  lay  upon  the  coast,  the 
British  lion  was  crouching  upon  the  white  cliffs  of  Dover,  and  upon 
the  martel  towers  that  studded  the  coast,  with  a  vigilance  that 
never  slept,  and  a  firm  defiance  that  never  wavered. 

A  magnificent  column  was  commenced  by  Napoleon  upon  the 
heights  near  Boulogne,  to  commemorate  this  celebrated  intended 
invasion*  The  column  is  now  finished,  and  its  history  should  af- 
ford a  salutary  lesson  to  the  princes  of  the  earth.  As  Bonaparte 
never  accomplished  his  invasion,  so  he  never  finished  his  monument. 
But  when  the  Bourbons  came  back  to  the  throne  of  France  they 
resumed  the  prosecution  of  this  magnificent  work,  with  a  design 
to  make  it  a  monument  of  their  restoration ;  but,  before  they  could, 
complete  it,  they  were  driven  from  the  kingdom,  and  Louis  Phil- 
ippe has  finished  the  column,  as  a  memorial  of  his  elevation  to 
the  throne  from  which  both  Napoleon  and  the  Bourbons  had  been 
banished. 

On  leaving  Boulogne  for  Paris  we  passed  the  strongly-fortified 
town  of  Montreuil,  and  beyond  this  the  forest  of  Crecy,  where 
Edward  the  Black  Prince  gained  his  celebrated  victory  over  the 
French.  Abbeville  is  the  next  town  of  note,  situated  on  the  river 
Somme,  and  contains  about  20,000  inhabitants.  Here  are  found 
Roman  antiquities,  and  a  mound  is  shown  which  they  call  Caesar's 
Camp. 

We  reached  Amiens  the  first  night.  The  town  itself  is,  for 
the  most  part,  uninteresting.  The  cathedral,  however,  is  an  in- 
teresting specimen  of  Gothic  architecture.  It  was  commenced 
early  in  the  thirteenth  century  by  Bishop  Everard,  and  finished 
by  his  successor  Godefroy.  In  the  interior  there  are  one  hundred 
and  twenty-six  pillars,  which  are  constructed  on  a  scale  of  archi- 
tecture at  once  grand  and  beautiful.  They  support  a  vault  132  feet 
in  height.  Forty-four  of  these  are  detached  pillars,  and  hence  are 
called,  from  the  ringing  sound  they  make  when  struck,  sounding 
pillars — Les  Colonnes  Sonnantes.  One  of  them,  especially,  rings 
like  a  piece  of  metal.  The  interior  is  360  feet  in  length  and 
fifty  in  breadth.  We  were  shown  a  case,  in  which  is  carefully 
preserved,  as  they  say,  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist.  How  He- 


A    GALLANT    FRENCHMAN.  19 

rodias  came  to  suffer  it  to  find  so  honourable  a  deposite,  I  know 
not. 

Amiens  contains  about  40,000  inhabitants.  It  was  in  this 
city,  on  the  10th  October,  1801,  that  the  first  treaty  of  peace  with 
Bonaparte  was  negotiated  and  signed.  A  treaty  that  was  not 
kept  a  year,  and  that  only  served  as  a  bait  to  draw  numerous 
British  subjects  on  to  the  Continent,  where,  on  the  renewal  of  hos- 
tilities, they  were  retained  in  confinement,  some  of  them  until  the 
peace  of  1814. 

After  spending  one  day  and  two  nights  at  Amiens,  we  took  the 
diligence  for  Paris,  not,  however,  without  experiencing  a  little  of 
that  imposition  and  inconvenience  to  which  travellers  are,  more 
or  less,  always  exposed.  We  had  engaged  particular  seats 
through  from  Boulogne  to  Paris,  with  the  understanding  that  we 
were  to  rest  one  day  in  Amiens,  without  prejudice  to  the  arrange- 
ment. When,  however,  we  went  to  claim  our  seats  at  Amiens,  a 
Frenchman,  who  looked  as  though  he  might  be  a  misanthropic 
philosopher,  demanded  the  place  taken  by  Mrs.  F.  Neither  the 
claim  which  we  set  up,  founded  on  a  previous  contract,  nor  yet  an 
appeal  to  the  Frenchman's  gallantry,  could  avail.  The  conduc- 
teur  said  the  waybill  gave  monsieur  the  seat,  and  monsieur  said 
he  would  have  it,  or  not  enter  the  diligence.  And  there  he  stood, 
with  all  the  firmness  and  patience  of  a  philosopher,  until,  finding 
remonstrance  unavailing,  we  yielded  the  position  to  the  gallant 
Frenchman. 

We  arrived  late  in  the  evening  at  Paris,  and  took  lodgings  for 
the  night  in  a  crowded  and  dirty  part  of  the  city,  from  which, 
however,  we  were  soon  relieved  by  the  kind  offices  of  Rev.  R. 
Newstead,  one  of  the  Wesleyan  missionaries  in  Paris,  to  whom 
we  had  letters,  and  by  whom  we  were  introduced  to  delightful 
lodgings  on  the  Avenue  de  Neuilly,  in  an  English  family,  whose 
residence  of  twenty  years  in  France  had  made  our  hostess  as  fa- 
miliar with  everything  French  as  a  native.  With  this  knowledge 
she  united  a  kind  disposition,  an  intelligent  and  a  communicative 
mind,  and  a  readiness  to  conduct  us  to  everything  interesting  in 
this  magnificent  city. 

To  these  advantages  in  our  lodgings  we  added  the  acquaint- 
ance with  Rev.  Mr.  Newstead,  already  mentioned,  and  his  amiable 
lady  and  sister,  to  whose  hospitality  and  kindness  we  were  under 


20  FRANCE. 

great  obligations  while  in  Paris  ;  as  also  the  acquaintance  of  Rey. 
Mr.  De  Jersey  and  lady,  the  other  Wesleyan  missionary  family, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Baird  and  lady,  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States,  together  with  a  number  of  other  families,  clergy- 
men, and  laymen,  with  whom,  in  various  social  interviews  and 
devotional  exercises,  we  spent  our  intervals  of  leisure.  Scarcely 
ever  have  I,  in  the  course  of  my  life,  spent  six  weeks  of  greater 
social  enjoyment,  more  refined  and  more  satisfactory,  than  the 
six  weeks  we  spent  in  Paris — this  in  addition  to  the  interest  of 
the  city  itself.  By  day,  as  our  health  and  weather  would  permit, 
we  examined  the  greatest  objects  of  interest  in  and  about  this 
great  city  ;  and,  although  the  days  were  short,  they  were  of  suffi- 
cient length  to  superinduce  all  the  fatigue  we  could  well  endure  ; 
and  we  generally  spent  the  evening  in  some  delightful  circle  of 
select  friends,  where,  without  the  stiffness  of  formal  etiquette,  we 
enjoyed  that  chastened,  cheerful  flow  of  soul  which  is  followed 
by  no  languor  or  depression.  We  closed  our  evening  interviews 
with  reading  and  expounding  a  portion  of  Scripture,  singing,  and 
prayer. 


CHAPTER  II. 

I  CANNOT  discharge  the  duties  of  an  itinerant  journalist  without 
giving  some  description  of  this  extraordinary  city — and  yet  how 
to  begin,  and  what  to  say,  I  know  not.  The  danger  is  of  saying 
too  much — and,  if  not  too  much,  of  selecting  what  should  be  left 
out  in  a  brief  sketch,  such  as  mine  must  be,  and  of  omitting  what 
should  be  inserted ;  or,  finally,  the  danger  is,  that  what  is  selected 
may  not  be  so  arranged  and  so  delineated  as  to  make  a  due  im- 
pression on  the  reader's  mind.  I  will  begin,  however,  with  the 
most  prominent  features  of  the  city. 

Paris  is  surrounded  by  a  wall,  which  is  only  adapted  to  pur 
poses  of  police  and  for  the  collection  of  the  city  customs.*  This 

*  It  is  a  feature  of  taxation  altogether  unknown  with  us ;  yet  it  is  very  common  in  Eu- 
rope. At  every  gate  of  Paris  is  a  guard  and  an  officer  of  customs.  All  wines,  meats, 
and  various  other  articles  brought  to  market  from  the  country  are  subject  to  duty. 


PARIS.  21 

wall  is  a  little  more  than  six  leagues,  or  about  eighteen  miles  in 
circumference,*  and  at  convenient  distances  it  is  entered  by  gates, 
which  are  called  barrieres. 

The  Avenue  de  Neuilly,  so  called  from  its  being  the  route 
from  the  Tuileries  to  the  Neuilly  Palace,  which  is  situated  about 
one  or  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  city,  terminates  at  the  Bar- 
riere  de  FEtoile,  and  is  the  most  ample  and  splendid  outlet  of 
the  city.  Here  is  a  triumphal  arch,  commenced  by  Napoleon  to 
celebrate  some  of  his  principal  victories.  I  will  not  attempt  to 
describe  it ;  but  believe  that,  when  it  is  completed,  as  it  soon  will 
be,  it  will  be  the  most  magnificent  monument  of  the  kind  in  Eu- 
rope, ancient  or  modern. 

Standing  in  front  of  this  monument,  and  facing  south  by  east, 
you  see  at  a  distance  of  nearly  two  miles,  through  one  of  the  most 
splendid  avenues  in  the  world,  the  palace  of  the  Tuileries. 
From  this  point  commence  your  walk — you  go  down  the  avenue 
to  the  Champs-Ely  sees,  or  Elysian  Fields.  At  the  entrance  is 
a  circle  called  Rond  Point,  in  the  centre  of  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  erect  an  equestrian  bronze  statue  of  Louis  XV. ;  but,  as 
the  dynasty  is  passed  away,  so  also  is  the  design  of  the  statue. 
From  the  Rond  Point  the  avenue  passes  into  the  Elysian  Fields, 
which  are  an  extensive  plain,  lying  each  side  of  the  avenue,  950 
yards  in  length,  and  from  373  to  700  yards  in  breadth,  planted 
with  trees  arranged  on  geometrical  principles,  so  as  to  appear  in 
straight  lines  in  every  direction.  This  is  the  place  of  fashion 
and  parade,  of  frolic  and  fun.  Here,  on  public  occasions,  and  al- 
ways on  a  Sunday,  if  it  be  fair,  you  see  all  the  fashion  and  fri- 
volity of  the  city ;  the  avenue  thronged  with  carriages,  the  spa- 
cious sidewalk  crowded  with  pedestrians,  and  the  entire  park 
alive  with  sports  and  vocal  with  human  voices.  Here  in  1814 
the  Cossacks  had  their  camp,  and  in  1815  the  English  army  en- 
camped here.  As  you  proceed  down  this  avenue  you  get  a  view 
on  the  right,  at  a  distance  across  the  Seine,  of  the  Hotel  des  In- 
valides,  with  its  gilded  dome ;  and  still  farther  on,  and  just  before 
you  enter  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries,  you  come  to  the  Place 
de  Concorde.  And  here  you  must  pause,  not  only  to  see,  but  to 
think ;  for  you  are  now  on  one  of  the  most  remarkable  spots  on 

*  There  are  twenty-five  French  leagues  to  a  degree,  which  will  give  2.88  statute 
miles  to  the  league. 


22  FRANCE. 

the  globe — remarkable  for  its  historic  associations  and  for  its 
prospective  beauties.  Face  to  the  south,  and  you  have  before 
you,  but  just  across  the  Seine,  the  fine  edifice  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies.  This  is  approached  across  the  bridge  of  Louis  XVI., 
a  noble  structure,  adorned  on  each  side  with  six  fine  colossal 
statues,  twelve  in  the  whole,  standing  upon  pedestals  in  the  para- 
pet walls,  of  such  men  as  Conde,  Sully,  Richelieu,  Colbert,  and 
other  statesmen,  and  naval  and  military  heroes  of  France.  At 
each  end  of  the  statuary  colonnade,  and  in  a  line  with  them,  is  a 
military  trophy,  four  in  the  whole,  which  add  to  the  imposing 
perspective.  Turning  from  this  position  so  as  to  face  to  the 
right,  your  eye  rests  upon  the  avenue  with  its  Elysian  Fields,  and 
terminating  in  its  monumental  barriere*  Turning  again,  you  see  to 
the  north  the  new  and  splendid  Magdalen  Church,  directly  oppo- 
site to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  at  about  the  same  distance 
from  you,  presenting  her  imposing  front  of  Corinthian  columns. 
This  church  is  approached  by  the  Rue  Royals,  which  enters  at  a 
width  of  ninety  feet,  between  two  noble  edifices  of  288  feet 
in  length  each.  The  fronts  of  these  have  projecting  pavilions, 
and  there  are  arcades  on  the  ground  floor.  The  entire  fronts  of 
these  edifices  are  finished  in  a  fine  style  of  architecture,  and 
present  to  the  beholder  an  imposing  view,  beautifully  heightened 
by  the  perspective  of  the  Magdalen  up  the  intervening  street,  as 
already  mentioned. 

As  you  turn  to  the  right,  you  are  delayed  by  an  oblique  view 
of  the  magnificent  Rue  de  Rivoli,  with  its  noble  range  of  public 
and  other  buildings,  and  its  beautiful  arcades.  At  length,  as  you 
face  the  east,  your  eye  rests  upon  the  beautiful  gardens  of  the 
Tuileries,  and  the  bold  pavilions  of  the  palace  rising  beyond  them. 
Such  are  the  four  cardinal  points  of  view  from  this  most  extraor- 
dinary spot. 

But  I  said  this  spot  was  remarkable  for  its  historic  associa- 
tions ;  for  this  was  the  site  of  the  revolutionary  guillotine,  and 
the  earth  on  which  you  now  stand  was  so  soaked  and  saturated 
with  plebeian,  noble,  and  even  royal  blood,  that  for  a  long  time, 

*  Just  before  you,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Elysian  Fields,  are  two  lofty  pedestals,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  street,  surmounted  by  groups  in  marble,  representing  a  restiff  horse 
held  by  his  driver.  The  workmanship  is  by  Coustace.  They  were  brought  to  Paris 
from  Marly  in  1794. 


PLACE    DE    CONCORDE.  23 

it  is  said,  it  would  not  tread  down  and  become  compact  like  other 
earth. 

Here  were  slaughtered,  from  the  twenty-first  of  January,  1793, 
to  the  third  of  May,  1795,  in  the  space  of  two  years  and  four 
months,  2800  persons,  among  whom  were  Louis  XVI.  on  Janu- 
ary 21,  1793;  same  year,  October  16,  Marie  Antoinette,  the 
queen;  November  14,  the  Duke  of  Orleans;  and  after  them,  in 
rapid  succession,  as  the  different  factions  were  succeeded  and 
overpowered  by  their  successors,  Herbert  and  his  parly  in  March 
25,  1794,  and  on  April  8,  Danton  and  his  party ;  April  16,  Bishop 
Gobel  and  his  faction,  called  the  faction  of  the  atheists  ;  July  28, 
Robespierre  and  his  faction,  and  the  next  day  seventy  members 
of  the  Commune  of  Paris  ;  and  on  May  12,  of  the  same  year, 
Elizabeth,  sister  of  Louis  XVI.,  with  many  others.  This  was 
truly  the  year  of  slaughter,  and  this  spot  was  the  slaughter-house, 
where  licentiousness  became  its  own  executioner,  and  the  mur- 
derers in  turn  became  the  murdered. 

This  place,  like  most  other  places  and  streets  in  Paris,  has 
borne  a  variety  of  names.  It  was  formerly  called  Place  Louis 
XV.,  and  here  was  an  equestrian  statue  of  this  king,  which  was 
destroyed  by  the  mob  on  the  12th  of  August,  1792.  This  statue 
was  forced  from  the  pedestal  with  difficulty,  and  one  foot  of  the 
horse  still  remained  in  the  socket,  which  gave  occasion  for  a 
Parisian  wit  to  say,  "  Royalty  has  yet  one  foot  in  the  stirrup." 
It  now  took  the  name  of  the  Place  de  Revolution.  In  1800  it 
was  named  the  Place  de  la  Concorde ;  after  the  restoration  and 
accession  of  Charles  X.,  it  was  changed  to  the  Place  Louis  XVL, 
with  a  statue  of  that  unfortunate  monarch.  Since  the  revolution 
of  1830  the  statue  is  removed,  and  the  old  name  of  Place  de  la  Con- 
corde restored.*  > 

In  ascending  up  to  the  Madeleine  Church  from  the  Place  de  la 
Concorde,  you  enter  the  Boulevards  of  the  North.  Boulevard 
signifies  a  bulwark ;  and  the  wide  streets,  so  called,  which  form  so 
important  a  feature  in  the  city  of  Paris,  received  their  character 
and  appellation  from  the  fact  that  they  are  formed  upon  the  site 

*  Since  we  were  in  Paris  a  splendid  Egyptian  obelisk  has  been  erected  there.  This, 
as  it  is  a  monument  of  no  party  or  dynasty,  but  merely  a  work  of  art  and  an  ornamental 
monument,  will  doubtless  be  suffered  to  stand,  let  whatever  changes  be  made  in  the  gov- 
ernment. It  was  brought  from  ancient  Thebes,  and  is  eighty  feet  in  height 


24  FRANCE. 

of  the  walls  and  fortresses  that  formerly  surrounded  the  city  when 
it  was  a  fortified  town.  These  fortifications  were  demolished  in 
the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.,  about  1670,  and  streets  were  commenced 
by  this  monarch  on  the  ruins  of  the  fortifications,  which  have 
been  extended  at  different  times,  until  they  now  form  a  line  of 
spacious  streets,  bearing  different  names  in  different  sections,  of 
rather  an  irregular  character,  extending,  with  very  little  interrup- 
tion, quite  round  the  interior  part  of  the  city.  I  say  interior,  be- 
cause the  city  has  been  extended  in  every  direction  beyond  these 
ancient  bulwarks,  so  that  not  half  of  what  is  now  the  city  of  Paris 
lies  within  the  boulevards.  This  gives  rise  to  the  faubourgs,  so 
called,  which  are  another  feature  of  this  city  that  all  must  have 
noticed  who  have  read  much  of  Paris.  The  word  faubourgs 
means  suburbs,  and  they  are  so  called  because  they  are  exterior 
to  what  was  formerly  the  city.  The  sections  against  each  of  the 
boulevards  respectively  constitute  the  faubourgs,  which  gener- 
ally, though  not  always,  take  the  name  of  the  boulevard  by  which 
each  is  bounded,  as  the  Faubourg  de  Poissonniere,  opposite  the 
Boulevard  Poissonniere,  and  so  of  the  rest.  These  general  and 
prominent  localities  and  streets,  although  they  seem  to  have  been 
rather  accidental  than  from  design,  contribute  very  much  to  aid 
the  stranger  in  examining  the  city,  and  in  forming  a  correct  idea 
of  its  parts  and  localities ;  and  the  boulevards,  from  their  ample 
width,  their  splendid  shops  and  thronging  multitudes,  especially 
in  some  portion  of  the  section  north  of  the  Seine,  present  perhaps 
the  gayest  and  liveliest  aspect  of  the  city. 

The  river  Seine,  by  a  bold  sweep  to  the  north,  runs  through  the 
city,  dividing  it  into  two  unequal  parts,  leaving  two  thirds  of  the 
territory,  and  perhaps  three  fourths  of  the  population,  on  the  right 
or  northern  side ;  and  this  has  divided  the  boulevards  into  the 
Northern  and  Southern.*  I  will  not  trouble  myself  or  the  reader 
by  giving  the  names  of  the  different  boulevards,  but  can  hardly 
refrain  from  noticing,  as  one  of  the  striking  incongruities  in  names, 
as  well  as  of  many  others  in  reality,  which  occur  in  Paris,  that 
the  boulevards  in  the  southern  section,  d'Enfer  and  du  Mont  Par- 
nasse,  literally  the  streets  of  Hell  and  of  Mount  Parnassus,  run 
into  each  other.f 

*  The  northern  are  altogether  5067  yards  in  length,  and  the  southern  16,100. 

t  It  should  be  noticed,  perhaps,  in  order  to  perfect  accuracy,  that  all  the  city  south 


PUBLIC    WALKS.  25 

In  addition  to  these  interior  boulevards,  a  circle  of  streets  quite 
round  the  city,  outside  the  present  walls,  has  been  opened,  called 
the  Exterior  Boulevards.  These  are  planted  with  trees,  and  form 
an  interesting  drive.  They  give  an  air  of  magnificence  to  the  en- 
virons, not  readily  conceived  of  unless  seen,  and  the  more  so  as 
the  uniformity  is  broken  up  by  the  successive  barriers  which  form 
the  outlets  of  the  city,  and  by  the  wide  roads,  many  of  them  stud- 
ded with  lofty  trees,  which  lead  off  in  various  directions  to  different 
parts  of  the  kingdom. 

Another  striking  feature  of  Paris  is  the  river  Seine,  especially 
as  it  is  adorned  on  either  side  through  its  whole  length  by  fine 
quays,  and  spanned  at  unequal  distances  by  a  score  of  bridges, 
some  of  them  very  beautiful,  and  broken  into  an  interesting 
variety  about  the  centre  of  the  city  by  several  islands,  the  largest 
of  which,  called  the  Isle  de  la  Cite,  is  crowned,  in  addition  to  other 
public  edifices,  with  the  towering  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  Paris  is  its  public  grounds  and 
gardens.  The  Elysian  Fields  and  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries, 
stretching  along  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Seine,  and  extending  to 
the  very  heart  of  the  city,  have  already  been  mentioned.  The 
principal,  besides,  are  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  of  which  the 
Champ  de  Mars  and  the  Esplanade  des  Invalides  in  the  west, 
the  gardens  of  the  Luxembourg  in  the  centre,  and  the  Garden  of 
Plants  in  the  east,  are  the  most  important.  All  these  grounds  are 
open  to  the  public,  and  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries  and  of  the 
Luxembourg,  the  former  of  which  contains  nearly  seventy  acres, 
are  ornamented  with  elegant  statuary,  fountains,  and  pools,  and 
are  laid  out  with  gravel-walks,  furnished  with  seats,  and  shaded 
with  trees.  Here,  in  pleasant  weather,  the  parks  are  filled  with 
lounging  citizens,  talking  or  reading  the  gazettes,  and  curious 
strangers  spying  out  the  wonders  of  the  place,  and  hundreds  of 
playful  children,  with  their  nursery-maids,  sporting  in  the  shade  or 
basking  in  the  sun.  The  Camp  of  Mars  is  in  front  of  the  Poly- 
technic or  Military  School,  and  is  used,  as  its  name  imports,  for  a 
parade-ground  and  military  reviews.  Of  the  Garden  of  Plants  I 
shall  speak  elsewhere. 

Having  given  this  general  geographical  view  of  Paris,  I  shall 

of  the  Seine  is  divided  into  faubourgs.    The  Faubourg  St.  Germaine  contains  most  of 
the  population  in  this  part  of  the  city,  and  is  wholly  within  the  interior  boulevards 

3  D 


26  FRANCE. 

proceed  to  mention  briefly  some  of  the  most  important  edifices 
and  other  objects  of  art  in  this  extraordinary  city.  It  ought, 
however,  to  be  said,  by  way  of  caution,  here,  that  these  splendid 
features  in  the  physical  character  of  Paris  are  but  magnificent 
parts  and  points  in  a  city,  the  greater  part  of  which,  after  all,  is 
crowded  together  without  order,  miserably  built  on  narrow  and 
crooked  streets,  which,  for  the  most  part,  are  uninteresting  and  in- 
supportably  dirty. 

The  architecture  of  Paris  is  decidedly  Grecian,  and  much  of  it 
Corinthian,  and  is  of  a  character  to  excite  much  interest  in  all  the 
lovers  of  the  art.  Among  the  most  interesting,  of  course,  are  the 
royal  and  other  palaces :  of  these  there  are  ten  or  twelve  noble 
edifices,  of  which,  however,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  particularly. 
The  palaces  of  the  Tuileries  and  of  the  Louvre  are  the  most  prom- 
inent, both  on  account  of  their  situation  and  present  use,  the  one 
being  the  royal  residence,  and  the  other  containing  the  galleries 
of  the  fine  arts,  as  also  on  account  of  their  architecture  and  extent. 
The  palace  of  the  Tuileries  was  commenced  by  Catharine  de 
Medicis  in  1 564,  in  a  place  then  without  the  walls,  and  occupied 
as  tile  or  brick  kilns ;  hence  the  name,  palace  of  the  Tuileries, 
or  of  the  tile-kilns. 

The  front  of  the  palace  is  1008  feet  in  length  and  108  in 
breadth.  The  roof  is  relieved  by  three  magnificent  pavilions, 
which  give  the  whole  an  imposing  appearance.  On  the  side  next 
the  river  this  palace  is  connected  with  the  Louvre  by  a  gallery 
1300  French  feet  in  length,  the  upper  part  of  which  is  appropri- 
ated to  the  collection  of  paintings.  On  the  other  side  also  a  gal- 
lery, to  correspond  with  this,  is  commenced,  but  is  as  yet  unfinished. 
A  court  is  thus  formed  between  the  two  palaces,  called  the  Place 
du  Carrousel,  from  a  splendid  tournament  held  there  by  Louis 
XIV.  in  1662.  Fifteen  thousand  troops,  it  is  said,  consisting  of 
cavalry  and  infantry,  can  go  through  their  exercises  with  ease  in 
this  place.  Here,  and  near  to  the  Tuileries,  is  the  triumphal  arch 
erected  by  Napoleon  in  1806  to  the  glory  of  the  French  arms, 
after  the  designs  of  Perrier  and  Fontaine.  The  arch  was  sur- 
mounted by  a  triumphal  chariot,  to  which  were  harnessed  the 
famous  gilt  bronze  horses  which  Napoleon  brought  from  Venice. 
These  were  returned  at  the  "  restoration  of  all  things"  by  the  Le- 
gitimates in  1815,  but  their  places  have  been  supplied  by  four 


THE    PALAIS    ROYAL.  27 

horses  in  bronze  after  the  same  model,  and,  it  is  thought,  equal  to 
them  in  form  and  attitude.  These  are  by  Bosio,  and  were  placed 
here  in  1828. 

This  arch,  however,  is  too  small  for  its  position,  and  the  general 
effect  is  not  in  accordance  with  surrounding  objects. 

The  Louvre  was  commenced  on  the  site  of  an  old  Gothic 
structure  by  Francis  I.  in  1528,  but  it  was  never  completed  until 
Napoleon,  who  accomplished  almost  everything,  undertook  it. 
For  fifteen  years  the  work  was  conducted  under  his  direction, 
and  finally  completed  in  its  present  beautiful  form.  The  eastern 
front  is  525  feet  in  length  and  85  in  height.  It  is  built  in  the 
form  of  a  square,  enclosing  a  court  with  equilateral  sides  of  400 
feet  each.  This  court  is  a  splendid  exhibition  of  architectural 
beauty.  It  abounds  in  sculpture  of  various  kinds,  in  niches  and 
in  bassrelief,  and  is  ornamented  with  538  Corinthian  columns  and 
pilasters. 

In  passing  up  from  the  Place  de  Concorde  you  enter  successively 
the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  pass  under  or  through  the  palace  by 
open  arches — under  the  triumphal  arch — through  the  Place  du 
Carrousel — through  the  east  front  of  the  palace  of  the  Louvre — 
by  arches  as  before  into  the  court,  and  thence  through  the  western 
front,  beyond  which  you  are  speedily  buried  in  an  irregular  built, 
dirty,  crowded  part  of  the  city.  So  true  it  is,  here,  as  from  almost 
every  other  point  of  interest  in  Paris,  "  from  the  sublime  to  the 
ridiculous  there  is  but  a  step."  But  taking  this  whole  route  from 
the  Barriere  VEtoile  to  the  western  front  of  the  Louvre,  where 
can  the  like  be  found  in  Europe  or  in  the  world  ?  No  localities 
that  I  have  ever  seen  or  read  of,  in  one  contiguous  succession1, 
present  such  a  splendid  variety  of  avenues,  streets,  parks,  gardens, 
bridges,  monuments,  statuary,  triumphal  arches,  public  edifices, 
courts,  and  palaces,  as  this. 

The  Palais  Royal  is  the  residence  of  the  king's  eldest  son,  the 
Duke  of  Orleans.  It  is  very  near  the  Tuileries,  standing  but 
very  little  to  the  north  of  the  Place  du  Carrousel — and  yet  it  is  so 
shut  in  by  crowded  and  narrow  streets  that  it  makes  no  show 
until  you  get  into  it ;  and  when  you  enter  it,  your  first  impression 
is  that  you  have  found  a  splendid  edifice  that  had  been  lost.  This 
has  been  the  scene  of  many  fruitful  events  in  the  history  of  France. 
The  first  revolutionary  meetings  were  held  in  the  gardens  and 


28  FRANCE. 

galleries  of  this  palace  in  1789.  Here  the  pope,  and  afterward 
Lafayette,  were  burnt  in  effigy.  Here  the  tri-coloured  cockade 
was  adopted.  The  splendid  arcades,  gardens,  and  galleries  of 
this  palace  are  principally  noticeable  now  as  being  the  grand 
central  point  of  business,  fashion,  and  pleasure  of  this  most 
pleasure-seeking  and  sensual  city.  Here  are  cafes,  restaurans,  and 
estaminets  (smoking-houses)  of  the  highest  and  most  refined 
order.  Here  are  shops  containing  everything  that  can  be  thought 
of  or  desired,  arranged  in  the  most  splendid  manner.  Here  ladies 
of  easy  virtue,  it  is  said,  resort  in  great  numbers,  and  here  are 
some  of  the  most  noted  gaming-houses  in  Paris,  the  extent  of  which 
may  be  judged  of  by  the  fact  that  the  owners  pay  to  the  city  about 
1,300,000  dollars  annually,  and  that  the  sums  staked  here  yearly 
amount  to  about  60,000,000  dollars.* 

In  short,  if  any  one  wishes  to  have  a  condensed  view  of  Paris- 
ian frivolity,  sensuality,  profligacy  and  debauchery,  splendour  and 
fashion,  let  him  go  and  spend  an  evening  at  the  Palais  Royal. 

The  palace  of  the  Luxembourg  is  so  called  from  the  Duke  of 
Luxembourg,  who  owned  and  adorned  these  grounds  and  edifices 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  has  undergone 
various  changes  since,  and  had  different  names,  until,  last  of  all, 
since  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  it  has  been  devoted  to  the 
sittings  of  the  House  of  Peers.  But  notwithstanding  a  marble 
slab  placed  over  the  entrance,  announcing  that  it  is  henceforth  to 
be  called  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  yet  its  old  name  is  still  retained 
in  common  language.  A  part  of  the  interior  is  also  devoted  as  a 
picture-gallery,  where  is  a  collection  of  the  finest  paintings  of 
modern  French  artists.  The  edifice  is  built  round  a  court,  form- 
ing a  parallelogram  of  360  feet  by  300,  and  is  beautifully  pro- 
portioned. The  gardens  are  to  me,  on  the  whole,  more  interest- 
ing in  their  general  aspect  than  those  of  the  Tuileries,  for  the 
reason,  I  suppose,  that  the  surface  is  more  varied  and  uneven 
The  statuary,  however,  shows  the  vandalism  of  revolutionary  vi- 
olence, being  basely  mutilated  and  disfigured.  From  this  garden 
through  a  spacious  avenue  may  be  seen  in  the  distance  the  Na- 
tional Observatory. 

But  I  must  have  done  with  palaces — of  churches  I  would  say 

*  All  the  public  gambling-houses  of  France  have  lately,  since  I  left  Paris,  been  discon- 
tinued and  prohibited  by  law. 


CHURCHES.  29 

something ;  yet  I  fear  these  details  of  description  will  prove  tedious 
to  my  readers,  and  I  will  therefore  be  brief. 

The  churches  in  France  are  generally  badly  kept,  and  bear 
evident  marks  of  neglect;  and  though  they  now,  it  is  said,  are 
more  frequented  than  at  any  former  period  since  the  revolution, 
still  it  is  evident,  religion  is  not  a  prominent  feature  in  the  French 
character.  The  French  are  Catholics  three  times  in  their  lives, 
viz.,  at  christening,  marriage,  and  death.  In  general,  but  few,  es- 
pecially in  Paris,  attend  church.  There  are  in  Paris  but  about 
fifty  churches,  including  chapels  of  ease  and  churches  attached  to 
convents,  hospitals,  &c.  The  average  attendance  on  these  would 
not,  probably,  exceed  three  hundred ;  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  those 
whom  I  have  consulted,  and  who  have  the  best  opportunity  of 
knowing,  that  this  would  be  a  large  calculation.  This  would 
give  an  average  attendance  on  church  service  of  only  about  fifteen 
thousand  out  of  a  population  of  not  much  short  of  a  million  of 
souls,  that  is,  one  in  sixty-six ;  and  I  verily  fear  that  this  is  giving 
them  more  credit  for  attention  to  religion  than  is  true.  A 
number  of  the  churches  included  in  the  above  are  not  used  at  all 
for  purposes  of  Divine  worship.  Among  these  is  Ste.  Genevieve, 
or,  as  it  is  now  called,  the  Pantheon — a  church  for  "  all  the  gods  !" 
and,  in  fact,  for  no  god.  Ste.  Genevieve  was  buried  here  in  512,  in 
a  church  which  had  been  built  by  Clovis,  the  first  Christian  king, 
at  her  solicitation.  She  became  the  patron  saint  of  Paris,  and 
the  church  took  her  name.  On  the  ruins  of  this  church  another 
was  commenced  in  1764  by  Louis  XV.  It  is  a  magnificent 
building.  The  dome  shows  at  a  great  distance,  and  to  great  ad- 
vantage. The  appearance  of  the  dome  is  that  of  a  smaller  temple 
elevated  on  the  top  of  a  larger.  It  is  surrounded  by  thirty-two  col- 
umns, and  surmounted  by  a  ball  and  gilt  cross.  The  entire  height 
of  the  dome  is  282  feet.  The  portico  is  adorned  with  twenty-two 
fluted  Corinthian  columns,  forty  feet  in  height;  above  this  the 
workmen  were  engaged  in  forming  some  bassreliefs  to  take,  the 
place  of  a  former  group,  which  was  thought  not  in  good  taste. 
The  church  is  a  Greek  cross  340  feet  long  and  250  feet  broad, 
each  branch  of  which  is  again  formed  into  a  cross,  so  that  there 
is  one  large  cross  which  comprises  four  smaller  ones.  One  hun- 
dred and  thirty  fluted  columns  of  the  Corinthian  order  adorn  the 
interior,  and  the  dome  is  supported  by  heavy  colums,  ornamented 
3 


30  FRANCE. 

with  pilasters.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  this  church 
was  consecrated  for  a  burial-place  for  the  heroes  of  the  illustrious 
men  of  the  French  nation,  for  which  the  immense  sepulchral  vault 
underneath  was  well  suited.  Divine  service  in  it  was  discontin- 
ued, and  the  remains  of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  were  transported 
here  in  great  pomp.  Mirabeau  was  also  buried  here.  Here  is 
also  the  tomb  of  La  Grange,  and  various  others.  The  cicerone,  in 
conducting  us  round,  put  on  a  bombastic  air,  and  said  off  his  ora- 
tion at  each  tomb  with  great  pomposity. 

In  1821,  Louis  XVIII.,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  zeal  for  Christi- 
anity, restored  this  church  to  its  original  design.  Since  the  last 
revolution,  however,  it  has  been  again  dismantled  interiorly  of  its 
altars  and  shrines,  and  is  nothing  but  a  plain  and  naked  monumental 
edifice,  with  here  and  there  a  tablet  recording  the  names  of  those 
who  perished  in  the  revolution  of  July,  1830.  The  building  cost 
above  three  millions  of  dollars. 

The  church  of  the  Hotel  des  Invalides  is  a  beautiful  edifice. 
It  may,  in  fact,  be  called  a  double  church,  divided  by  a  high  altar 
in  the  centre,  which  faces  both  ways,  and  accommodates  both 
churches.  The  northern  part  is  devoted  to  worship ;  the  other 
seems  to  be,  like  the  Pantheon,  a  mere  monumental  edifice  ;  it  is 
called  the  Dome,  and  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  finest  piece 
of  architecture  in  Paris. 

The  outside  of  the  Dome  has  the  rare  ornament  of  being  gilt. 
I  recollect  to  have  heard  it  said  somewhere  that  this  was  done  by 
Napoleon  as  an  alterative,  as  the  physicians  would  say,  to  the 
type  of  a  popular  fever.  Some  indications  were  given  among  the 
Parisians  of  a  restlessness  that  did  not  argue  well  for  the  public 
peace.  "  Go,"  said  Napoleon,  who  well  knew  the  temperament 
of  the  patient  under  his  treatment,  "  go  gild  the  dome  of  the  Hotel 
des  Invalides}''  It  was  done — and  all  the  effervescence  of  public 
feeling  passed  off  in  admiration  of  this  new  wonder. 

The  Magdalene  Church  has  already  been  alluded  to.  I  know 
of  nothing  in  France  more  beautiful  than  the  external  character 
of  this  church.  The  interior  not  being  finished,  spectators  were 
not  admitted. 

A  church  was  commenced  on  this  site  in  1764,  under  Louis 
XV.  The  edifice  was  suspended  at  the  Revolution,  1789  But 
in  1808  Napoleon  took  down  all  that  had  been  done,  with  the  de- 


THE    MAGDALENE    CHURCH.  31 

sign  of  erecting  a  Temple  of  Glory,  dedicated  to  the  grand  army. 
This  edifice  was  commenced,  and  was  suspended  again  in  1813. 
But  after  the  Restoration  in  1816  it  was  resumed  for  a  monu- 
mental church  to  Louis  XVI.  and  his  queen,  Louis  XVIL,  &c. 
This  was  again  suspended  by  the  Revolution  of  July,  1830,  but 
is  now  in  a  state  of  forwardness  under  Louis  Philippe,  to  whose 
lot  it  has  fallen  to  complete  more  than  one  work  designed  and 
commenced  by  preceding  dynasties.*  It  is  a  parallelogram,  and 
is  finished  in  the  style  of  a  Grecian  temple,  surrounded  on  three 
sides  by  a  splendid  portico  of  Corinthian  columns,  resting  on  an 
elevated  basement,  and  surmounted  by  a  beautiful  entablature, 
with  an  ornamented  frieze  of  bassrelief.  Over  the  front  portico 
is  a  magnificent  bassrelief,  representing  either  the  Judgment,  or 
Paradise  and  Purgatory,  I  could  not  tell  which — I  should  think  it 
was  the  former,  only  that  Mary  Magdalene  is  kneeling,  apparently 
to  supplicate  mercy  for  the  wretched  sinners  who  are  at  the  left 
hand  of  the  judge — which  would  not  be  exactly  in  accordance,  I 
should  think,  with  good  taste  and  good  theology,  even  with  the 
Catholics,  who  certainly  cannot  suppose  the  day  of  judgment  a 
day  for  showing  mercy.  There  they  are,  however,  the  Saviour 
in  the  centre,  and  a  company  of  happy  personages  on  the  right 
hand,  and  on  the  left  wretched  victims  writhing  in  torment. 
Among  the  latter  Judas  looks  unutterable  horror,  as  he  holds  up 
by  both  his  hands  his  gushing  bowels.  The  figure  of  Mary 
is  out  of  all  taste,  being  altogether  too  diminutive  for  the  rest  of 
the  group.  But  the  countenance  of  the  judge  is  above  all  praise. 
It  is  enough  to  say  of  it  that  it  is  such  a  countenance  as  becomes 
the  Judge  of  the  universe. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that,  for  purposes  of  worship, 
the  churches  are  comparatively  deserted;  they  are  still  frequented 
for  marriages  and  funerals  ;  and,  whether  there  be  worshippers  or 
not,  the  ceremony  of  the  mass  still  goes  on.  In  one  of  the 
churches  we  visited  there  were,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  at  dif- 
ferent altars,  the  ceremonies  of  the  mass,  matrimony,  and  a  funeral 
service.  This  spectacle  struck  us,  who  were  unused  to  such  ex- 
hibitions, as  peculiarly  incongruous.  A.nd  yet  it  was  but  a  con- 
densed exhibition  of  what  is  constantly  passing  in  society.  The 

*  It  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  its  present  destination  is  a  monumental  church  for  the 
Bourbons. 


32  FRANCE. 

gay  bridal  party  and  the  funeral  procession,  marriages  and  deaths, 
make  up  the  great  portion  of  human  history.  We  needed  but.  a 
christening  to  have  rendered  the  picture  complete. 

Of  the  theatres  in  Paris  I  will  say  nothing,  save  that,  including 
six  small  ones  without  the  barriers,  there  are  twenty-seven  in  the 
whole,  besides  six  or  seven  other  places  for  rope-dancing,  panto- 
mime, and  other  comic  performances ;  and  that  these  places,  it  is 
said,  are  generally  crowded,  and  most  of  them  are  open  on  Sun- 
days. 

Of  the  numerous  hospitals  and  benevolent  institutions  I  can 
mention  but  a  few,  and  those,  chiefly,  which  may  throw  some 
light  on  the  French  character  and  peculiar  usages. 

Among  these,  the  Hospice  des  Enfans-trouvts,  or  Foundling 
Hospital,  stands  pre-eminent,  for  the  reason  that  it  designates,  to 
a  great  degree,  the  prevalence  of  illicit  love.  The  first  thing  that 
struck  my  attention  in  visiting  this  hospital  was  a  box  beside  the 
door,  which  communicates  with  the  room  within.  Here  the 
mother  or  her  friend,  who  wishes  to  be  unknown,  places  her  in- 
fant and  retires,  without  questioning  or  being  questioned,  and,  in 
fact,  without  being  seen.  The  little  stranger  is  immediately 
pulled  in  and  committed  to  the  care  of  the  nurse.  Within,  we 
found  some  fifteen  or  twenty  who  were  just  rolled  up  in  their 
swaddling  bands,  and  the  nurses  from  the  country  were  standing 
by  to  take  them.  In  other  apartments  were  the  sick,  snugly  laid 
by  in  rows  of  neat  little  cots  on  each  side,  covered  with  snow- 
white  curtains.  All  the  apartments  were  well  arranged  and  very 
cleanly.  The  Sisters  of  Charity  were  the  attendants  and  nurses. 

The  number  received  into  this  hospice  annually  is  six  or  seven 
thousand,  although  it  is  not  pretended  that  they  are  all  born  out 
of  matrimony,  since  legitimate  parents  may  place  their  chil- 
dren here  if  they  find  it  inconvenient  to  take  care  of  them ;  but 
the  greater  part  are,  doubtless,  illegitimate.  Indeed,  it  is  ascer- 
tained by  the  census  and  the  records  of  births,  that  about  one  third 
of  all  the  births  in  Paris  are  of  illegitimate  children.  And  it  can- 
not be  doubted  but  that  the  Foundling  Hospital  is  an  encourage- 
ment to  this,  by  affording  such  a  ready  opportunity  for  conceal- 
ment, and  so  easy  a  method  of  disposing  of  the  fruits  of  unlawful 
intercourse.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  pleaded,  with  truth,  no  doubt, 
that  this  provision  prevents,  in  numerous  instances,  the  sin  of  in- 


INSTITUTION    FOR   THE    DEAF    AND   DUMB.  33 

fanticide.  But  is  this  a  sufficient  justification  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  evil  ?  Not  more  of  these  children  are  raised,  probably, 
than  would  be  without  this  provision ;  for  I  think  not  more  than 
one  third  of  all  who  enter  here  are  raised  to  maturity. 

The  Hotel  des  Invalides,  the  church  of  which  has  been  already 
noticed,  is  a  splendid  building,  the  object  of  which  is  to  support 
the  old  and  disabled  soldiers  and  officers  of  the  army.  The  pres- 
ent edifice  was  commenced  in  1670  by  Louis  XIV.,  whose  nu- 
merous wars  had  greatly  increased  the  number  of  invalid  soldiers, 
and  rendered  an  enlargement  of  the  existing  accommodations  for 
these  servants  of  his  ambition  absolutely  necessary.  It  is  now  a 
very  spacious  edifice,  presenting  a  northern  front  of  six  hundred 
and  twelve  feet  in  length.  Through  this  you  pass  by  an  elegant 
columnar  vestibule  into  a  court,  which  some  have  supposed  one 
of  the  finest  specimens  of  architecture  in  France,  and,  of  course, 
a  Frenchman  would  say,  "the  finest  in  the  world."  It  is  sur- 
rounded by  four  piles  of  buildings,  projecting  in  the  centre,  pavil- 
ioned at  the  angles,  and  ornamented  with  two  ranges,  one  above 
the  other,  of  beautiful  arcades.  In  these  piles  are  the  various 
rooms  for  the  refectories,  lodgings,  public  saloons,  &c.  One  in- 
teresting feature  is  the  library,  containing  twenty  thousand  vol- 
umes, founded  by  Napoleon,  which  is  open  daily,  except  on  Sun 
days  and  festivals,  for  all  the  inmates  of  the  hospital.  This  hos 
pice  can  accommodate  seven  thousand.  But  probably  less  than 
one  third  of  that  number  are  now  connected  with  the  establish- 
ment ;  and,  if  peace  continues,  their  number  will,  of  course,  con- 
tinually diminish. 

Time  would  fail  to  speak  of  the  numerous  charitable  institu- 
tions of  Paris  ;  but  I  ought  not  to  pass,  without  a  slight  notice  at 
least,  the  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb ;  not  because  such 
an  institution  is  now  a  new  phenomenon,  but  because  to  France 
the  world  is  indebted  for  the  noble  system  of  education  which  is 
now  so  deservedly  popular,  and  by  which  this  unhappy  class  of 
our  fellow-beings  are  let  into  a  new  world  of  thought  and  useful- 
ness. 

The  Abbt  de  VEpte  formed  the  first  school  of  this  kind  at  his 
own  expense,  and  succeeded  so  well  that  he  attracted  the  atten- 
tion and  patronage  of  government  to  his  benevolent  enterprise. 
In  1785  it  was  endowed  with  an  annual  grant  of  3400  livres,  and 

E 


34  FRANCE. 

in  1790,  on  the  death  of  the  abbe,  it  was  put  under  the  care  of  the 
Abbe  Sicard.  Eighty  are  here  supported  gratuitously,  besides 
twenty  others  who  are  partly  supported ;  and  then  an  indefinite 
number  is  taken  at  a  price  of  nine  hundred  francs  per  annum  for 
males  and  eight  hundred  for  females. 

The  Place  Vendome  is  of  itself  an  elegant  square  of  about  four 
hundred  and  fifty  by  four  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  and  surround- 
ed by  fine  buildings ;  but  its  principal  interest  is  the  column,  or 
triumphal  pillar,  erected  by  Bonaparte  to  commemorate  his  vic- 
tories in  Germany  in  the  famous  campaign  of  1805.  It  is  finished 
on  the  same  principle  with  the  celebrated  Trajan's  Pillar  in  Rome, 
but  is  one  twelfth  larger,  being  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  in 
height,  with  a  diameter  of  twelve  feet.  The  pedestal  is  twenty- 
two  feet  in  height,  and  about  twenty  in  breadth.  The  centre  of 
the  shaft  is  of  stone,  but  is  covered  throughout  with  bronze  cast 
in  plates  from  twelve  hundred  pieces  of  cannon  taken  from  the 
Russians  and  Austrians  during  the  campaign  above  mentioned,  the 
whole  weighing  about  three  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pounds. 

The  bronze  plates  are  cast  and  put  on  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  bassrelief  winds  round  the  pillar  in  a  spiral  form,  from  the 
bottom  to  the  top,  covered  with  figures  two  thousand  in  number, 
so  arranged  as  to  be  a  chronological  representation  of  the  entire 
campaign,  from  the  time  the  encampment  was  broken  up  at  Bou- 
logne, where  Napoleon  had  so  long  encamped  to  menace  England, 
until  the  battle  of  Austerlitz,  which  gave  him  the  power  of  dicta- 
ting a  peace  on  his  own  terms.  The  figures  are  three  feet  in 
height,  and  the  entire  spiral  band  is  eight  hundred  and  forty  feet. 
At  the  top  is  a  gallery,  which  is  approached  by  an  interior  stair- 
case, and  surmounted  by  a  colossal  statue  of  Napoleon  in  bronze, 
eleven  feet  in  height.  This  was  taken  down  during  the  last  reign 
of  the  Bourbons  ;  but,  since  their  expulsion,  it  has  been  restored. 

From  this  elevation  there  are  not  unfrequently  suicidal  leaps 
upon  the  pavement  below  by  those  who,  weary  of  life,  wish  never- 
theless to  die  a  sentimental  death  at  the  foot  of  Napoleon's  column, 
and  under  the  very  eye  of  the  hero. 

La  Bourse,  or  the  Exchange,  is  another  splendid  Parisian  edi- 
fice. It  stands  on  the  site  of  an  ancient  convent,  so  that  where 
the  God  of  heaven  was  once  worshipped,  to  the  exclusion  alto- 
gether of  worldly  business,  the  god  of  mammon  now  holds  his 


LA   BOURSE.  35 

palace  and  his  court,  and  receives  daily  the  homage  of  thousands 
of  worshippers.  This  edifice  was  commenced  by  Napoleon  in 
1808,  after  designs  by  Brogniard,  but  was  left  by  him  unfinished, 
and  was  not  completed  until  1826.  It  is  two  hundred  and  twelve 
by  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet,  and  is  entirely  surrounded  by 
a  peristyle  of  sixty-six  Corinthian  columns,  surmounted  by  an  en- 
tablature and  an  attic.  The  principal  room  is  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  by  seventy-six  feet,  surrounded  by  a  gallery,  and  lighted 
from  the  roof.  Into  this  gallery  I  entered  during  the  hours  of 
business,  arid  noticed  a  singular  phenomenon  of  sound.  It  was 
owing  to  the  ring  and  echo  of  the  edifice.  The  thousands  below 
were  carrying  on  their  noisy  operations — for  all  business  in  Paris 
almost  must  be  vociferous — and  the  sounds  echoing  and  re-echo- 
ing from  the  arcades,  and  galleries,  and  dome,  were  as  the  sound 
of  many  waters  tumbling  over  the  cataract  of  Niagara.  Here, 
too,  another  sense  was  deceived.  The  roof  is  ornamented  with 
paintings  in  chiaro-scuro*  of  the  colour  of  marble,  and  so  finely 
executed,  and  so  favoured  by  the  light,  that  I  mistook  them  for 
sculpture,  after  examining  for  a  considerable  time  with  great  ad- 
miration ;  nor  did  I  discover  my  mistake  until  I  left,  and  was  cor- 
rected by  one  to  whom  I  spake  of  the  "  beautiful  sculpture"  in  the 
roof  of  the  Bourse. 

The  French  are  a  gambling  nation,  and  they  are  as  fond  of  gam- 
bling in  stocks  as  in  other  games  of  chance  and  skill.  This 
makes  the  business  of  the  Exchange  a  great  business  for  high 
and  low.  Even  some  females  engage  in  this  kind  of  speculation. 
I  was  ^old  of  a  lady  in  Paris  with  whom  this  kind  of  gambling 
had  become  a  sort  of  mania,  by  which  she  had  ruined  a  splendid 
fortune. 

*  This  is  a  species  of  painting  of  only  one  colour,  designed,  like  sculpture,  to  give 
form  only,  which  is  done  by  the  skilfulness  of  the  shading. 


36  FRANCE 


CHAPTER  III. 

I  AM  aware  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  describe  all  that  is 
interesting  in  the  public  buildings  of  Paris  of  various  kinds.  If 
my  plan  would  permit,  I  might  describe  the  various  public  offices 
in  detail,  and  the  edifices  where  they  are  kept,  some  of  which 
are  well  worthy  of  attention  and  description.  I  might  speak  of 
the  markets,  of  which  there  are  above  thirty,  some  of  which  are 
peculiar,  as,  for  example,  the  wine-market,  to  which  are  often 
brought  1500  casks  per  day,  and  the  buildings  of  which  will  con- 
tain 800,000  casks.  In  the  front  of  this  market  is  a  garden,  in 
which  there  are  scores  of  neat  little  cabins,  not  much  larger  than 
large  sentinel-boxes,  which  are  the  offices  of  the  dealers  in  wine. 
I  might  speak  of  the  abattoirs,  or  slaughter-houses,  five  of  which, 
planned  and  commenced  by  Napoleon,  have  been  fitted  up  with 
great  accommodations  at  different  sides  of  the  city  and  quite  at 
the  extremities,  so  that  no  cattle  are  driven  through  the  town — an 
arrangement  greatly  to  be  commended,  and  which  is  felt  the  more 
by  the  traveller  recently  from  London,  where,  at  times,  and  in 
certain  streets,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  pass  for  the  crowds  of 
cattle  that  are  urged  through  the  town  to  Smithfield  market,  as 
though  there  was  a  necessity  of  devoting  life,  either  of  heretics 
or  lower  animals,  on  that  ill-fated  spot. 

I  might  describe  the  fountains,  of  which  there  are  nearly  sev- 
enty, conveying  water  through  some  130  or  140  different  ori- 
fices. Many  of  these  were  the  work  of  Napoleon,  and  some 
were  planned  by  him  and  not  finished  ;  one  especially,  the  model 
of  which  still  remains,  on  a  most  magnificent  scale.  It  is  situated 
in  the  Place  de  la  Bastille,  a  spot  very  celebrated  in  the  history 
of  Paris,  and  rendered  more  notorious  by  the  prison  here  having 
been  broken  open  by  the  revolutionists  on  the  fourteenth  of  July, 
1789,  and  demolished  the  next  year  by  order  of  the  National 
Assembly.  This  fountain  was  to  be  erected  on  an  arch  to  be 
thrown  over  the  canal  St.  Martin,  which  now  passes  through  the 
Place  Bastille,  and  was  to  consist  of  a  huge  elephant,  seventy- 


CEMETERIES    OF   PARIS.  37 

two  feet  high,  including  a  tower  on  his  back,  and  his  legs  were  to  be 
six  feet  in  diameter,  the  interior  of  one  of  which  was  to  contain  the 
staircase,  and  the  water  was  to  issue  from  his  trunk.  The  model 
still  stands  enclosed,  but  the  work,  it  is  feared,  will  never  be  com- 
pleted. The  unfinished  colossal  designs  of  Bonaparte  can  hardly 
be  grappled  by  his  successors. 

The  water  of  the  fountains  of  Paris  is  not  generally  conveyed 
by  pipes  to  the  different  streets  and  houses,  as  in  Philadelphia 
and  some  other  cities,  but  is  taken  at  the  fountains  by  carriers, 
and  conveyed  either  in  casks  or  in  pails,  by  neck-yokes,  to  the 
different  houses,  and  sold.  The  water  of  Paris,  it  is  computed, 
costs  the  citizens  nearly  one  million  of  dollars  annually,  without 
reckoning  anything  for  the  cost  and  repair  of  the  aqueducts. 

The  aqueducts  and  fountains  are  supplied  with  water  from  the 
Seine,  elevated  by  steam  power  ;  by  water  from  the  river  Ourcq, 
which  is  conducted  to  Paris  by  a  canal  ;  and  by  some  natural 
springs  in  elevated  situations  in  the  neighbourhood. 

The  water  of  the  Seine  is  very  thick  and  muddy,  and  has  to 
undergd  a  thorough  filtration  before  it  can  be  used,  so  that  every 
family  is  obliged  to  keep  a  filter.  And  even  after  this  process  the 
water  appears  to  possess  a  cathartic  quality,  which  often  affects 
strangers  seriously  at  their  first  residence  in  Paris. 

I  ought  also  to  say  something  of  the  cemeteries  of  this  renowned 
city — not  renowned  the  least  for  its  receptacles  of  the  dead. 
The  catacombs  were  originally  quarries  which  had  been  worked 
from  time  immemorial  for  the  procuring  of  stone  for  architectural 
purposes,  extending  quite  under  that  part  of  the  city  which  is  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Luxembourg.  These  quarries  were 
fitted  up  in  1784  and  5  to  receive  the  bones  of  an  extensive  cem- 
etery in  the  centre  of  Paris,  which  had  become  a  public  nuisance, 
and  endangered  the  health  of  the  citizens.  After  this,  bones  from 
other  suppressed  burial-places  were  also  deposited  here  ;  and, 
after  the  revolution  commenced,  the  thousands  who  perished  in 
the  popular  tumults  were  thrown  in  here,  as  also  the  bones  found 
in  the  cemeteries  of  the  suppressed  convents  and  churches ;  so 
that  here  are  gathered  together,  in  one  vast  charnel-house,  the 
millions  that  have  been  swept  away  by  the  common  destroyer 
through  scores  of  generations.  One  passage  to  this  physical 
Hades  is  near  the  Barriere  d'Enfer,  literally  the  "  Gate  of  Hell !" 
4 


38 


FRANCE. 


What  a  fearful  association  !  alas,  how  many  whose  bones  are 
here  deposited  may  have  entered  through  that  gate  '  for  "  wide 
is  the  gate  that  leadeth  to  death,  and  many  there  be  that  go  in 
thereat."  These  catacombs  are  not  now  open  to  the  public,  on 
account,  it  is  said,  of  repairs  that  are  in  progress. 

To  prevent  further  inconvenience  from  burying  the  dead  within 
the  walls,  five  spacious  cemeteries  have  been  provided  without 
the  walls,  the  most  celebrated  of  which,  Pere  la  Chaise,  we 
visited — and  although  we  had  intended  to  give  it  but  a  passing 
glance,  yet  the  interest  of  the  place  held  us  there  from  morning 
till  nightfall ;  and  even  then,  but  for  the  fatigue  of  the  visit,  its 
interest  would  scarcely  have  been  abated,  much  less  destroyed. 

This  cemetery  is  situated  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  upon  ground 
formerly  occupied  by  Pere  la  Chaise,  hence  its  name,  and  after- 
ward by  an  establishment  of  the  Jesuits,  and  contains  about  one 
hundred  acres.  It  was  laid  out  by  Brogniard  with  a  great  deal 
of  judgment  and  taste,  and  has  been  ornamented  with  cypresses, 
poplars,  and  other  trees  and  shrubbery.  It  has  some  principal 
thoroughfares,  and  numerous  serpentine  paths,  and  is  adorned 
with  an  immense  number  of  most  beautiful  and  expensive  monu- 
ments. Some  of  them  are  temples,  others  are  pyramids  and 
obelisks.  Here  is  a  column,  there  an  altar,  and  there  a  sepul- 
chral chapeL  These  latter  are  numerous,  and  are  frequently 
fitted  up  in  the  interior  with  a  little  altar  and  seats,  and  furnished 
with  prayer-books,  lamps,  &c.  Into  these  chapels  we  could  look 
through  the  windows,  and  there,  in  several  instances,  we  found 
we  had  intruded  upon  the  solitude  and  grief  of  a  widow  or  a 
mother,  who  had  shut  herself  in,  clad  in  weeds,  and  perhaps  suf- 
fused in  tears)  to  spend  some  hours  of  mourning  and  gloom  in 
close  association  with  departed  friends.  Here,  too,  were  little 
enclosures  of  flowers,  which  are  cultivated  with'great  care — some' 
of  the  friends  hire  a  gardener  to  keep  their  sepulchral  plants 
and  blossoms  in  perpetual  verdure.  The  monuments  were  al- 
most all  hung  round  with  wreaths,  either  of  artificial  or  natural 
flowers,*  which  are  duly  renewed  on  "All  Souls'  Day,"  if 
not  oftener ;  for  this  is  a  day  which,  in  Catholic  countries,  is 
sacieu  to  the  dead,  and  almost  all  Pans  on  this  day  pass  out  to 

*  The  natural  flower  most  in  use  is  the  Yellow  Everlasting,  or  Gnaphalium  Glomeratum, 
-Ntginally  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


EFFECTS    OF  A    FALSE    AND    CORRECT   VIEW    OF   RELIGION.    39 

the  cemeteries,  to  garnish  their  sepulchres  and  commemorate  the 
death  of  their  departed  friends. 

In  some  of  these  little  chapels  where  children  were  buried  we 
noticed,  as  an  extremely  common  practice,  that  there  were  de- 
posited and  arranged  all  the  little  furniture,  bawbles,  and  toys  that 
adorned  their  playhouses  when  alive,  as  gloomy,  and  yet  expres- 
sive and  exquisite  remembrances  of  the  playful  babes  that  had 
been  snatched  away  by  death. 

That  kind  of  sentimental  materialism  which  prevails  in  France 
is  well  suited  to  prompt  to  this  adorning  of  their  sepulchres  and 
attention  to  the  relics  of  departed  friends.  The  reign  of  vulgar 
atheism,  such  as  led  the  revolutionary  fanatics  to  declare  death 
an  eternal  sleep,  and  to  worship  reason  in  the  character  and  per- 
son of  a  harlot,  was  not  sufficiently  refined  even  for  a  decent  re- 
spect for  the  dead.  Then,  it  is  said,  bodies  were  tumbled  into 
the  pit  without  even  the  decencies  of  the  rites  of  sepulture.  A 
correct  view  of  religion  and  of  revelation,  on  the  other  hand, 
while  it  leads  to  a  respectful  interment  of  the  body,  and  perhaps 
the  respectful  erection  of  some  monument  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased,  teaches  us  to  remember,  after  all,  that  the  entombed 
body  is  not  the  friend  we  have  lost — that  all  that  is  essential  to 
him  or  her  we  once  loved  has  gone,  leaving  only  the  gross  tene- 
ment behind.  But  the  refined  skeptic,  with  some  vague  religious 
feeling — mixed  with  much  sentimentalism  and  materiality — 
doubting  of  everything  he  cannot  see  and  feel,  hangs  around  the 
mouldering  dust  of  a  departed  friend  as  though  this  were  all.  It 
is  in  this  way  I  account  for  the  excessive  attention  to  the  graves 
and  adorning  of  the  sepulchres  of  the  dead.  It  is  an  effort  to 
transform  the  valley  of  bones  into  a  terrestrial  paradise  ;  and  al- 
though there  is  an  enchantment  about  it  which  for  a  moment  al- 
most takes  away  the  gloom  of  the  grave,  and  makes  one  willing, 
he  hardly  knows  why,  to  lay  himself  down  in  the  marble  temple 
over  which  the  honeysuckle  wreaths  its  fragrant  blossoms,  and 
around  which  the  rose  and  the  hyacinth  diffuse  their  redolent 
dew — where  friends  record  their  virtues  on  the  enduring  tablet, 
and  adorn  their  sepulchres  with  circling  garlands,  that  at  once 
betoken  the  warmth  and  the  perpetuity  of  their  love ;  yet  it  is  an 
earthly  enchantment  after  all,  and  only  tends  to  call  off  the  mind 
from  the  paradise  above,  and  the  awfully  interesting  realities  of 
the  spiritual  world. 


40  FRANCE. 

In  addition  to  the  architectural  beauty,  and  monumental  mag- 
nificence, and  vegetable  verdure  and  fragrance,  and  picturesque 
scenery  of  Pere  la  Chaise,  there  is  this  one  most  interesting 
and  instructive  feature  in  this  marble  city  of  the  dead.  It  is  a 
biographical  dictionary  of  the  illustrious  men  of  France  of  the 
last  generation — a  dictionary'whose  pages  combine  all  the  excel- 
lences of  literal  description  and  hieroglyphical  representation, 
set  off  with  all  the  fascination  of  art,  and  enforced  with  all  the  in- 
terest of  most  vivid  and  intimate  association.  This  it  is  that 
gives  the  charm  to  the  spot,  and  holds  the  visitant  spellbound  in 
the  midst  of  an  illustrious  society,  with  whose  character,  and  his- 
tory, and  works  he  seems  to  hold  immediate  communion,  inde- 
pendent of  the  forms  and  etiquette  that  embarrass  living  associa- 
tions. The  stranger  here  needs  no  introduction — the  intercourse 
is  embarrassed  by  no  harsh  and  unfamiliar  accents  of  a  foreign 
tongue.  And  when  he  leaves  the  spot,  it  requires  no  effort  of  the 
imagination  to  fancy  that  he  has  been  in  the  society  of  a  Four- 
croy,  a  La  Place,  a  Delille,  a  Talma,  a  Sicard,  a  Le  Fevre,  a 
Massena — La  Fontaine,  David,  and  a  host  of  others,  whose  names 
are  known  not  only  to  France,  but  to  the  world.  With  these 
are  others  of  various  characters  and  professions,  residing  together, 
as  in  the  cities  of  the  living,  in  the  same  neighbourhood.  But 
you  are  not  obliged  to  be  intimate  with  all ;  you  may  select  your 
society,  and  converse  only  with  such  as  are  agreeable  to  your 
own  taste. 

And  here,  too,  among  the  moderns,  you  may  find  a  few  rare 
associations  of  a  former  age,  transported  hither  since  the  opening 
of  the  cemetery  in  1804.  You  will  be  especially  struck  at  a 
view  of  the  sepulchral  temple,  with  its  five  beautifully  sculptured 
steeples,  and  its  fourteen  columns,  and  ten  arches  exquisitely 
wrought,  of  the  celebrated  sinners  and  penitents  Abelard  and  He- 
loise.  This  temple  is  formed  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  Abbey  of 
the  Paraclete,  founded  by  Abelard,  and  of  which  Heloise  was  the 
first  abbess.  Here,  in  monumental  association,  side  by  side,  the 
lovers  lie  in  peace.  Who  that  looks  upon  them  can  but  sigh 
for  human  frailty,  at  the  same  time  that  he  feels  compelled  to 
reprobate  that  feature  of  the  Roman  Church  which,  by  unscrip- 
tural  prohibitions,  lays  a  snare  for  the  conscience,  and,  by  enfor- 
cing human  enactments,  does,  more  powerfully  than  Satan  himself, 
tempt  to  the  violation  of  the  law  of  God  J 


ROYAL   MANUFACTORIES.  41 

But  I  must  not  stop  to  speak  of  particular  monuments.  In 
discussing  the  subject  of  the  cemeteries,  however,  it  should  be 
mentioned  that  a  part  of  the  ground  is  devoted  to  the  burial  of  the 
poor ;  and  this  part  is  broken  up  and  used  anew  for  the  purposes 
of  burial  every  five  years.  Others,  whose  friends  are  not  able  to 
purchase  the  land  in  fee,  are  buried  on  ground  leased  for  six  years 
at  a  moderate  fee.  And  others  again  are,  for  a  still  higher  price, 
favoured  with  a  permanent  and  undisturbed  resting-place  for  their 
dust  until  the  graves  shall  give  up  their  dead. 

There  are  topics  enough  in  Paris  to  employ  my  attention  and 
my  pen  for  months,  but  it  is  not  my  intention  to  dwell  much  longer 
in  this  city.  A  few  things  more  in  and  about  Paris,  and  I  must 
leave  it. 

The  government  of  France  has  formerly  pursued  a  monopo- 
lizing spirit,  by  which  it  has  sought  to  draw  manufactories  and 
merchandise  into  its  own  hands.  Salt,  tobacco,  oil,  &c.,  as  mat- 
ters of  trade,  have  been  royal  monopolies ;  so,  in  manufactories, 
the  government  has  always  endeavoured  to  secure  some  of  the 
most  important  to  itself.  At  present  there  are  six  royal  manufac- 
tories in  and  about  Paris,  viz.  :  tapestry,  carpets,  looking-glasses, 
mosaic-work,  snuff,  and  porcelain.  Nowhere  do  you  find  look- 
ing-glasses made  so  fine  as  in  France.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  country 
of  mirrors  ;  the  walls  of  the  rooms,  in  some  instances,  are  almost 
lined  with  them,  and  they  are  framed  into  the  walls  of  the  build- 
ings, and  let  with  the  apartments  as  regularly  as  the  chimneys. 
All  experience,  however,  proves  that  government  cannot  man- 
ufacture as  cheap  as  private  individuals.  This,  therefore,  shows 
the  folly  of  any  such  government  monopolies,  and  this,  too,  is  a 
doctrine  now  pretty  well  understood,  even  in  France,  as  well  as 
elsewhere ;  indeed,  some  of  her  political  economists  have  been 
the  most  decided  in  condemning  and  the  most  lucid  in  portraying 
the  evils  of  this  system.  Still  the  government  holds  on  to 
a  few  items  of  trade  and  manufacture,  merely  for  the  puposes 
of  revenue,  such,  for  example,  as  the  oil  trade  and  the  snuff  manu- 
factory. Others,  again,  are  conducted  by  the  government  merely 
for  national  pride,  and  for  the  purposes  of  court  splendour  or  royal 
munificence ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that,  for  perfection  and 
magnificence,  nothing  can  excel  some  of  these  public  productions. 
4  F 


42  FRANCE. 

I  shall  mention  but  two  establishments,  both  of  'which  are  kept 
up  exclusively,  I  believe,  for  the  purpose  just  mentioned. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  Manufacture  Royal  des  Gobelins. 
This  takes  its  name  from  a  family  of  the  name  of  Gobelin,  who 
owned  the  premises,  and  occupied  them  in  dying  wool ;  afterward 
they  were  used  for  tapestry ;  and  finally  were,  by  the  suggestion 
of  Colbert,  whose  policy  it  always  was  to  make  the  government 
an  adventurer  in  business  and  trade,  bought  up  by  Louis  XIV. 
for  a  royal  manufactory.  It  is  now  employed  to  furnish  the  royal 
palaces,  and  for  presents  to  foreign  courts.  We  found  the  work- 
men looking  pale  and  sickly,  and  learned  that  they  were  poorly 
paid.  The  work,  however,  is  magnificent.  We  found  a  num- 
ber of  splendid  pieces  in  the  looms,  and  there  many  of  them  will 
be  for  a  long  time  to  come,  for  some  of  the  pieces  are  in  the  loom 
for  six  years.  They  imitate,  or  rather  work  into  the  tapestry, 
both  the  designs  and  the  colours  of  the  most  celebrated  pictures. 
The  weaver  frequently  has  his  model  or  copy  behind  him,  and  he 
turns  around  occasionally  to  see  the  figure  and  the  colour,  which 
he  most  perfectly  and  beautifully  transfers  to  his  web.  One  of 
these  pieces  of  tapestry,  when  finished,  will  sell  for  between  three 
and  four  thousand  dollars.  They  are,  however,  not  often  sold,  and 
the  whole  concern  is  a  tax  upon  government,  and  so  far  it  may  be 
considered  a  dead  loss  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view ;  but  how 
much  is  gained  in  point  of  refinement  and  the  improvement  and 
gratification  of  taste  is  another  question.  The  pecuniary  loss  to 
the  nation  is  certainly  not  so  great  as  where  government  monop- 
olizes an  article  for  general  consumption  at  an  extravagant  price, 
such  as  it  always  must  be  if  manufactured  by  government.  It 
is  not  the  paying  for  a  comparatively  few  articles  of  luxury  at  an 
extravagant  price,  so  much  as  the  high  price  of  the  necessaries  of 
life,  that  impoverishes  a  nation.  In  addition,  it  may  be  said  also 
in  favour  of  manufactures  of  this  kind,  that  as  they  do  not  readily 
pay  in  market  for  the  extraordinary  expense  of  manufacture,  they 
are  not  likely  to  be  sustained  at  all,  or,  if  sustained,  not  carried  to 
so  great  a  state  of  perfection  by  individual  enterprise  or  private 
munificence.  The  Gobelin  Tapestry,  probably,  never  would  have 
been  carried  to  its  present  state  of  perfection  but  for  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  looking-glass  factory ;  per- 
haps, at  least,  individual  enterprise  would  not  at  so  early  a  period 


SEVRES    PORCELAIN-FACTORY.  43 

have  produced  an  article  so  perfect  as  is  now  manufactured  at 
the  Manufacture  Royal  des  Glac.es.  So  early  as  1688,  the  art 
of  casting  the  glass  was  discovered,  and  of  polishing  it  by  ma- 
chinery. Now  plates  are  cast  and  polished  nine  feet  long  by  seven 
wide,  and  sell  for  2500  dollars. 

But  you  will  think  I  am  giving  an  account  of  the  Glass-factory 
instead  of  the  Gobelin.  To  return  to  them  :  at  the  Gobelin  Fac- 
tory they  not  only  manufacture  tapestry,  but  carpets  also,  of  a 
most  splendid  character,  resembling  the  Persian  carpets.  Some 
were  in  the  looms  when  we  were  there  for  the  royal  palace,  which 
are  thought  superior  even  to  the  carpets  of  the  East.  The  expense 
of  a  moderate-sized  carpet  made  here  is  7  or  8000  dollars.* 

The  Sevres  porcelain  of  France  obtains  its  name  from  the 
village  where  it  is  manufactured.  This  is  a  small  village  two 
leagues  west  of  Paris,  and  near  the  town  and  palace  of  St.  Cloud. 
The  museum  of  the  manufactory  contains  a  collection  of  foreign 
china,  together  with  specimens  of  all  the  porcelain  and  earthen  man- 
ufactures of  France,  and  also  a  collection  of  all  the  different  wares 
which  have  been  made  here  since  its  first  establishment  in  1755. 
Here  we  saw  splendid  and  ample  specimens  from  almost  every 
civilized  country  except  our  own.  From  the  United  States  a  saucer 
only,  I  believe,  was  seen ;  one  of  our  company,  an  American,  took 
the  director's  address,  and  promised  to  send  him  specimens  on 
his  return  home.  He  said  he  had  had  many  such  promises,  but 
they  had  all  failed. 

This  director,  by-the-way,  is  M.  Brogniard,  the  great  naturalist, 
to  whom  the  unfinished  labours  of  Cuvier  were  left  at  his  lamented 
death.  He  possesses  as  fine  a  physiognomy  as  I  have  seen  in 
France,  and  is  in  his  manners  a  most  complaisant  gentleman. 

I  cannot  pretend  to  give  an  account  of  the  different  steps  in 
the  process  of  this  manufacture,  although  they  were  all  pointed 
out  to  us,  nor  yet  of  the  most  splendid  articles  which  were  exhib- 
ited in  the  show-rooms.  Here  were  vases,  cups,  pitchers,  urns, 
figures,  statues,  table  sets,  toys,  chimney  ornaments,  all  of  the 
most  splendid  and  costly  character.  The  ware  itself  is  of  the 
most  perfect  kind,  and  then  the  painting  and  the  gilding,  and  the 

*  Some  of  the  workmen  were  engaged  in  altering  some  of  the  old  Bourbon  carpets 
which  had  in  them  the  fleur-de-lys,  because  the  French  were  unwilling  that  this  former 
national  emblem  should  be  seen  in  the  palace. 


44  FRANCE. 

setting  of  brilliants  and  precious  stones,  add  immensely  to  the  ex- 
pense. M.  Brogniard  has  added  much  to  the  painting  department 
by  his  discoveries  and  improvements  in  the  art  of  painting  glass. 
He  is  said  to  have  ascertained  the  means  of  equalling  all  the  an- 
cient colours  in  glass  except  the  red. 

In  connexion  with  our  visit  to  Sevres,  we  made  the  tour  of 
the  palaces  St.  Cloud  and  Versailles.     The  former  is  a  sweet 
chateau,  possessing  more  beauties  and  comforts  than  magnificence ; 
such  a  residence  as  I  should  suppose  royalty  might  delight  in 
when  it  retired  from  the  cares  of  government  and  the  pleasures 
of  the  capital.     But  it  has  at  some  times  been  so  much  the  resi- 
dence of  the  court,  that  it  has  given  to  it  the  appellation  of  the 
Court  of  St.  Cloud.     It  has  a  splendid  park,  of  two  leagues  in 
circumference,  diversified  by  hill  and  dale.     The  palace  itself  is 
delightfully  located  on  the  slope  of  a  hill,  and  below  it  are  most 
beautiful  water-works,  consisting  of  basins  and  canals,  cascades 
and  jets  cTeau.     These  only  play  at  particular  times,  and  these 
times  are  usually  on  the  Sabbath,  so  that  a  man  who  conscien- 
tiously and  strictly  observes  the  Sabbath  must,  of  course,  deny 
himself  the  pleasure  of  these  water-works.     The  grand  jet  d'eau 
here  is  said  to  throw  the  water  to  a  perpendicular  height  of  125 
feet  from  the  centre  of  a  marble  basin  covering  an  acre  of  space. 
This  consumes  600  hogsheads  of  water  in  an  hour,  and  all  the 
works  in  full  play  consume  3700  hogsheads.     We  visited  the  in- 
terior, which  was  neat,  and  enriched  with  paintings,  statuary,  &c. 
The  town  contains  -about  2500  inhabitants,  and  is  miserably 
built.     The  place,  however,  is  one  of  some  historic  notoriety,  es- 
pecially the  palace.   It  was  here  that  Henry  III.  was  assassinated  in 
1 589.    It  was  here  that  Napoleon  was  placed,  or  rather  place  d  him- 
self, in  the  supreme  power  as  first  consul  on  the  10th  of  November, 
1799.     In  1815  the  palace  was  plundered  by  the  Prussians,  those 
pure  instruments  of  a  pure  legitimacy,  who  made  war  upon  Na< 
«poleon  because  he  had  plundered  Europe  ;  and  here  Blucher  had 
his  headquarters  during  his  stay  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris. 

Versailles  is  four  leagues  from  the  metropolis.  It  never  was 
of  much  note  until  Louis  XIV.  conceived  an  idea  of  building  a 
magnificent  palace  here,  and  then  he  undertook,  contrary  to  all 
natural  principles,  to  force  a  large  town  into  existence,  and,  by  his 
power  and  by  an  immense  waste  of  money,  he  produced  a  hot- 


PALACE    OF    VERSAILLES.  45 

bed  population  of  about  100,000  souls,  which  now  has  declined  to 
25  or  30,000. 

The  palace  was  commenced  in  1664.  It  is  a  magnificent  edi- 
fice, and  surrounded  by  splendid  grounds.  The  expenditure  on 
this  palace  and  the  grounds,  the  outer  enclosure  of  which  is  said 
to  be  twenty  leagues  in  circumference,  has  been  estimated  at  150 
millions  of  dollars,  and  some  estimates  make  it  200  millions. 
Louis,  it  is  said,  burnt  the  accounts  to  prevent  the  world  from 
knowing  the  extent  of  his  extravagance.  It  was  here,  in  fact,  that 
the  foundation  of  the  French  revolution  was  laid ;  for  these  expendi 
tures  brought  on  such  national  poverty,  such  exactions  on  the  one 
side,  and  such  distress  and  resistance  on  the  other,  as  terminated 
finally  and  fatally  in  the  bloody  scenes  of  1789.  So  ,much 
seemed  necessary  to  convince  the  French,  and  the  world  even, 
that  the  prodigality  of  the  rich  is  not  the  wealth  of  the  poor.  It 
was  a  maxim  of  Louis  XIV.,  that  the  profligacy  of  princes  was 
the  wealth  of  their  subjects  ;  that  what  he  took  from  the  people  in 
one  form  he  returned  in  another.  Strange  that  this  shrewd  prince 
did  not  perceive  that  he  took  from  the  people  the  same  amount 
twice ;  once  in  the  form  of  taxes,  and  once  in  the  form  of  services 
and  materials  to  build  his  palace,  and  that  he  restored  them  the 
amount  but  once,  and  that  in  the  form  of  compensation  or  pay 
for  these  services  and  materials ;  and  that  the  entire  amount, 
therefore,  of  this  expenditure  was  a  dead  loss  to  the  people, 
an  entire  annihilation  of  so  much  of  the  productive  capital  of  the 
nation.  But  this  is  not  more  strange  than  some  prevailing  senti- 
ments of  the  present  day,  that  the  capitalist  who  spends  annually 
his  entire  income,  although  it  be  in  luxuries  and  pleasures,  is  the 
great  benefactor  of  the  labouring  classes.  Nor  yet  is  it  more 
strange  than  that  a  most  celebrated  doctor  of  divinity  should 
write  a  treatise  on  political  economy  to  prove  that  the  luxuries  of 
the  rich  are  the  means  of  supporting  the  greatest  population  in 
a  given  section  of  the  country  !  Such  systems  may  move  round 
the  economic  cycle  in  theory,  but  in  real  life  there  is  too  much 
friction  and  resistance  to  give  practical  and  perpetual  play  to  the 
machinery.  Like  the  numerous  machines  for  illustrating  perpet- 
ual motion,  the  practical  working  of  this  system  will  exhibit  a 
constantly  diminished  and  enfeebled  action  until  its  motion  ceases. 
In  the  gardens  and  parks  are  innumerable  streets  and  avenues, 


46  FRANCE. 

with  the  bordering  trees  trained  by  art,  and  multitudes  of  other 
trees  trained  and  sheered  into  various  shapes,  regular  and  fan- 
tastical. The  water-works  are  splendid  ;  the  basins  and  cascades 
are  of  great  extent  and  variety,  filled  with  sea-horses,  crocodiles, 
turtles,  frogs,  and  fishes  spouting  water,  and  performing  their  va- 
rious parts  in  the  grand  exhibitions  which  take  place  here  on 
special  occasions,  when  all  the  water-works  are  in  operation.  In. 
the  park  are  two  smaller  palaces,  called  Le  Grand  Trianon  and 
Le  Petit  Trianon,  which  are  elegantly  fitted  and  furnished. 

Of  the  interior  of  the  principal  palace  we  can  say  nothing.  It 
is  undergoing  repairs  and  improvements,  and  spectators  are  not 
admitted.  The  object  is  to  make  it  a  splendid  national  gallery,  in 
which  not  only  are  the  paintings  to  be  by  national  artists,  but  the 
subjects  are  to  be  of  a  national  character,  embracing  a  consecu- 
tive series  of  the  most  important  historical  events,  to  be  arranged 
in  chronological  ordex.  This,  if  carried  through  with  taste  and 
skill,  will  form  one  of  the  most  interesting,  and,  I  might  say,  useful 
collections  in  existence. 

I  had  intended  to  give  some  account  of  an  excursion  to  St. 
Denis,  and  some  other  places ;  but  I  perceive  I  am  detaining  you 
and  myself  in  Paris  and  its  environs  too  long;  and  yet,  if  it  be 
true,  as  is  often  remarked,  that  Paris  is  France,  we  might  afford 
to  dwell  a  while  in  and  about  the  metropolis.     And  that  Paris  is 
France  to  a  great  extent  is  very  true.     This  is  the  concentration 
of  all  influence  and  of  all  government.     The  political  influence  is 
here.     Here  are  the  controlling  influences  and  moving  springs  of 
religion  and  education.  What  other  extensive  country  is  there  in  the 
world,  in  which,  if  you  revolutionize  the  capital,  you  revolutionize 
the  whole  country  ?     But  Paris  is  the  heart ;  all  besides  in  France 
are  but  subordinate  organs  of  circulation,  which  beat  slow  or  quick, 
weak   or  strong,  just  as  the  central  influence  and  impulse  act 
upon  them  and  through  them.     Of  this  it  is  difficult,  without  a 
close  attention  to  the  past  history  and  present  social  organiza- 
tion of  France,  readily  to  conceive.     The  very  geography  of  the 
country,  however,  favours  this  ;  it  is-  intercepted  and  separated  by 
no  strong  natural  barriers,  while  it  is  itself  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  world,  on  almost  every  side,  by  strong  natural  barriers. 
Imbosomed  by  the  Mediterranean  and  British  seas,  by  the  Alps 
and  the  Pyrenees,  it  seems  formed  by  nature  to  be  one  and  indi 


POLITICAL    STATE    OP    FRANCE.  47 

visible.     For  centuries  there  have  been  no  clans  or  parties  that 
have  talked  of  anything  more  limited  than  France,  the  whole  of 
France ;  and  the  seat  of  all  the  organization  of  its  social  institu- 
tions has  been,  by  common  consent,  at  Paris.     If,  therefore,  a 
traveller  wishes  to   see  France  or  become  acquainted  with  the 
French,  he  must  go  to  Paris.     If  the  government  would  sustain 
itself  in  the  country,  it  has  little  else  to  do  but  to  control  Paris; 
and  if  a  faction  wish  to  overthrow  the  government,  it  has  only  to 
excite  Paris.     Of  this  the  present  government  seems  to  be  well 
aware  ;  and,  therefore,  it  keeps  a  strict  watch  over  the  metropolis  ; 
an  armed  police  holds  the  city  in  subjection — this,  and  this  only. 
It  is  true,  the  present  king  has  the  National  Guard  on  his  side,  and 
why  ?     Is  it  because  they  prefer  the  present  government  to  any 
other  ?     How  can  they  do  this,  when  they  were  the  very  men 
who  expelled  the  Bourbons  for  doing  only  what  the  present  king 
has  done  ?     Did  the  Bourbons  render  themselves  obnoxious  by 
trammelling  and  restricting  the  press  ?     Louis  Philippe  has  done 
this ;  nay,  he  carries  all  his  measures  through  by  the  strong  arm 
of  law,  enforced  by  the  bayonet.  JBut  the  National  Guard  sustain 
it   because   such  a  government  is  to  them  more  desirable  than 
revolution  and  anarchy.     They  are  the  middling  classes,  the  thri- 
ving tradesmen,  shopkeepers,  and  mechanics  of  the  city,  and  they 
know  that  public  commotion  is  sure  to  operate  against  their  inter- 
est, whatever  may  be  the  final  result.     By  public  quiet  they  have 
everything  to  hope,  and  by  commotion  everything  to  fear.     So 
long,  therefore,  as  the  measures  of  the  present  government  are 
tolerable,  it  will  be  sustained.     If  there  be  a  medium  of  tolerable 
severity,  by  which  the  restlessness  of  a  fickle  populace  can  have 
a  salutary  restraint  thrown  over  them  on  the  one  hand,  and  yet  on 
the  other  hand  the  state  of  things  be  so  far  bearable  in  the  view 
of  the  National  Guard  as  to  make  it  preferable  to  a  change,  then 
may  the  present  king  be  sustained.     But  to  do  this  he  must  balance 
himself  on  a  pivot,  a  mere  point.     Thus  far  he  has  done  it  to  ad 
miration,  and  far  beyond  what  was  anticipated.     Schooled  in  ad- 
versity, and  instructed  in  the  science  of  human  nature  by  a  free 
intercourse  with  men,  Louis  Philippe  is  better  prepared  for  his 
position  than  almost  any  other  existing  sovereign.     No  regularly 
educated  legitimate  who  was  trained  to  be  a  king  could  sustain 
himself  on  the  throne  of  France.     The  exigences  of  the  case  are 


48  FRANCE. 

such  as  he  would  not  be  prepared  to  meet ;  but  hitherto  the  present 
sovereign  has  met  them,  and,  perhaps,  if  they  do  not  assassinate 
him,  he  will  maintain  his  ground.     He  seems  hardly  disposed, 
however,  to  trust  himself  wholly  to  the  National  Guard,  and  the 
arrangement  now  is  for  one  of  the  national  militia  and  one  of  the 
regular  soldiers  to  mount  guard  together.    Thus  they  may  strength- 
en each  other  if  united,  and  may  watch  each  other  if  they  should 
have  contrary  views  and  designs.     It  is,  on  the  whole,  I  think, 
greatly  to  be  desired  that  the  life  of  the  king  be  spared,  and  that 
the  government  be  sustained.     It  is  true,  we,  as  Americans,  might 
feel  better  pleased  to  see  a  republican  form  of   government  in 
France,  especially  when  it  is  seen  that  Louis  Philippe  adopts  now 
a  course  of  policy  which  is  in  direct  violation  of  all  the  leading 
principles  which  were  the  conditions  of  his  elevation  to  the  throne. 
But  France  cannot  bear  a  republican  form  of  government;  this 
Lafayette  fully  understood,  or  he  never  would  have  been  instru- 
mental in  placing  another  king  on  the  throne  of  the  Bourbons  ;  and 
yet  there  is  so  large  a  portion  in  France  that  are  favourable  to  a 
republican  government,  that  tkey  will  not  cease  to  agitate  the 
public  mind  and  undermine  the  government  unless  they  are  re- 
strained by  a  strong  hand.     This  makes  France  one  of  the  most 
difficult  nations  to  govern  in  the  world.     So  liberal  in  their  views 
are  the  people  that  they  will  not  tolerate  an  absolute  monarchy, 
and  yet  they  are  unprepared  for  a  republican  governmeni;  they 
are  not  sufficiently  enlightened  and  virtuous  to  sustain  it.     Thus 
a  constitutional  monarchy,  with  a  representative  legislature,  seems 
the  best  suited  to  them ;  and  still  this  spirit  of  liberty  and  rage  for 
republicanism  is  so  strong,  that  this  constitutional  monarch  can 
hardly  sustain  himself  without  becoming  unconstitutionally  se- 
vere and  arbitrary  !  and  if  he  is  unconstitutionally  arbitrary  and 
severe,  the  general  voice  of  an  indignant  people  will  dethrone  him. 
Can  any  one  conceive  of  a  more  difficult  government  than  this  ? 
And  if  this  be  the  true  state  of  the  question  in  France,  will  any 
government  be  likely  to  meet  the  case  better  than  the  present  T 
And  if  the  present  order  of  things  be  broken  up,  have  we  riot  rea- 
son to  fear  that   the  consequences  will   be  melancholy  ?     Now 
not  only  is  France  advancing  in  wealth,  but  the  public  mind  is  be- 
coming informed ;  the  way  is  prepared  for  the  spread  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  the  physical,  and  moral,  and  religious  interests  of  that 


THE    LOUVRE.  49 

great  nation  are  verging  to  a  state  of  promise  which  indicates  not 
only  much  good  to  the  French  nation  itself,  but  a  healthful  influence 
also  for  our  dark  and  sinful  world.  Let  another  revolution  roll  over 
the  political  institutions  of  France,  and  who  can  calculate  the  extent 
of  the  evils  that  may  follow  ?  But,  on  the  other  hand,  let  France 
remain  at  peace  at  home ;  let  her  pursue  that  peaceful  policy  in 
the  affairs  of  Europe  which  her  best  statesmen  are  now  so  anx- 
ious to  pursue  ;  let  those  moral  and  intellectual  influences  operate 
which  have  been,  and  may,  for  half  a  century  to  come,  be  brought 
into  operation,  and  what  an  influence  may  she  not  exert  in  our 
world  ?  The  resources  of  this  nation  are  immense ;  she  is  not 
aware  herself,  probably,  of  their  extent.  If  she  has  had  power  and 
resources  to  sustain  herself  when  hundreds  of  millions  were  wasted 
in  ambitious  wars,  aad  in  extravagant  palaces,  and  in  the  gratifica- 
tion of  the  most  profligate  of  courts,  and  yet,  after  a  few  years  of 
respite,  finds  herself  so  flourishing  and  vigorous  as  she  is  at  this 
moment,  what  may  we  not  expect  from  her  hereafter ! 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  features  in  the  policy  of  France  at 
the  present  day,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  civilized  world,  is 
her  desire  to  cultivate  peace.  This  is,  in  part,  the  reaction  of  that 
bloody  period  which  terminated  at  the  expulsion  of  Napoleon ; 
and  in  part  the  effect  of  increasing  light  on  the  utter  unprofitable- 
ness of  war.  It  is  true,  the  faint  rumblings  of  the  storm  that  des- 
olated Europe  are  still  thrown  back  from  the  northern  shores  of 
Africa,  and  mutter  among  the  mountains  of  Spain,  but  peace, 
peace  is  the  watchword  of  the  government;  peace  is  the  desire 
of  the  best  of  the  nation.  So  long  as  this  policy  has  the  ascend- 
ency, so  long  will  France  prosper,  and  so  long  will  she  be  a  bles- 
sing to  the  world. 

Before  leaving  Paris  you  may  expect  I  shall  say  something  of 
the  state  of  the  fine  arts,  and  especially  of  the  galleries  of  the 
Louvre. 

The  Louvre,  all  are  aware,  has  lost  much  of  its  interest  since 
the  Restoration.  Napoleon  had  brought  many  of  the  finest  pro- 
ductions of  the  arts,  ancient  and  modern,  to  enrich  his  capital. 
The  Louvre  then  possessed  the  richest  galleries  in  the  world. 
But  these  have  mostly  recrossed  the  Alps,  where  I  hope  to  see 
them  in  their  own  domiciles. 

There  are  many  elegant  specimens  of  the  arts,  however,  in  the 
5  G 


50  FRANCE. 

royal  museums  of  the  Louvre.  The  grand  gallery  of  pictures, 
extending  from  the  Louvre  to  the  Tuileries,  is  a  single  room, 
1332  feet  in  length,  containing,  perhaps,  about  1300  pictures  of 
the  French,  German,  Flemish,  Dutch,  Italian,  and  Spanish  schools 
of  painting.  There  are  also  the  Museums  of  Design,  containing 
engravings,  drawings,  models,  &c. ;  and  of  Antiquities,  containing 
ancient  statuary,  inscriptions,  vases,  &c.,  to  the  number  of  be- 
tween eleven  and  twelve  hundred.  Besides,  a  gallery  for  modern 
sculpture,  an  Egyptian  gallery,  &c.  In  the  ancient  gallery  Napo- 
leon had  placed  the  Apollo  Belvidere,  the  Laocoon,  the  Venus  de 
Medicis,  and  numerous  other  chefs-d'oeuvre  of  ancient  art ;  but 
they  have  all  gone  back  to  their  legitimate  owners,  not  to  say 
rightful ;  for,  if  their  history  were  traced  back,  many  of  them 
would  be  found  to  have 'been  the  fruits  of  robbery  when  origi- 
nally placed  in  their  present  positions.  This,  however,  was  no 
justification  of  Napoleon.  It  only  shows  that,  from  the  beginning 
until  now,  the  law  of  war  has  been  that  the  "  victor  is  entitled  tc 
the  spoils,"  against  which  our  indignation  should  rise  and  manifesi 
itself,  not  merely  against  Napoleon  because  he  was  a  robber,  but 
against  all  the  legitimate  and  illegitimate  robbers  of  the  earth. 

There  are  many  other  museums  and  galleries  of  the  fine  arts  in 
Paris,  not  less  than  twenty  in  the  whole.  There  are  also  thirty- 
five  schools  for  the  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts,  and  1385  artists, 
of  whom  773  are  painters.  The  total  number  of  artists  who  sent 
works  to  the  last  annual  exhibition  was  2231,  of  whom  1096  were 
painters,  150  sculptors,  113  engravers,  263  architects,  and  309 
draughtsmen.  There  are,  it  is  reported,  throughout  France, 
eighty-two  museums  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  schools  of  the 
fine  arts.  From  this  it  will  appear  that  quite  a  sufficient  portion 
of  the  public  talent  is  devoted  to  these  branches.  Whenever 
works  of  imagination  and  taste  preponderate  over  the  sober  coun- 
terbalancing influences  of  a  more  solid  character,  the  effect  is  de- 
cidedly bad.  It  enervates  the  intellect  and  corrupts  the  heart. 
It  is  the  concurrent  testimony  of  all  who  have  the  best  opportunity 
of  judging,  however,  that  the  French  character  is  becoming  more 
sedate  and  thoughtful.  As  the  great  mass  of  society  is  elevated ; 
as  politics  come  to  be  talked  of  and  judged  of  by  the  multitude 
as  well  as  by  the  few;  and  as  business  of  various  kinds  is  in- 
creased, and  draws  more  into  its  engrossing  cares  and  labours,  we 


THE    ARTS.  51 

may  well  suppose  the  former  proverbial  frivolity  and  inconstancy 
of  the  nation  will  disappear.  We  see  among  our  French  emi- 
grants to  the  United  States  so  many  dancjng-masters,  fiddlers, 
barbers,  &c.,  that  we  are  apt  to  think  a  great  portion  of  the 
French  must  be  of  this  stamp.  Here  we  undoubtedly  misjudge ; 
at  the  same  time  it  must  be  conceded  that  of  some  of  these  char- 
acters Paris  has,  after  all,  quite  a  competency.  There  are,  for 
example,  between  three  and  four  hundred  actors  and  actresses, 
and  between  twelve  and  thirteen  hundred  dancing  and  music 
masters.  But,  then,  it  must  be  recollected,  that  to  balance  these 
there  are  about  50,000  students,  and  about  1200  who  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Institute  and  of  the  University.  Where  there  is  so 
much  of  science  and  literature  there  must  be  solidity  and  gravity 
of  mind. 

With  the  fine  arts  the  useful  mechanical  arts  have  an  impor- 
tant place  in  Paris.  Perhaps  nowhere  is  apparatus  for  philosoph- 
ical and  astronomical  purposes  manufactured  better  and  cheaper 
than  in  Paris.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  their  work  is 
not  so  .firm  and  lasting  as  that  of  English  manufacture.  There 
may  be  some  force  in  this  in  regard  to  some  instruments ;  but  it 
is  possible,  after  all,  that  it  is  partly  owing  to  a  sort  of  general 
prejudice,  that  a  Frenchman  and  his  works  are  more  showy  than 
solid,  whereas  an  Englishman  is  more  solid  than  showy.  As  it 
was  a  part  of  my  business  in  Europe  to  purchase  apparatus  for 
the  Wesleyan  University,  I  had  occasion  to  examine  the  merits  of 
this  question  both  in  London  and  Paris,  and  was  surprised  to  find 
the  great  difference  in  price  between  the  two  places,  insomuch 
that  if  it  were  not  for  the  English  duties,  the  English  artisans 
would  have  very  little  custom,  I  believe,  even  for  home  consump- 
tion ;  and  in  a  great  majority  of  cases,  if  the  English  article  was 
superior  in  point  of  workmanship  or  adaptation  to  its  design  than 
the  French,  I  could  not  discover  it.*  In  my  inquiries  on  this 

*  I  made  my  greatest  purchase  of  Pixii.  Different  artists,  however,  are  best  for  dif- 
ferent instruments  :  as  Gamby  for  theodolite,  Lerebours  for  telescope,  Gerrelet  for  tran- 
sit instrument,  Pixii  for  physics.  His  instruments  for  electro-magnetism  have  an  excel- 
lent and  a  deserved  reputation.  He  generally  keeps  a  large  assortment  on  hand.  I 
ought  to  say,  for  the  information  of  whom  it  may  concern,  that.  I  preferred,  after  due  in- 
quiry, to  purchase  an  astronomical  clock  of  Molyneux  in  London,  and  a  most  elegant 
instrument  for  altitudes,  azimuths,  and  transits  of  Mr.  Simms,  of  the  old  firm  of  Trough 
ton  and  Simons,  Strand,  London, 


52  FRANCE. 

subject  I  was  very  politely  aided  by  General  Bernard,  long  and 
favourably  known  in  the  United  States  in  the  engineer  department, 
and  now  holding  an  honourable  office  under  Louis  Philippe. 

You  are  under  a  very  strict  surveillance  while  in  Paris.  Who- 
ever takes  you  to  lodge  must  report  you  to  the  polfi$.  The  po- 
lice also  know  where  you  take  your  dinner,  when  you  visit  the 
Royal  Museum,  &c.  A  singular  circumstance  occurred  with  a 
man  who  had  forgotten  his  lodgings,  and  was  obliged  to  go  to  the  po- 
lice-office to  obtain  the  necessary  information.  They  informed 
him  who  he  was,  where  he  lodged,  and  where  he  took  his  din- 
ners !  Indeed,  if  a  man  should  forget  his  own  identity  in  France, 
the  police  would  set  him  right. 

The  houses  are  built  in  courts  opening  into  the  streets.  Around 
these  courts,  on  three,  and  sometimes  four  sides,  are  tenements, 
so  fitted  up  that  all  the  rooms  of  each  family  are  generally  on  the 
same  floor.  Thus  the  families  live  one  above  another,  to  the 
height  of  five  or  six  stories.  In  one  court  there  may  be  twenty 
respectable  tenements.  The  entrance  admits  of  carriages,  and  is 
~_  closed  by  a  strong  gate.  Within  the  gate  is  a  porter's-  lodge, 
where  one  or  more  porters  or  gatekeepers  lodge,  whose  duty  it 
is  to  notice  all  that  pass  in  or  out,  and,  if  they  are  strangers,  to 
speak  to  them,  direct  them,  &c.  Of  these  porters  there  are  above 
1200  in  Paris.  These  make  up  a  part  of  those  inspectors  and 
spies  who  watch  a  man  in  all  his  movements.  But  I  must  stop 
abruptly,  or  I  never  shall  have  done. 


EDUCATION    IN   FRANCE.  53 


CHAPTER  IV. 

To  the  Professors  of  the  Wesleyan  University. 

Paris,  Dec.  12,  1835. 
MY  ESTEEMED  FRIENDS, 

Permit  me,  by  way  of  keeping  up  our  friendly  intercourse,  to 
give  you  a  sketch  of  the  established  system  of  education  in  France 
— a  system  which,  in  many  respects,  is  not  excelled  by  any  other  in 
the  world  ;  and  from  which  we  in  America  might  derive  many 
hints  by  which  to  improve  our  own.  It  is  true,  the  difference  in 
the  two  forms  of  government  would  prevent  our  adopting  the  sys- 
tem, either  as  a  whole,  or  perhaps  in  its  leading  features ;  but 
there  are  nevertheless  features  in  it  which  ought  to  form  a  part 
of  every  system  of  education ;  and  if  our  views  of  liberty  are 
such  as  to  lead  us  to  revolt  against  the  most  wholesome  regula- 
tions for  the  training  of  the  young,  then  have  we  become  ultra  in 
our  notions  of  liberty,  and  are  in  danger  of  becoming  so  free  as 
ultimately  to  abandon  those  principles  by  which  alone  freedom 
can  be  perpetuated.  The  system  of  education  in  France  is  truly 
national — it  is  entirely  under  the  direction  and  management  of 
the  state.  It  is  true,  some  individuals  are  permitted  to  establish 
private  schools,  but  not  until  they  have  been  officially  examined 
by  officers  appointed  for  the  purpose  ;  after  which,  if  they  are  ac- 
cepted, by  presenting  the  authenticated  certificate  of  acceptance 
and  testimonials  of  a  good  character,  they  receive  a  license  to 
teach  in  those  branches  on  which  they  are  examined,  but  in  no 
other.  These  private  schools  also  are  visited  by  appointed  com- 
mittees and  inspectors ;  and  the  places  and  rooms  where  they 
are  kept  are  subjected  to  inspection  and  condemnation  if  they 
are  not  found  suitable.  And,  on  the  contrary,  if  the  schools 
are  approved  of,  and  the  teachers  do  well,  they  are  fostered  by 
government  in  various  ways  ;  such  as  the  distribution  of  rewards 
and  the  selecting  of  the  most  promising  of  the  pupils  for  promo- 
tion to  the  privileges  of  some  of  the  higher  institutions. 

But  the  great  system  itself  is  directly  under  the  government  of 
5 


54  TRANCE. 

the  state,  and  constitutes  an  integral  and  important  branch  of  pub 
lie  administration,  at  the  head  of  which  is  the  "  minister  of  pub- 
lic instruction  and  religion."  He  is  aided  in  his  duties  by  a 
"  royal  council,"  consisting  of  six  members,  of  which  the  minister 
is  president.  The  various  duties  are  subdivided  among  these 
counsellors ;  and  perhaps  it  may  give  you  a  general  idea  of  the 
kind  of  supervision  which  the  government  takes  of  the  schools,  to 
give  the  official  apportionment  of  those  duties  as  established  by 
law  since  the  revolution  of  1830. 

The  first  counsellor,  who  is  also  vice-president,  has  charge  of 
all  matters  of  general  interest  in  the  administration  of  the  facul- 
ties of  the  colleges,  and  of  all  that  appertains  to  the  instruction  in 
languages,  general  literature,  and  history. 

The  second  performs  the  duties  of  chancellor,  and  has  special 
charge  of  all  that  relates  to  primary  instruction. 

The  third  is  treasurer,  and  superintends  the  instruction  in  the 
mathematical  sciences. 

The  fourth  is  secretary,  and  has  charge  of  all  that  relates  to 
philosophical  studies,  to  the  instruction  in  the  normal  schools  (the 
schools  for  preparing  teachers),  and  of  the  faculties  of  theology. 

The  fifth  has  charge  of  the  royal  colleges,  and  of  the  instruc- 
tion in  the  natural  sciences. 

The  sixth  has  charge  of  instruction  in  the  faculties  and  second- 
ary schools  of  medicine,  and  of  the  pensions,  and  the  institu* 
tions,  &c. 

The  minister  of  public  instruction  has,  of  course,  a  general 
supervision  over  all  the  literary,  scientific,  and  professional  sem- 
inaries ;  and,  in  addition,  has  charge  of  the  public  libraries,  of  the 
national  institute,  of  the  schools  for  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  poly- 
technic school,  &c.  He  and  the  council  attend  to  and  direct  the 
entire  machinery  of  education,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  in 
accordance  with  the  existing  statutes,  and  aided  by  inspectors, 
subordinate  councils,  &c.  They  fix  the  courses  of  study,  author- 
ize the  text-books,  judge  of  impeachments,  confirm  nominations 
to  various  grades  of  instruction,  transfer  teachers  from  one  insti- 
tution to  another,  regulate  the  prizes,  decide  upon  the  degrees, 
and  direct  the  discipline  of  the  whole.  Hence  you  will  perceive 
there  must  be  great  uniformity  as  well  as  efficiency  in  the  entire 
system.  This  entire  system  is  called  the  "  University  of  France." 


EDUCATION    IN    FRANCE.  55 

The  functionaries  of  the  University  are,  the  minister  and  his 
council,  the  inspectors  of  the  University  and  of  the  several  acade- 
mies, the  rectors,  deans,  and  professors  of  the  faculties,  and  of  the 
lyceums,  provisors  and  censors  of  the  lyceums,  principals,  fellows, 
and  regents  of  the  colleges,  chiefs  of  the  institutions,  masters  of 
the  pensions,  and  masters  of  the  studies.  All  these  various 
grades  of  officers  throughout  the  kingdom,  bound  together  and 
regulated  by  the  code  universataire,  constitute  the  "  Royal  Uni- 
versity of  France."  You  are  not  to  suppose,  however,  that  the 
names  above  indicate  in  all  cases  the  same  offices  as  with  us. 
These  will  be  understood  by  noticing  the  grand  subdivisions  of 
the  University.  These  are  called  academies,  each  of  which  not 
only  embraces  all  the  higher  branches,  but  also  comprehends  all 
the  lower  and  subordinate  institutions  in  a  given  geographical  sec- 
tion of  the  kingdom ;  to  govern  and  direct  which  academical 
councils  are  formed,  which  have  a  jurisdiction  over  these  sections 
respectively,  subordinate  to  the  royal  council. 

These  academies,  therefore,  are  rather  to  be  considered  as  sub- 
divisions of  the  University,  having  their  distinct  though  subordi- 
nate jurisdictions  in  their  own  prescribed  limits.  They  generally 
embrace  three  of  the  civil  divisions  of  France  called  departments, 
although  some  embrace  more  and  some  less.  The  law  is,  that 
there  shall  be  as  many  academies  as  there  are  courts  of  appeal, 
of  which  there  are  at  present  twenty-six. 

Such  is  the  arrangement  for  the  general  organization  and  juris- 
diction of  the  system.  Then  follow  the  division  and  organization 
of  the  schools  themselves.  The  highest  of  these  are  the  schools 
for  the  most  profound  sciences  and  for  the  professions.  In  these 
schools  there  are  five  faculties,  so  called,  viz.,  of  theology,  of  law, 
of  medicine,  of  the  mathematical  and  natural  sciences,  and  of  let- 
ters. In  these  faculties  the  various  degrees  are  conferred ;  the 
conditions  of  which  are,  that  the  students  shall  have  attended  upon 
the  lectures  (for  in  the  faculties  the  instruction  is  all  given  in  set 
lectures)  a  given  number  of  terms,  and  shall  have  passed  an  ac- 
ceptable examination. 

The  second  order  of  schools  are  the  lyceums,  now  included  un- 
der the  general  name  of  royal  colleges.  These  are  for  the  an- 
cient languages,  history,  rhetoric,  logic,  and  the  elements  of  the 
mathematical  and  natural  sciences. 


56  FRANCE. 

Then  follow  the  communal  colleges,  which  teach  the  first 
principles  of  the  branches  taught  in  the  royal  colleges. 

Next  the  "institutions,"  which  give  nearly  the  same  instruc- 
tion with  the  last,  but  are  smaller  schools  and  more  restricted  in 
their  operations.*  After  these  the  "  pensions"  or  boarding-schools, 
which  are  also  small  schools,  and  of  a  lower  character  than  the 
preceding. 

Finally,  the  primary  schools,  which  are  divided  into  two  grades, 
"  elementary  and  superior."  This  division  of  the  schools  may  be 
made  more  simple  by  restricting  them  to  schools  of  three  grades 
— the  primary  instruction,  which  corresponds  very  nearly  with 
our  common  district  schools  ;  the  collegiate,  which  answers  essen- 
tially to  that  given  in  our  academies,  and  is  preparatory  to  the 
"  faculties ;"  and  the  faculties,  or  the  schools  for  conferring  the 
degrees,  which  correspond  with  our  universities.  To  these  may 
be  added  the  normal  schools,  or  the  schools  for  the  training  of 
teachers  (which,  however,  have  not,  I  believe,  been  very  efficient 
as  yet),  and  the  polytechnic  school,  which  is  scientific  and  mili- 
tary, like  ours  at  West  Point.  The  normal  schools  promise 
much  for  the  nation.  There  are  now  fifty-six,  supported  at  an 
expense  of  about  300,000  dollars. 

A  particular  description  of  all  these  grades  of  schools  would  be 
tedious  to  you  and  to  me.  I  will  notice  several  things  in  the  dif 
ferent  grades,  however,  and  bring  into  view  several  importan 
facts,  which  may  be  interesting  and  profitable. 

The  schools  of  theology  have  professors  of  history,  doctrines 
(dogme),  and  evangelical  morals  ;  and  some  of  them  have  profes- 
sors of  Hebrew  and  of  sacred  eloquence.  Of  these  faculties  of 
theology  two  are  Protestant,  viz.,  one  at  Strasbourg  and  one  at 
Montauban.  It  is  worthy  of  special  notice  that  France,  though  a 
Catholic  country,  has  extended  her  liberality  so  far  as  to  incorpo- 
rate into  her  religious  establishment  the  Protestant  religion. 
Instead  of  abolishing  her  establishment,  she  has  enlarged  it ;  so 
that  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics  share  in  her  public  provis- 
ions for  the  institutions  of  learning  and  religion. 

*  These  two  schools  (institutions  and  pensions)  are  by  private  teachers,  but  the  teach- 
ers are  obliged  to  pay  a  certain  sum  to  the  colleges,  and  take  their  pupils  to  these  col- 
leges for  a  part  of  their  instruction,  in  those  places  where  there  are  colleges. 


EDUCATION    IN    FRANCE.  57 

There  are  nine  faculties  of  law.  The  number  of  professors  in 
each  differ  in  the  different  schools ;  that  at  Paris  is  divided  into 
two  sections,  in  each  of  which  there  are  seven  professors,  and 
the  number  of  students  is  said  to  be  over  2,000.  There  are 
three  principal  schools  of  medicine,  viz.,  at  Paris,  Montpelier,  and 
Strasbourg,  and  eighteen  secondary  schools  in  different  towns  in 
the  kingdom.  Besides,  there  are  schools  of  apothecaries,  and  no 
man  is  allowed  to  engage  as  a  druggist  without  having  attended 
a  three  years'  course  in  one  of  these  schools,  and  without  having 
been  three  years  in  a  druggist's  shop.  And  even  after  this  prep- 
aration provision  is  made  by  law  for  the  regular  visitation  of  the 
druggists'  shops,  and  an  examination  of  all  their  drugs  by  a  com- 
missioner appointed  for  that  purpose  ;  nay,  shops  cannot  be  opened 
for  selling  medicinal  herbs  without  a  license  and  a  strict  official 
supervision. 

With  all  this  strictness,  however,  it  is  not  necessary  for  a  can- 
didate to  attend  one  of  the  medical  schools,  in  order  to  a  license 
for  practising  physic,  provided  he  have  studied  six  years  with  a 
doctor  in  medicine,  or  have  had  five  successive  years  of  instruc- 
tion in  the  hospital  practice.  It  is  said,  however,  that  this  provis- 
ion has  led  to  "  enormous  abuses." 

One  peculiar  feature  in  the  French  system  is,  that  females  at- 
tend regular  courses  of  lectures  in  obstetrics,  and,  after  examination 
and  acceptance,  have  a  regular  diploma  to  practise  in  that  depart- 
ment. 

The  medical  school  at  Paris  is  probably  the  largest  in  the 
world.  The  number  of  students  is  about  4,000.  The  buildings 
are  fine  and  extensive,  with  a  splendid  anatomical  cabinet  of 
specimens  natural  and  artificial,  and  a  company  of  professors, 
some  of  whom  are  among  the  first  men  of  the  age.  Their  dis- 
secting rooms  are  as  public  as  a  butcher's  shambles.  They  are 
in  an  open  Court,  where  the  public  have  free  ingress  and  egress  ; 
some  of  them  on  the  lower  floor,  with  windows  and  doors  open. 
I  walked  into  the  court,  and  passed  from  room  to  room,  where  I 
saw  scores  perhaps  of  human  bodies  and  parts  of  bodies  in  all  the 
different  stages  of  dissection  ;  and  the  students  were  poring  over 
them  with  as  much  apparent  interest  and  intellectual  gust  as  if 
they  were  analyzing  a  beautiful  flower  or  an  elegant  mineral. 

In  addition  to  the  lectures  on  the  subjects  directly  con- 

H 


58  PRANCE. 

nected  with  the  medical  profession,  there  are  very  extensive 
courses  in  comparative  anatomy,  both  at  the  Sorborme  and  espe- 
cially at  the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  At  the  Sorbonne  I  saw  the 
celebrated  St.  de  Hilliear  lecturing  upon  a  fish's  head ;  and  at  the 
Jardin  des  Plantes  another  professor  was  discussing  the  head  of 
one  of  the  reptiles  that  are  supposed  to  have  had  their  day  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  before  the  first  Sabbath  !  The 
botanical  and  chymical  lectures  are  also  very  fine. 

When  a  student  does  not  design  to  propose  himself  for  an  ex- 
amination or  a  degree,  he  is  at  liberty  to  attend  the  lectures  gratu- 
itously ;  and  for  this  purpose  all  the  lectures  are  open  and  public. 
The  buildings  of  the  ancient  and  renowned  schools  of  Norman 
theology,  called  the  Sorbonne,  are  now  occupied  by  the  three 
faculties  of  theology,  science,  and  letters  of  the  academy  of  Paris. 
The  buildings  of  the  medical  and  law  schools  are  in  opposite  di- 
rections from  these,  but  near  ;  all  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  city, 
in  the  Faubourg  St.  Germaine.  This  renders  Paris  exceedingly 
favourable  as  a  resort  for  students  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Many  students  from  abroad  are  here.  It  is  said  there  are  thirty 
or  more  from  the  United  States  in  the  medical  department, 
besides  some  in  the  other  departments.  In  general,  however, 
students  from  the  United  States  are  not  of  the  class  that  come  out 
on  account  of  the  cheapness  of  the  instruction,  but  for  the  supe- 
rior advantages.  But  from  the  British  isles  many  come  to  attend 
the  medical  course  here  on  account  of  its  comparative  cheapness. 
Even  when  they  take  out  their  regular  inscriptions,  as  they  are 
called,  and  prepare  themselves  for  examinations,  the  expense  is 
comparatively  trifling.  Here,  too,  are  libraries,  where  the  students 
may  enter  at  given  hours,  and  freely  consult  various  authors  ;  and 
here  they  have  the  privilege  of  inspecting  some  of  the  finest  mu- 
seums of  natural  history  in  the  world,  of  specimens  organic  and 
inorganic,  living  and  dead.  The  Jardin  des  Plantes  is  a  noble 
programme  to  the  text-book  of  nature,  spread  out  in  extended 
beauty  and  in  scientific  arrangement.  The  cabinet  of  minerals 
and  geological  specimens  is  inconceivably  splendid ;  it  is  magnif- 
icent, as  also  is  the  museum  of  comparative  anatomy.  To  all 
these  advantages  for  the  medical  student  should  be  added  the 
hospitals,  which  in  Paris  are  very  extended  and  very  various,  and 
seem  to  me  to  be  kept  more  for  scientific  purposes  than  for  any 


EDUCATION    IN    FRANCE.  59 

other.  I  have  heard  it  stated,  and  I  believe  by  professional  men 
who  had  a  good  opportunity  of  knowing,  that  they  lose  many 
more  patients  at  the  hospitals,  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  than 
die  in  the  hospitals  of  the  United  States ;  but  that  is  not  of  much 
consequence,  so  long  as  science  is  advanced !  and  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  science  they  afford  pre-eminent  advantages.  What 
I  have  said  of  the  superior  advantages  in  the  faculty  of  medicine 
is,  in  the  main,  true  of  the  other  faculties.  With  splendid  appara- 
tus, and  professors  now  lecturing,  whose  works  have  given  them 
a  reputation  all  over  the  scientific  world,  how  can  their  lecture- 
rooms  be  other  than  interesting  ?  There  is,  however,  a  great  dif- 
ference in  the  popularity  of  these  lecturers ;  some  are  thronged, 
and  others  are  comparatively  deserted.  Some  are  clapped  and 
applauded,  while  others  are  hissed.  You  will  see  very  little 
order  and  decorum  in  many  of  these  lecture-rooms ;  from  one  to 
two  thousand,  perhaps,  will  be  crowded  into  a  lecture-room,  all 
with  their  hats  on,  some  standing  on  the  seats,  and  others  pas- 
sing in  and  out  at  their  leisure,  and  according  to  their  caprice. 

The  professors  in  all  these  faculties,  and  the  same  is  true,  in 
fact,  of  all  the  other  schools  in  all  the  different  grades,  are  sup- 
ported at  the  public  expense.  They  have  a  fixed  salary,  and  also 
a  contingency.*  The  salaries  in  general  are  not  large,  but  they 
have  various  privileges  and  exemptions,  as  well  as  numerous  hon- 
ours ;  and  if  they  continue  a  given  time  in  the  corps  universataire, 
they  are  permitted  to  retire  on  a  pension,  and  their  widows  also 
are  pensioned  after  their  death. 

Whenever  a  vacant  chair  is  to  be  filled  in  any  of  the  three  fac- 
ulties of  law,  medicine,  or  theology,  they  form  what  is  called  Le 
Concours  to  fill  the  vacancy.  That  is,  notice  is  given  through  all 
the  different  academies  to  those  who  are  proper  candidates  that 
such  a  vacancy  is  to  be  filled,  and  that  there  is  to  be  a  concourse 
at  a  given  time  and  place  for  that  purpose.  As  many  as  de- 
termine to  try  for  the  appointment  send  in  their  names  and  the 
proper  testimonials;  and,  on  the  day  appointed,  present  them- 
selves for  examination  before  a  commission  of  professors  of  the 

*  There  is  a  maximum  amount  for  the  salaries  of  the  professors  and  other  officers  in 
all  the  different  schools,  beyond  which  they  cannot  go.  The  salaries-are  proportioned  to 
•ome  extent  according  to  the  number  of  students ;  the  highest  that  I  have  noticed  is 
7,600  francs,  or  about  1,387  dollars. 


60  ,         FRANCE. 

same  department,  when  they  enter  the  lists  and  struggle  for  the 
ascendency  in  a  powerful  intellectual  conflict ;  and  before  the  com- 
missioners appointed  to  set  and  judge  upon  their  merits.  After  the 
examination  is  over,  the  judges  retire  and  decide.  This  is  sup- 
posed to  give  an  opportunity  of  judging  not  only  of  their  actual 
attainments,  but  also  of  their  aptness  to  communicate,  which  is 
very  important  in  a  teacher.  It  was  found,  however,  that  favour- 
itism, rather  than  merit,  too  frequently  governed  the  decisions — 
and  now,  although  part  of  the  faculties  are  filled  as  above,  the 
faculties  of  science  and  of  letters  are  filled  in  another  way,  viz. : 
in  the  academy  where  the  vacancy  occurs,  the  academic  council 
nominates  two  and  the  faculty  two,  and  from  these  the  royal 
council  selects  and  appoints  the  professor. 

It  is  universal  also  to  distribute  the  prizes  in  the  different  fac- 
ulties and  colleges  by  this  method  of  the  concourse.  All  who 
contend  for  the  prizes,  presenting  themselves  at  the  time  and 
place  appointed,  and  before  the  appointed  judges,  where  they 
strive  for  the  mastery  according  to  the  prescribed  forms.  This 
business  du  concours  is  a  great  matter  in  the  French  schools,  and 
occupies  no  small  part  of  their  machinery. 

There  are  in  France  forty-one  royal  colleges,  besides  the  com 
munal  colleges,  or  secondary  schools,  as  they  are  sometimes  called. 
Of  the  communal  colleges,  so  called  because  they  are  supported 
by  the  communes  where  they  are  located,  there  are  above  three 
hundred.  The  royal  colleges  are  supported  chiefly  by  the  gov- 
ernment. Boys  are  admitted  into  these  at  the  age  of  nine  years, 
and  are  only  required  to  be  able  to  read  and  write.  The  discipline 
in  these  colleges  is  as  strict  as  that  of  the  faculties  is  lax.  The 
boys  are  literally  imprisoned ;  their  different  apartments,  in  some 
of  those  which  I  visited,  were  divided  off  and  separated  from 
each  other  by  grated  doors  of  iron ;  and  the  professor  who  con- 
ducted us  round  locked  the  doors  after  him,  as  if  he  was  taking 
us  over  a  penitentiary.  The  French  appear  to  me  to  trust  nothing 
to  the  young  until  they  arrive  at  a  given  age,  or  are  placed  in  cer- 
tain relations,  and  then  all  restraint  is  thrown  off.  This  is  verified 
in  their  management  of  daughters  as  well  as  sons  ;  the  former,  for 
instance,  not  being  permitted  before  marriage  to  leave  their 
mother  or  protectress  on  any  account  by  night  or  by  day ;  but 


EDUCATION    IN    FRANCE.  61 

after  marriage  they  are  at  full  liberty  to  go  anywhere,  and,  I  like 
to  have  said,  do  anything,  without  mother  or  husband. 

The  professors  and  masters  of  study  of  the  royal  colleges,  and 
the  regents  of  the  communal  colleges,  are  appointed  by  the  min- 
ister of  instruction.  The  principal  is  called  the  provisor,  and  is 
"  held  responsible  before  God  and  man  for  the  proper  adminis- 
tration of  the  college,"  and  is  directed,  when  the  students  are  not 
Catholics,  to  "  afford  them  every  possible  facility  for  the  study 
and  practice  of  their  own  religion." 

The  college  of  Louis  le  Grand  of  Paris  has  one  or  more  pro- 
fessors, who  are  Protestants,  and  a  number  of  Protestant  boursiers 
or  free  scholars.     I  mention  these  circumstances  to  show  that  one 
trait  in  the  plan  of  education  in  France  is  religious  liberty  and 
toleration.     Indeed,  this  might  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the 
present  minister  of  instruction,  Monsieur  Guizot,  is  a  Protestant. 
The  colleges  are  not,  like  the  faculties,  open  for  public  and  gra- 
tuitous instruction.     The  annual  expense  is,  I  think,  about  700 
francs  ;  but  there  are  bourses,  or,  as  we  should  say,  perhaps,  schol- 
arships, on  which  poor  but  meritorious  scholars  are  placed  for  gra- 
tuitous education.    The  salary  of  the  highest  officer  in  the  colleges 
is  about  1,000  dollars  in  Paris,  and  800  dollars  elsewhere.     The 
professors  have  from  four  to  six  hundred  dollars.     These  salaries 
are  certainly  very  low,  but  they  are  permanent,  and  are  aided  by 
various  advantages,  which  make  amends  in  part  for  the  deficiency. 
At  any  rate,  the  profession  of  instructer  in  France  is  highly  hon- 
ourable, and  is  the  high  road  to  preferment.     In  no  government, 
perhaps,  is  the  man  of  letters  and  of  science  more  honoured  and 
patronised  than  here.     A  number  of  the  peers  of  France  are  the 
professors  in  the  different  schools,  and  it  is  their  science  that  has 
raised  them  to  this  peerage.*     And  although  now  peers  of  the 
realm,  you  may  see  them  every  week  in  the  lecturer's  chair,  elu- 
cidating the   great  principles   of  science.     This    is   noble    and 
worthy  of  all  admiration.     It  is  placing  science   on  its   proper 
basis,  and  giving  the  cause  of  education  its  appropriate  promi- 
nency in  the  state.     Always  excepting  religion,  education  is  of  the 
first  importance ;  and  to  it,  with  the  preceding  exception,  the  state 
must  look  chiefly  for  its  elevation,  pecuniary,  intellectual,  and  po- 

*  Every  member  of  the  French  Institute  who  faithfully  attends  the,  meetings  of  the 
society  is  paid  by  the  government  the  annual  salary  of  1500  francs. 
6 


62  FRANCE. 

litical.  And  religion  itself  never  elevates  the  state,  only  as  it  car 
ries  with  it  an  influence  upon  the  intellect  as  well  as  the  heart, 
and  is,  therefore,  identified  with  education  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  whole  embraces  all  the  parts.  You  will  see,  too,  in  this 
sketch  of  the  higher  schools  in  France,  that  there  is  none  of  that 
narrowness  of  view,  which  too  greatly  prevails  in  our  country,  by 
which  the  colleges  and  professional  schools  are  condemned  as 
aristocratical  monopolies.  They  are  supposed  by  many  with  us 
to  be  altogether  useless,  nay,  dangerous  to  the  country,  and  it  is 
thought  that  all  public  patronage  should  be  transferred  from  them 
to  the  common  schools  for  the  people  at  large,  as  though  the 
common  schools  could  exist  without  the  higher  institutions  ;  or  as 
though  the  latter  and  the  former  had  no  natural  alliance  and  re- 
ciprocal influence  upon  each  other.  The  fact  is,  as  I  believe,  if 
the  higher  schools  should  be  annihilated  now,  the  healthy  action 
of  the  lower  schools  would  naturally  and  necessarily  reproduce 
them  ;  or,  in  default  of  this,  the  lower  schools  would  dwindle,  be 
come  sickly,  and  die.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if  all  the  subordi- 
nate and  elementary  schools  should  be  annihilated  at  a  stroke,  the 
higher  institutions  would  produce  them  again  as  naturally  and  as 
certainly  as  the  young  shoot  springs  from  the  seed  or  the  root  of 
the  mature  plant.  In  proof  of  this,  the  present  extended  system 
of  education  in  France  is  a  standing  and  a  triumphant  argument. 

That  the  argument  may  have  its  full  force,  let  it  be  understood 
that  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  century  France  had  no 
extended  system  of  primary  education ;  let  it  also  be  understood 
that  the  genius  of  her  government  and  the  habits  of  her  people 
have  been  rather  aristocratical  than  otherwise ;  and  especially  if 
there  could  be  produced  such  a  thing  as  a  literary  aristocracy 
that  would  trample  Upon  the  people  and  keep  them  in  ignorance, 
the  honours  that  have  ever  awaited  the  learned  of  France  would 
have  produced  this  spirit  \  and  yet  the  very  reverse  of  all  this 
has  been  the  fact.  The  higher  institutions  have  extended  and 
multiplied  the  lower.  From  the  high  places  of  science  the  seeds 
of  knowledge  have  been  disseminated  over  the  entire  kingdom,  so 
that  the  nurseries  of  education  are  now  planted  in  every  depart- 
ment, and,  I  might  almost  say,  in  every  commune. 

The  University  was  first  established  in  1806.  Although  there 
were  as  early  as  1793  and  4  some  efforts  made  by  the  govern- 


EDUCATION    IN   PRANCE.  63 

ment  to  extend  the  system  of  education  to  all  classes,  yet  nothing 
very  efficient  seems  to  have  been  accomplished  until  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  University.  In  1808  the  foundation  was  laid  and 
the  general  plan  was  struck  out  by  Napoleon  and  his  ministers, 
which  has  remained  essentially  the  same  in  its  general  features  up 
to  this  hour. 

It  is  indeed  one  of  the  unaccountable  characteristics  of  this  un- 
accountable nation,  that  in  the  midst  of  the  storms  and  convulsions 
which  have  swept  over  her  in  successive  tornadoes,  her  social  and 
literary  institutions  have  in  many  respects  been  striking  a  deeper 
root.  Her  system  of  education  was  commenced  during  the  re- 
public, reduced  to  order  and  greatly  advanced  under  Napoleon, 
held  on  its  course  at  the  Restoration  without  being  either  altered  or 
retarded ;  at  the  last  revolution  it  was  only  aided ;  and  under  the 
present  king,  by  the  law  of  1833,  the  primary  education  especially 
has  been  materially  improved  and  enlarged.  By  that  ordinance 
every  commune  is  to  be  provided  with  primary  instruction.  And 
in  default  of  existing  provisions  for  the  localities  of  the  schools 
and  the  salaries  of  the  teachers,  the  municipal  council  is  autho- 
rized to  lay  a  tax  for  these  purposes,  and,  in  default  of  their  action, 
a  royal  ordinance  is  to  be  issued  for  the  assessment  and  laying 
of  the  authorized  contributions.  So  fully  has  this  been  carried 
into  execution,  that  more  than  15,000  communes  which  neglected 
to  enforce  the  contributions  have  been  compelled  by  the  royal 
ordinance  to  raise  the  necessary  means  of  education.  Besides 
this,  the  government  provides  the  means  for  establishing  suitable 
libraries  throughout  the  realm,  and  expends  annually  1,600,000 
francs  for  providing  schoolhouses,  distributing  schoolbooks  to  the 
poor,  for  multiplying  the  normal  schools,  &c.  Suitable  men  are 
employed  and  paid  by  government  to  compose  and  print  books 
proper  for  elementary  instruction,* 

The  course  of  elementary  primary  instruction  embraces  read- 
ing, writing,  the  elements  of  the  French  language,  arithmetic,  and 
the  legal  system  of  weights  and  measures.  That  of  superior  pri- 

*  There  has  been  some  difficulty,  it  is  said,  in  some  of  the  communes,  of  obtaining  the 
attendance  of  the  children,  because  the  parents  think  more  of  gaining  by  the  labour  of 
their  children  than  of  benefiting  them  by  instruction.  This  is  natural  where  parents 
are  themselves  ignorant ;  but  this  evil  will  grow  less  every  year,  as  public  sentiment  be- 
comes corrected  and  the  public  mind  instructed. 


64  FRANCE. 

mary  instruction  embraces,  in  addition,  the  elements  of  geometry 
and  its  various  applications,  especially  in  linear  drawing  and  sur- 
veying, some  of  the  most  useful  ideas  of  natural  history  and  the 
physical  sciences,  singing,  the  elements  of  history  and  geography, 
and  especially  the  history  and  geography  of  France.  The  ele  • 
mentary  schools  are  divided  into  three  parts,  according  to  the  age 
and  studies  of  the  pupils.  They  are  to  commence  and  close  with 
prayer;  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  required  to  be  read,  and  por- 
tions of  them  committed  to  memory ;  and  when  the  school  has 
pupils  of  different  religions,  care  is  to  be  taken  that  each  receives 
the  instruction  preferred  by  the  parent. 

Children  are  admitted  into  the  primary  elementary  schools  be- 
tween the  ages  of  six  and  thirteen  years.  But  that  those  younger 
than  six  years  may  be  provided  for,  a  plan  has  been  adopted  for 
the  establishment  of  infant  schools,  private  or  public,  which  also 
are  to  be  under  the  supervision  of  the  government. 

A  system  of  special  inspection  of  all  the  primary  schools  has  been 
adopted  and  prosecuted  at  an  expense  of  240,000  francs  per  annum, 
which  is  said  to  have  had  a  very  great  and  most  happy  influence 
upon  the  schools.  In  short,  not  to  dwell  upon  the  details  of  this 
system,  who,  let  me  ask,  can  survey  this  entire  plan  of  education, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  grade ;  who  can  look  at  its  extent, 
its  unity,  its  efficiency,  its  liberality,  and  its  almost  certain  magnifi- 
cent results,  without  the  greatest  admiration  and  applause  ?  Well 
may  our  own  boasted  republic  come  to  France  for  lessons  of  im- 
provement in  her  plans  of  education.  Do  you  ask  how  any  part  of 
this  system  can  be  adopted  among  us  ?  On  this  part  of  the  subject 
I  must  not  dwell  long,  for  I  have  already  extended  this  communi- 
cation to  a  wearisome  length.  I  will,  however,  say  a  few  things. 

In  the  first  place,  let  the  republicans  of  America  dismiss  the 
jealousy  of  the  higher  institutions ;  it  has  its  origin  in  a  narrow- 
ness of  view  and  an  ignorance  of  cause  and  effect  utterly  unwor- 
thy of  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  in  the  nineteenth  century ; 
and  when  they  have  laid  aside  this  prejudice,  they  will  be  pre- 
pared to  sustain  their  respective  state  governments  in  making  lib- 
eral donations  to  their  institutions.  I  do  not  insist  upon  state 
colleges  and  universities  like  those  of  France,  and  like  those  of 
some  of  our  states.  Whatever  may  be  said  in  favour  of  such  in- 
stitutions in  France,  they  are  found,  by  all  past  experience,  not  to 


EDUCATION    IN    FRANCE.  65 

succeed  well  in  the  United  States.  The  genius  of  our  civil  and 
religious  institutions  does  not  chime  in  well  with  government 
seminaries.  They  become  an  arena  where  political  partisans  and 
sectarian  bigots  conflict  for  personal  and  party  purposes,  at  the 
expense  of  the  sacred  cause  of  education.  Better,  perhaps,  that 
the  different  religious  denominations  manage  these  institutions, 
subject  to  a  visitation  of  a  commission  of  the  state,  if  need  be,  to 
prevent  abuses,  and  making  their  annual  report  the  basis  of  grant- 
ing or  withholding  such  an  annual  stipend  as  may,  when  granted, 
make  the  incorporated  institutions  successful  and  efficient  in  the 
cause  of  education. 

Every  state,  however,  should  make  provision  by  law  for  pri- 
mary schools.     It  is  a  strange  anomaly  that,  in  a  republican  gov 
ernment  at  the  present  day,  a  single  state  should  be  found  without 
this  provision.     And,  next  to  that,  it  is  most  strange  that  those 
states  which  have  made  this  provision  should  suffer  it  in  numer- 
ous, if  not  in  all  cases,  to  be  so  comparatively  inefficient,  and  all 
for  the  want  of  some  such  provision  as  exists  in  France  for  pro- 
viding and  licensing  teachers,  inspecting  the  schools,  regulating 
their  division,  arrangement,  and  studies,  selecting  their  text-books, 
and  prescribing  the  character  and  accommodations  of  their  school- 
houses.     All  this  should  be  done.     Will  it  be  said  the  democracy 
of  the  United  States  will  never  submit  to  compulsory  measures 
of  this  kind?     I  answer,  I  would  not  attempt  to  compel  them. 
Republicans,  I  know,  are  as  unwilling  to  benefit  themselves  even, 
by  compulsion,  as  the  redoubtable  philosopher  of  Shakspeare,  Sir 
John  Falstaff,  was  to  give  a  reason  upon  compulsion.     But  there 
are  motives  that  will  induce  republicans  as  well  as  other  men  to 
adopt  measures  for  their  own  benefit.     Suppose,  for  example,  the 
state  of  Connecticut,  with  her  school  fund  of  more  than  two  mill- 
ions, should  establish  a  law  that  no  school  society  should  draw 
its  proportion  of  that  fund  until  it  had  built  and  furnished  suitable 
schoolhouses,  and  made  the  necessary  preparation  for  keeping  up 
the  school  a  given  proportion  of  the  year.     Suppose,  as  a  further 
condition,  the  course  of  study,  the  character  of  the  text-books,  the 
proper  division  of  the  schools,  and  suitable  qualifications  of  teach- 
ers should  be  insisted  upon.     And  suppose  that  the  fulfilment  of 
these  conditions  should  be  carefully  secured  by  an  efficient  com- 
mittee of  supervision  established  in  the  several  counties,  and  paid 
6  I 


66  FRANCE. 

by  the  state.  Would  not  the  several  societies  comply  with 
these  conditions  rather  than  lose  their  part  of  the  money  ? 
Doubtless  they  would.  And  if  a  few  were  obstinate,  let  them 
take  their  own  course ;  there  would  be  the  more  for  those  who 
complied.  I  doubt  whether  all  would  not  speedily  comply,  and 
in  ten  years  the  entire  state  would  be  ready  to  erect  a  monument 
to  the  man  who  should  be  instrumental  of  introducing  these  im- 
provements. 

Before  closing  my  letter  I  will  give  you  a  brief  sketch  of  some 
other  literary  and  scientific  institutions  of  France,  and  especially 
of  Paris. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  the  French  Institute.  This  is  in  sub- 
stance and  design  the  same  as  the  old  French  Academy  or  Acad- 
emies, being,  in  fact,  the  combination  of  learned  men  in  the  dif- 
ferent departments  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  the  union  of  these 
respective  combinations  under  one  general  organization  for  literary 
and  scientific  purposes.  The  original  institution  was  dissolved  by 
the  revolutionists  of  '89,  who,  in  their  zeal  for  change,  laid  their 
sacrilegious  hands  both  upon  the  altars  of  religion  and  the  temples 
of  science.  Of  this  latter,  however,  they  soon  repented ;  and  on 
October  20,  1795,  by  a  decree  of  the  Convention,  the  Institute 
was  founded.  Since  that  it  has  undergone  some  changes  need- 
less to  mention ;  but  it  now  consists  of  five  academies,  viz. : 

1.  The  French  Academy,  which  seems  to  have  charge  more 
particularly  of  French  literature.     The  dictionary  of  the  French 
language  published  by  this  academy  is  well  known.     This  de- 
partment consists  of  forty  members. 

2.  The  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles-lettres.     The  field 
of  literature  more  especially  belonging  to  this  academy  is,  as  its 
name  imports,  ancient  classics,  antiquities,  and  monuments,  and 
history  with  its  cognate  branches.     This  also  has  forty  members. 

3.  The  Academy  of  Sciences,  embracing  mathematics,  physics, 
and  the  natural  sciences,  including  also  surgery,  medicine,  and  ru- 
ral economy.     This  academy  has  eleven  sections,  ten  of  which 
embrace  six  members  each,  and  one  three,  making  sixty-three  in 
the  whole. 

4.  The  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  with  forty  members. 

5.  The  Academy  of  Moral  and  Political  Science.     This  has 
been  created,  or  rather  restored  by  the  present  king  in  1832,  with 


EDUCATION    IN    FRANCE.  67 

thirty  members,  divided  into  five  sections — on  philosophy,  morals 
and  legislation,  international  law  and  jurisprudence,  political  and 
statistical  economy,  and  general  and  philosophical  history. 

These  academies  have  secretaries,  whose  salaries  are  paid  by 
government;  and  they  also  award  prizes,  &c.  They  meet  once 
each  week  for  various  discussions,  reading  essays,  &c.  Each 
academy  nominates  to  fill  its  own  vacancies,  which  nomination  has 
to  be  confirmed  by  the  king.  The  design  is,  that  the  most  emi- 
nent men  in  the  nation  should  be  elected  to  membership  in  the 
respective  departments.  Every  member  that  attends  all  the 
meetings  of  the  year  receives  from  government  1500  francs. 
For  each  absence  ten  francs  are  deducted. 

The  Mazarin  College,  as  it  was  formerly  called,  a  fine  edifice 
standing  upon  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine  opposite  the  Louvre,  and 
now  called  the  Palace  of  the  Institute,  is  devoted  to  the  accom- 
modation of  this  noble  literary  and  scientific  association,  the  no- 
blest, perhaps,  in  the  world.* 

There  are  various  other  societies,  literary,  scientific,  &c.,  which 
I  cannot  now  mention. 

Of  the  libraries  of  Paris,  however,  I  should  say  something. 
The  principal  of  these  is  the  Royal  Library,  in  the  Rue  Richelieu. 
The  number  of  volumes  in  this  splendid  collection  is  commonly 
estimated  at  about  900,000.  The  Mazarin  Library  is  in  the 
Palace  of  the  Institute,  and  contains  100,000  volumes.  The  library 
of  St.  Genevieve  contains  250,000  volumes.  The  library  of  the 
Arsenal  180,000.  Besides  several  other  smaller  collections,  such 
as  the  library  of  the  Hotel  des  Invalides,  already  mentioned,  the 
City  Library  of  45>000  volumes,  the  library  at  the  Garden  of 
Plants,  &c.  One  valuable  arrangement  of  these  libraries  is,  that 
they  are  open  to  the  public  without  expense. 

With  all  these  encouragements  and  facilities,  is  it  surprising 
that  Paris  abounds  in  men  of  science  and  literature  ? 

I  will  close  this  letter  by  glancing  at  the  Garden  of  Plants  and 
the  Museum  of  Natural  History  connected  with  it.  This  institu- 
tion has  an  extensive  botanical  garden,  now  under  the  direction  of 
Prpfessor  Jussieu,  to  whom  I  had  a  letter  by  the  politeness  of 
Professor  Torrey  of  New- York.  The  collection  of  living  plants 

*  The  number  of  volumes  published  by  this  society  from  the  beginning,  as  reported  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Baird,  is  372.  See  American  Quarterly  Register,  January,  1837. 


68  FRANCE. 

is  extensive  and  well  arranged.  One  part  is  uneven,  and  devoted 
to  forest-trees  and  shrubbery  in  such  a  form  as  to  give  it  the  ap 
pearance  of  a  rural  landscape  and  park  with  serpentine  alleys. 
Here,  on  the  slope  of  the  hill,  is  a  cedar  of  Lebanon,  the  first,  it 
is  said,  that  was  brought  to  Paris,  from  which,  however,  other 
grounds  have  been  supplied.  Two  of  these  beautiful  trees  spread 
out  their  elegant  tops  just  under  the  window  of  our  lodgings,  and 
they  are  found  in  other  parts  of  the  city. 

At  the  Garden  of  Plants  there  are  twelve  courses  of  lectures 
each  year  on  the  various  branches  of  natural  science,  and  all  gra- 
tuitous. To  aid  in  this,  there  is  a  collection  for  comparative  anat- 
omy, the  most  splendid  in  the  world,  mostly  the  fruit  of  the  skill 
and  labour  of  Baron  Cuvier.  There  is  also  a  fine  menagerie  of 
living  animals,  and  an  extensive  museum  of  birds,  beasts,  fishes, 
and  reptiles,  as  well  as  a  splendid  cabinet  of  minerals  and  geolog- 
ical specimens ;  all  arranged  and  kept  in  beautiful  order.  Here 
are  those  monstrous  reptiles  that  bear  upon  their  hoary  skeletons 
the  records  of  matter,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  Cuvier  and  most 
modern  geologists,  was  undergoing  its  various  transformations 
thousands  on  thousands  of  years  before  the  world  was  !  That  is, 
before  it  existed  in  its  present  form,  and  was  fitted  up  for  the  hab- 
itation of  man. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  give  a  more  particular  detail  of  this  in- 
teresting and  extensive  Museum  of  Natural  History ;  but  I  must 
forbear. 

Yours,  &c., 

W.  FISK. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  preceding  letter  will  show  that,  in  point  of  education, 
France  is  taking  a  stand  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  nation  in  the 
world.  Her  higher  branches  and  seminaries  have  for  a  long  time 
stood  deservedly  high  in  the  estimation  of  all  Europe ;  but  her 
present  system  of  primary  instruction  is  taking  hold  of  the  public 
mind  in  its  early  and  elementary  character,  and  is  diffusing,  it  is 


INFIDELITY   IN   FRANCE.  69 

to  be  hoped,  a  salutary  influence  through  the  entire  population. 
One  feature  of  this  education  is  particularly  promising,  viz.,  that 
which  connects  religious  instruction  with  intellectual  culture. 
Indeed,  Monsieur  Guizot,  the  present  minister  of  instruction,  has 
issued  an  ordinance  requiring  the  Bible  to  be  used  in  all  the 
schools,  and  the  government  has  made  a  very  liberal  provision  to 
carry  that  order  into  effect.  Had  France  always  cultivated  Bible 
religion  with  her  instruction,  and  especially  had  she,  during  the 
last  century,  had  a  diffusive  system  of  instruction  on  that  principle, 
she  would  neither  have  waded  through  those  scenes  of  bloody  rev- 
olution which  have  marked  her  modern  history,  nor  would  she 
now  have  in  her  bosom  a  generation  of  infidels,  which  give  an 
anomalous  character  to  the  nation,  and  render  all  her  political  and 
social  institutions  unsettled  and  precarious.  So  true  is  it,  that, 
however  extensively  science  and  literature  may  be  cultivated  in 
any  nation,  it  avails  nothing  to  the  safety  and  happiness  of  the 
people,  unless  it  be  connected  with  a  course  of  moral  and  religious 
training.  But  I  cannot  better  illustrate  this  principle  than  by  in- 
serting here  a  letter  written  from  Paris  to  the  students  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  University. 


To  the  Students  of  the  Wesleyan  University. 

Paris,  Nov.  27, 1835. 

YOUNG  GENTLEMEN, 

You  doubtless  distinctly  recollect  how  often  he  who  now  ad- 
dresses you,  as  well  as  others,  has  insisted  upon  the  importance 
of  cultivating  the  heart  at  the  same  time  with  the  intellect ;  in 
other  words,  that  religion  and  the  sciences  ought  always  to  be 
united.  The  state  of  society  in  France  at  the  present  time  illus- 
trates, I  think,  pretty  clearly  the  truth  of  this  doctrine,  especially 
the  state  of  society  among  the  young.  The  minds  of  most  of  the 
young,  particularly  the  male  sex,  are  deeply  poisoned  with  infi- 
delity, and  this  infidelity  is,  in  a  great  measure,  the  result  of  edu- 
cation. I  will  not  say  that  religion  has  been  wholly  left  out  of 
the  account  in  the  French  system  of  education,  although  it  must 
be  acknowledged,  I  believe,  that  it  has  been,  in  the  main,  neglect- 
ed, especially  in  the  higher  institutions  ;  that  it  is  the  same  thing 


70  FRANCE. 

in  its  practical  results,  whether  the  duties  and  obligations  of  reli 
gion  be  entirely  neglected,  or  such  a  religion  be  inculcated  as  is 
inefficient  in  its  influence  on  moral  character,  and  repulsive,  in  all 
its  rites  and  devotions,  to  men  of  thought  and  intelligence.  To 
one  or  both  of  these  causes  we  are  doubtless  to  attribute  the  pre- 
vailing infidelity  of  the  French  youth,  and  of  the  French  nation 
generally.  Indeed,  this  spirit  of  infidelity  is  more  prevalent  than 
I  expected  to  find  it.  I  knew  the  French  were  a  God-forgetting 
nation,  and  that  infidelity  had  been  taught  by  their  philosophers, 
and  that  reason  had  been  deified  by  their  legislatures ;  but  I  had 
hoped  a  better  day  had  actually  risen  upon  France.  I  fear,  how- 
ever, this  is  not  the  case.  I  am  told,  by  those  well  acquainted, 
that  you  can  rarely  meet  with  a  young  man  who  does  not  scout 
at  the  very  idea  of  revelation,  and  many  of  them  at  the  idea  of  a 
God.  Their  greatest  infidels  are  the  men  whom  the  nation  seems 
most  delighted  to  honour.  Voltaire  has  been  recently  enthroned 
in  bronze  in  the  very  centre  of  the  Royal  Library  ;  public  worship 
is  very  generally  neglected,  and  the  Sabbath  is  a  day  of  universal 
merriment  and  business.  But  my  principal  object  now  is  to  show 
the  unfavourable  influence  that  this  heartless  infidelity  has  upon 
personal  happiness  and  social  institutions ;  and  if  in  the  picture 
you  see  additional  cause  to  adhere  to  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  I 
shall  have  gained  my  end  in  writing  at  this  time.  One  of  the  most 
prominent  effects  which  are  caused  by  infidelity  is  a  tedium  of 
life,  and  a  criminal  haste  to  get  out  of  it.  It  seems  to  be  acknowl- 
edged by  all  that  suicide  is  increasing  in  France.  I  have  heard 
of  several  instances  since  I  have  been  here.  They  have  a  public 
place  called  the  Morgue,  where  those  who  are  found  dead  each 
day  are  brought  and  deposited  ;  and  the  bodies  are  exposed  to  pub- 
lic view  in  large  trays,  inside  of  a  palisaded  partition.  Here 
those  whose  friends  or  acquaintances  are  missing  come,  and  if 
they  can  recognise  the  bodies,  they  claim  them  for  burial.  As  the 
Seine  is  the  more  common  resort  for  those  who  are  tired  of  life,  a 
net  is  stretched  across  it  below  the  city,  by  which  all  the  bodies 
not  taken  out  are  stopped  and  recovered.  True,  neither  the 
Morgue  nor  the  net  for  the  Seine  can  be  supposed  to  have  been 
prepared  exclusively  for  suicides,  but  for  any  accidental  or  violent 
deaths  ;  yet  the  greater  portion,  probably,  of  those  taken  from  the 
Seine,  and  of  those,  from  whatever  sources,  which  are  deposited 


SUICIDES.  71 

in  the  Morgue,  are  the  victims  of  this  infidel  practice.  I  say  in- 
fidel, for  I  consider  suicide  the  practical  consummation  of  infidel- 
ity. Indeed,  when  once  "  the  fool  has  said  in  his  heart  there  is 
no  God,"  he  needs  only  to  become  a  little  chagrined  or  dispirited 
by  disappointment,  and  he  is  ready  at  once  to  bury  aU  in  the 
oblivious  sleep  of  death. 

That  gloomy,  insupportable  state  of  mind  which  is  superinduced 
by  a  disbelief  in  revelation,  a  special  Providence,  and  future  exist- 
ence, as  naturally  leads  to  suicide,  when  associated  with  the  ills 
that  "life  is  heir  to,"  as  any  effect  follows  its  legitimate  cause. 

This  of  itself  shows  both  the  importance  and  truth  of  religion, 
for  certainly  our  Creator  would  not  have  left  us  without  that, 
which  all  experience  teaches  is  so  important  to  our  safety  and 
happiness.  Another  method  of  destroying  life  which  is  becoming 
quite  popular,  is  by  the  fumes  of  charcoal  in  a  close  room.  Some- 
times more  horrible  and  revolting  methods  are  resorted  to.  It  is 
but  a  short  time  since  one  young  man,  who  had  become  weary  of 
life,  threw  himself  from  the  top  of  Notre  Dame  upon  the  pave- 
ments below;  and  another  quite  lately*  from  the  top  of  Bona- 
parte's column,  an  elevation  of  135  feet. 

Another  proof  of  the  little  influence  of  religion  upon  the  public 
mind,  is  the  morbid  sensibility  which  predominates,  in  many  in- 
stances, over  correct  sentiment ;  begetting  a  strange  and  anoma- 
lous kind  of  sympathetic  feeling  and  action,  a  most  surprising 
mixture  of  sentimentality  and  cruelty,  of  affection  and  hatred,  of 
refined  tenderness  and  savage  barbarity.  I  can  best  illustrate  what 
I  mean  by  an  example  or  two.  The  instances  are  all  recent. 

The  present  mode  of  filling  the  ranks  of  the  army  is  by  conscrip- 
tion. A  young  man,  who  was  greatly  beloved  by  his  father,  had  at- 
tained the  age  at  which  he  was  liable  to  be  draughted  for  the  pub- 
lic service.  This  of  course  afflicted  the  father;  and  he  anxiously 
desired  to  find  some  method  of  saving  his  beloved  son  from  the 
conscription.  On  inquiry  he  learned  that  the  oldest  son  of  a  widow 
was  exempt  from  serving  in  the  army.  Of  course  it  was  now  in 
his  power  to  secure  his  object ;  he  kills  himself,  by  which  the. 
boy's  mother  becomes  a  widow,  and  he  is  saved  from  the  con- 
scription ! !  Another  case.  A  man  and  his  wife  not  living  hap- 

*  Viz.,  24th  inst.  This  is  the  fourth  who  has  leaped  from  the  column  since  its  erec- 
tion. It  is  quite  sentimental  to  die  at  the  base  of  Napoleon's  pillar. 


72  FRANCE. 

pily  together,  separated — a  frequent,  very  frequent  occurrence  m 
France.  One  son  was  greatly  attached  to  the  father,  another  son 
and  a  daughter  took  sides  with  the  mother.  The  mother  and  the 
two  children  attached  to  her  were  a  great  annoyance  to  the  father 
in  various  ways.  The  other  son,  for  the  love  he  bore  his  father, 
conceived  and  executed  the  plan  of  murdering  his  mother,  and 
brother,  and  sister.  When  arraigned  for  his  crime,  he  pleaded  in 
excuse  the  love  he  bore  his  father ;  and  although  he  had  destroyed 
three  lives  and  forfeited  his  own,  he  pleaded  as  authority  the  nu- 
merous instances  on  record  of  men  who  had  nobly  sacrificed  them- 
selves for  the  happiness  of  others,  and  especially  our  Saviour,  who 
sacrificed  himself  for  the  good  of  mankind.  Another.  A  physi- 
cian came  from  some  provincial  town  in  France  with  another 
man's  wife,  with  whom  he  lived  in  criminal  intimacy.  They 
found,  however,  that  their  felicity  was  not  equal  to  their  anticipa- 
tions ;  and  not  succeeding  in  their  plans  to  their  wishes,  it  was 
thought  best  to  cut  the  whole  matter  short  by  cutting  the  thread 
of  life.  For  this  the  female  was  specially  anxious,  and  requested 
her  paramour,  who  of  course  could  do  it  scientifically,  to  bleed 
her  to  death,  and  then  operate  upon  himself.  He  proceeded  ac- 
cordingly ;  and  having  succeeded  with  her,  he  stabbed  himself, 
but  not  mortally.  He  was  found,  and  recovered.  He  was  tried 
and  acquitted  by  the  French  court,  on  the  ground  that  the  lady's 
death  was  not  homicide,  but  suicide ! !  And  now  mark  the  good- 
ness, to  speak  ironically,  of  the  doctor's  heart.  He  finally  dis- 
missed the  idea  of  destroying  himself,  and  concluded  he  might  be 
of  some  service  to  the  world  by  going  into  the  districts  infected 
with  the  cholera  or  the  plague,  and  prescribing  for  the  sick.  In 
this  way  he  could  make  a  noble  sacrifice  of  a  life  of  which  he  was 
weary,  by  administering,  while  he  might  survive,  to  the  necessi- 
ties of  others.  What  a  philanthropy  was  this !  What  a  morbid 
sensibility  !  What  a  romantic  and  philanthropic  adulterer  and  mur* 
derer  !  A  fine  specimen  this  of  refinement  in  educating  the  intel- 
lect, and  especially  the  imagination,  while  the  heart  is  neglected. 
Another  evidence  of  the  effect  of  irreligion  in  France  is  the 
pleasure  the  French  take  in  strong  excitement,  and  especially 
that  excitement  which  is  produced  by  scenes  of  cruelty  and  mur- 
der. The  painters  of  the  modern  French  school  are  all  in  proof. 
Go  to  the  Luxembourg  palace,  where  the  paintings  are  mostly 


LOVE    OF   EXCITEMENT.  73 

new,  and  by  French  artists,  and  you  may  see  a  striking  illustra- 
tion of  this  fact.  One  is  chilled  and  horrorstruck  in  going  from 
picture  to  picture,  and  finding  death  and  agony,  in  all  their  horrid 
shapes,  meeting  him  at  every  turn.  For  example,  in  represent- 
ing the  scene  of  the  elder  Brutus  and  his  two  sons,  most  artists 
fix  upon  that  point  of  time  in  which  the  father  gives  command  to 
the  lictors  to  take  his  sons  to  execution.  This  I  remember  to 
have  seen  a  number  of  years  since,  and  the  view  of  it,  at  this 
stage  of  the  tragedy,  was  more  than  I  could  well  endure.  But 
this  is  not  the  point  in  the  tragedy  that  will  satisfy  the  French 
artist.  You  have  it  at  the  Luxembourg.  There  lies  the  bleeding, 
headless  trunk  of  one  son,  and  the  dripping  head  itself  is  held  up 
in  the  hands  of  the  lictor,  while  the  other  son,  in  view  of  the  scene, 
is  just  being  subjected  to  the  same  operation ;  and  the  father  sits 
and  looks  on,  without  relaxing  a  muscle  of  his  stern,  unpaternal 
countenance  !  How  horrible  is  the  exhibition ! !  And  yet  it  re- 
quires, such  an  exhibition,  it  seems,  to  meet  the  views  of  a  French 
artist  and  his  admirers. 

There  is  a  greater  indifference  to  death  among  the  French  than  is 
found  among  other  nations — an  indifference  which  has  already  been 
illustrated  by  a  reference  to  the  subject  of  suicide.  It  was  shocking- 
ly illustrated  during  the  revolution  of  1789,  when  thousands  jested, 
and  danced,  and  sang  amid  flowing  torrents  of  blood  ;  even  when 
their  own  was  just  ready  to  flow.  This  also  is  illustrated,  perhaps, 
in  the  character  of  the  French  soldier,  and  it  may  be  one  cause  of 
the  success  of  the  French  armies.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that  this 
contempt  of  death  does  not  arise  from  any  correct  view  of  a  here- 
after, or  any  realizing  sense  of  what  it  is  to  die,  but  it  is  rather  the 
result  of  that  sensual  infidelity  which  says  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink, 
for  to-morrow  we  die."  This  strong  feeling,  partaking  of  the  na- 
ture of  cruelty,  this  recklessness  of  life  so  prevalent  among  the 
French,  may  be  seen  in  the  repeated  attempts  which  have  been 
made  upon  the  life  of  the  present  king.  Fieschi,  who  was  the 
chief  agent  in  the  infernal  machine  of  July  last,  has,  in  the  course 
of  his  examination,  given  some  striking  proofs  of  the  little  value 
he  set  upon  human  life  ;  and  although  he  is  a  desperado,  and 
ought  not  by  any  means  to  be  held  up  as  a  proper  specimen  of 
the  French  character,  yet  it  ought  to  be  remembered  that  each 
age  and  nation  produces  its  peculiar  desperadoes.  Every  grade 
7  K 


74  FRANCE. 

of  character  takes  its  peculiar  cast  from  the  mass  in  which  it  was 
developed,  and  I  doubt  not  that  the  history  of  the  criminals  of  any 
age  or  nation  would  exhibit  the  leading  characteristics  of  the  peo- 
ple from  among  whom  they  sprang.  But  to  return.  Fieschi  is 
said  to  have  declared,  on  his  late  examination,  preparatory  to  his 
trial,  that  at  one  time,  while  the  procession  was  passing,  his  heart 
had  wellnigh  failed  him,  for  he  saw  in  the  group  near  the  king  a 
friend  to  whom  he  was  under  special  obligations.  However,  he 
recollected  that  he  was  bound  in  honour  to  his  accomplices,  and 
therefore  he  must  not  shrink  !  Bound  in  honour  to  kill  the  chief 
ruler  of  the  nation,  at  the  expense  of  many  others  ;  one  of  whom 
was  his  friend  and  benefactor  !  !  However,  fortune  favoured  him 
in  this  particular,  for  a  movement  of  the  procession  threw  his  friend 
in  another  position,  and  he  had  a  fine  opportunity  of  destroying  a 
score  without  harming  him.  Another  instance  of  a  desperate 
murderer,  who  has  just  had  his  trial,  will  exhibit  a  similar  spirit. 
This  wretch  treated  the  court  with  the  utmost  contempt  and  their 
sentence  of  death  with  the  most  perfect  ridicule.  They  told  him 
he  had  the  privilege  of  an  appeal,  by  which  his  life  might  be  pro- 
longed three  months.  He  at  first  refused ;  but  when  he  learned 
that  his  accomplice  in  crime,  against  whom,  it  seemed,  he  cher- 
ished, for  some  cause,  the  most  rancorous,  diabolical  hatred,  had 
appealed,  and  would  therefore  outlive  him,  he  decided  to  appeal 
also  ;  because  it  would  afford  him  such  high  gratification  to  see 
this  object  of  his  hate  die  first. 

Now  although  I  would  not  have  you  judge,  from  the  instances 
given,  that  the  French  are  all  a  cruel,  murderous  race — for  I  pro- 
test against  ranking  a  community  in  the  same  class  with  the  most 
exceptionable  individual  cases — still  I  must  think  that  in  these  il- 
lustrations there  are  some  striking  marks  of  national  character. 
We  must  always  take  the  strong  cases  when  we  give  an  example, 
in  order  to  make  clearly  visible  the  lineaments  and  features  we 
design  to  bring  into  view.  And  here,  if  I  mistake  not,  we  have 
very  strongly  marked,  in  the  instances  given,  lines  of  character 
that  to  some  extent  distinguish  the  French  nation.  And,  if  cir- 
cumstances required  it,  I  might  carry  out  these  illustrations  further 
in  smaller  matters  ;  I  might  allude  to  the  extraordinary  circulation 
of  the  Journal  des  Tribunaux,  in  which  are  published  all  the  horrid 
crimes  and  suicides  that  are  committed  in  the  country  ;  the  stock 


LOVE    OF   EXCITEMENT.  75 

for  the  capital  of  which,  I  am  told,  has  increased,  since  the  first 
investment,  fifteen  hundred  per  cent. — so  great  is  the  circulation  of 
this  record  of  passion  and  crime.*  Whence  originates  this  mor- 
bid appetite  for  these  horrid  recitals  but  in  the  causes  already  ex- 
plained ?  In  further  proof  of  the  irreligion  of  this  people,  I  might 
mention  their  disregard  of  serious  things ;  the  universal  prostitu- 
tion and  desecration  of  the  Sabbath  ;  the  frequent  and  undisguised 
disregard  of  conjugal  relations,  by  which  domestic  quiet  and  do- 
mestic happiness  are  prevented ;  but  I  forbear.  Enough  is  seen, 
I  think,  in  the  entire  history  and  present  character  of  modern 
France,  to  warn  all  against  the  dangerous  experiment  of  training 
up  a  generation  to  disregard  "  the  only  true  God  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  he  has  sent." 

France  has  many  noble  qualities  ;  she  is  chivalrous  and  brave, 
and  courtly  and  refined;  she  fosters,  beyond  any  other  nation, 
yes,  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  beyond  any  other  nation,  the  sciences 
and  the  arts.  But  there  is  a  worm  at  the  root,  and  the  gnawings 
of  that  worm  wither  equally  the  tree  of  national  prosperity  and 
the  humbler  plant  of  individual  and  domestic  enjoyment.  In 
vain  shall  France  change  her  form  of  government ;  in  vain  shall 
she  multiply  her  sources  of  gratification,  either  of  sense,  of  ima- 
gination, or  of  intellect ;  in  vain  shall  she  swell  the  song  and  lead 
down  the  dance  ;  in  vain  shall  she  strive  to  keep  up  her  excite- 
ment by  the  strongest  stimulus  of  tragic  representation ;  in  vain 
shall  she  measure  out  the  heavens,  and  weigh  the  earth,  and  ana- 
lyze the  productions  of  nature.  She  has  revolted  from  her  God — 
the  "  hope,  like  an  anchor  to  the  soul,  big  with  immortality,"  she 
does  not  possess.  In  short,  the  entire  national  mind  is  cast  loose 
*rom  its  appropriate  moorings,  and  tossed  upon  a  restless  sea  of 
excited  feeling  and  unsanctified  passion.  In  such  a  state,  the  in- 
tervals of  excitement  must  be  gloomy,  and  press  the  soul  down  to 
despair  and  loathing  of  life  ;  and  the  periods  of  excitement  must 
be  maddening  and  licentious. 

And  now,  young  gentlemen,  since  I  have  not  been  drawing  any 
doubtful  fancy-picture,  but  one  of  reality  and  notoriety;  and  since 
the  causes  and  effects  are  not  traced  out  by  dim  and  ambiguous 

*  Recently,  a  second  gazette  of  a  similar  character,  called  Le  Droh,  has-  been  estab- 
lished. The  ground  of  public  patronage  of  this  character  is  so  extensive  that  another 
similar  periodical,  seemed  desirable. 


76  FRANCE. 

lines  and  connexions,  but  by  striking  and  obvious  associations, 
permit  me  to  inquire  whether  there  is  one  of  you  who  would 
wish  to  see  such  a  state  of  feeling  in  America?  Nay,  is  there 
one  of  you  who  can  for  a  moment  forget  how  much  you  are  in- 
debted, individually,  to  the  influence  of  religious  truth  upon  your 
minds  ?  Although  some  of  you  may  not  be  particularly  and  pro- 
fessedly religious,  yet,  however  little  you  may  realize  it,  it  is  the 
influence  of  religion,  silently  thrown  'over  you  by  the  power  of  as- 
sociation and  education,  that  checks  your  excesses,  which  other- 
wise might  prove  ruinous.  It  is  this  that  keeps  you  from  despair 
in  the  hour  of  discouragement.  As  you  value  your  own  happi- 
ness, then,  I  entreat  of  you,  respect  the  institutions  and  principles 
of  our  holy  religion  ;  and  as  you  love  your  country,  encourage,  by 
all  means,  that  course  of  education  which  improves  the  heart, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  invigorates  and  improves  the  intellect. 
Yours,  in  the  kindest  sentiments  of  affection  and  esteem, 

W.  FISK. 


To  the  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church. 

Paris,  Nov.  12,-I835. 
REV.    AND   DEAR    SlR, 

I  am  the  more  prompted  to  trouble  you  with  a  letter  at  this 
time  from  the  circumstance  of  my  having  attended,  last  evening, 
a  missionary  meeting  in  this  city,  and  from  my  having  at  that 
time  increased  to  some  extent  my  little  knowledge  of  the  state  of 
things  in  this  great  and  interesting  nation  on  the  subject  of  Prot- 
estant missionary  operations.  This  will  enable  me  to  comply  in 
part  with  the  request  of  the  Missionary  Board,  that  I  would,  in 
my  tour,  make  such  inquiries  respecting  the  openings  for  mis- 
sionary labour,  especially  in  France,  as  my  circumstances  would 
permit. 

The  meeting  to  which  I  allude  was  held  in  the  place  of  wor- 
ship occupied  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Newstead,  formerly  Wesleyan 
missionary  in  Ceylon,  but  now  stationed  by  the  same  society  in 
Paris,  in  connexion  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  De  Jersey,  who  preaches 
in  French.  Mr.  Newstead  preaches  in  English  to  a  congregation 


A   MISSIONARY    MEETING.  77 

made  up  of  English  and  Americans,  but  mostly  of  the  former. 
The  chapel  is  a  private  tenement,  rented  and  fitted  up  for  the 
purpose  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Honore.  One  circumstance  which 
rendered  the  place  very  interesting  to  me  was,  that  the  apart- 
ments were  those  of  our  highly-venerated  Lafayette  at  the  time 
of  his  last  sickness  and  death.  Yes,  in  those  very  apartments 
where  the  "  patriot  of  two  hemispheres"  breathed  his  last,  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  preaching  to  a  Protestant  congregation  last  Sabbath, 
and  of  assembling  with  others  last  evening  to  celebrate  a  Prot- 
estant missionary  anniversary  !  The  meeting  was  not  large,  but 
interesting.  Mr.  Newstead,  who  is  much  esteemed  here,  and  who, 
is  deeply  devoted  to  his  work  and  indefatigable  in  his  labours,, 
had  enlisted  several  clergymen  of  other  denominations  to  assist  on, 
the  occasion.  The  pecuniary  result  of  the  meeting  was  a  collect 
tion  of  about  320  francs  (not  far  from  $62).  One  of  the  speakers 
was  Rev.  John  Hartly,  who  was  formerly  missionary  from  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  to  Greece,  but  who,  for  two  or  three 
years  past,  has  been  residing  in  Geneva.  Mr.  H.  gave  it  as  hi& 
opinion  that  the  whole  of  France  was  open  for  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries ;  and  publicly  entreated  me,  in  the  course  of  his  ad- 
dress, to  make  myself  acquainted  with  the  facts  in  the  case,  and 
urge  the  American  churches  to  interest  themselves  in  this  very 
important  field  of  labour.  He  said  there  was  not  a  town  in 
France,  except  perhaps  the  very  largest,  such  as  Paris  and 
Lyons,  where,  if  a  Protestant  missionary  should  go,  and,  having 
obtained  the  required  license,  should  give  out  that  Protestant 
worship  was  to  be  attended,  there  would  not  be  crowds  to  hear 
him.*  He  stated,  moreover,  that  there  was  a  great  readiness,  and> 
indeed,  eagerness,  to  receive  religious  publications  and  the  Bible. 
He  gave  an  interesting  sketch,  in  which  the  late  great  and  gra-. 
cious  revival  of  religion  in  the  Pays  de  Vaud  commenced  and  was 
carried  on.  In  the  first  place,  some  humble  individuals,  called 
colporteurs,  were  employed  to  carry  round  on  their  backs  and 
distribute  religious  tracts,  written  in  a  form  to  attract  attention, 
and  also  the  Bible.  These  were  cheerfully  received ;  and,  by 

*  Mr.  De  Jersey,  who  has  laboured  a  number  of  years  in  Normandy  and  Picardy,  says 
this  does  not  accord  with  his  experience,  although  he  finds  much  encouragement.    The 
fact  is,  some  parts  are  more  accessible  than  others,,  but  there  is  more  or  less  encourage* 
ment  in  all  parts. 
7 


78  FRANCE. 

moans  of  them,  together  with  the  pious  conversation  of  the  colpor- 
teurs, a  number  were  converted.     This  opened  the  way  for  send- 
ing regular  ministers  among  them,  and  in   this  way  the  work 
has  been  extended  in  a  very  interesting  manner  in  the  eastern 
part  of  France.     It  seemed  to  be  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Hartly  that 
the  same  might  be  done  throughout  the  kingdom.     And  if  nothing 
else  were  done  at  first  but  the  circulating  of  the  Bible  and  reli- 
gious publications,  this  would  of  itself  produce  glorious  results. 
It  is  true,  there  might  be  some  sections  of  the  country,  and  some 
classes  or  individuals,  so  much  under  the  influence  of  the  Catholic 
priests  as  to  reject  the  Bible ;  but  this  would  not,  it  is  believed, 
be  generally  the  case.     There  is  probably  not  a  Catholic  country 
on  the  globe  where  the  priests  have  so  little  power  over  the  great 
body  of  the  people  of  all  ranks  as  in  France.     They  will  think 
for  themselves,  and,  in  thinking  for  themselves,  they  become  more 
and  more  dissatisfied  with  the  mummery,  and  bigotry,  and  yoke 
of  bondage  of  the  Catholic  superstitions ;  and  the  danger  now  is, 
that  they  will  j*o  over  en  masse  to   infidelity ;  as,  indeed,  the 
greater  portion  of  the  higher  classes  have  done  already.     Infidel- 
ity is  the  boast  of  by  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  younger  citi- 
zens of  France  ;  they  scout  the  very  idea  of  revelation,  and  not  a 
few  of  them  of  a  God — so  those  say  who  have  resided  long  in  the 
country,  and  are  best  prepared  to  know  the  true  state  of  things. 
The  churches  are  in  a  manner  deserted  by  the  younger  men,  and 
religion  is  left  chiefly  to  the  women  and  to  the  old  men.     In  this 
state  of  things,  what  can  save  the  nation  but  the  Bible,  and  a  de- 
vout and  faithful  exhibition  of  Bible  truth,  independent  of  the  dis- 
gusting mummeries  and  hypocrisies  with  which  the  people  have 
heretofore  seen  those  truths  associated  !     The    Catholic   power 
here  is  crippled,  never,  I  trust,  to  rise  again.     Its  partial  resurrec- 
tion after  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons,  and  especially  at  the 
accession  of  Charles  X.  to  the  throne,  has  served  to  make  its 
second  downfall  but  the  more  fatal  and  irrecoverable.     That  infat- 
uated prince  gave  himself  up  to  the  dictation  of  the  priests,  and 
vainly  thought  to  charm  the  people  back  again  to  the  passive  obe- 
dience of  the  old  regime  by  religious  ceremonies  and  processions. 
It  was  thus  that  he  was  induced  by  the  Jesuitical  influence  of  the 
clergy  to  venture  upon  those  measures  that  drove  him  from  the 
throne  into  banishment.    The  people  see  this ;  they  see  that  the 


OPENING    FOR    RELIGIOUS    EFFORT.  79 

priests  are  not  to  be  trusted ;  that  no  one  under  their  influence 
can  be  trusted  :  and  hence  the  priests  are  less  likely  to  dupe  them 
than  formerly.  No  religious  parades  have  been  seen  in  the 
streets  of  Paris  since  the  memorable  revolution  of  July,  1830, 
and  the  present  king  has  carefully  refrained  from  committing 
himself  on  the  subject  of  religion  in  any  form.  It  has  been  said, 
that  the  only  intimation  he  has  ever  given  in  public  of  his  believing 
in  any  religion,  was  at  the  instant  after  the  discharge  of  the  infer- 
nal machine,  in  July  last,  on  the  Boulevard  du  Temple ;  when  a 
score  were  dying  around  him,  and  himself  wounded,  he  faced  the 
side  whence  the  discharge  had  proceeded,  drew  his  sword,  and 
then  crossed  his  arms  upon  his  breast.  And  even  this  small  sig- 
nal might  be  the  result  of  the  agitation  of  that  awful  moment 
rather  than  the  indication  of  any  religious  faith. 

Such  is  the  religion  of  the  king,  such  is  the  religion  of  most  of 
his  principal  men.  One  of  his  cabinet,  M.  Guizot,  is  a  Protestant 
— the  wife  of  another,  the  Due  de  Broglie,  notwithstanding  the 
duke  is  himself  a  nominal  Catholic,  is  a  Protestant,  and  is  said  to 
be  a  pious  lady,  although  the  daughter  of  an  infidel  mother,  the 
late  celebrated  Madame  de  Stael.  All  these  circumstances  show 
how  little  power  the  priests  have  in  the  government ;  add  to  this 
the  fact  that  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  in  this  country  is  no 
longer  exclusively  the  state  religion,  and  that  free  toleration  is  se- 
cured to  all  religious  sects,  and  you  will  see  how  the  Catholic  in- 
fluence in  the  great  body  of  the  nation  is  diminished.*  For  every 
one  who  knows  anything  of  the  Catholic  Church  knows  that 
the  priesthood  would  never  give  up  their  hold  upon  the  govern- 
ment if  they  could  retain  it.  But  this  power  has  departed  from 
them  for  ever  in  France.  And  yet  there  is  not  inherent  Protest- 
antism in  the  nation  sufficient  to  raise  and  sustain  the  standard  of 
Bible  Christianity,  nor  sufficient  inherent  piety  to  save  the  na- 
tion from  infidelity.  Here  there  is  a  field  for  Protestant  labour 
from  abroad,  vast  in  extent,  ripe  for  the  harvest,  rich  in  promise — 

*  This  may  need  some  qualification.  There  are  two  different  ordinances  which  seem 
to  be  susceptible  of,  and  have  received,  in  some  instances,  opposite  constructions.  How- 
ever, it  may  be  said  that  the  prevailing  principle  in  France  is  altogether  in  favour  of  tol 
eration ;  and  although  the  present  government  maybe  uncertain  and  unsettled,  yet  there 
can  be  little  doubt  that  whatever  changes  may  occur,  and  that  there  will  not  be  changes 
can  scarcely  be  hoped,  every  successive  change  or  revolution  must  settle  down  in  favoui 
of  an  equal  or  greater  degree  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 


80  FRANCE. 

a  field  where  thirty-two  millions  of  souls  are  actually  famishing 
for  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word,  with  but  perhaps  200  evangeli- 
cal, spiritual  Protestant  preachers  among  them.  Here  is  an  oppor- 
tunity for  Protestants  to  get  a  noble,  a  Gospel  revenge,  if  I  may 
so  say,  for  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  for  all  the 
bloody  persecutions  that  the  scarlet  beast  has  perpetrated  upon 
the  defenceless  Protestants  of  France  throughout  its  past  history 
— and  here,  methinks,  Protestant  America  may  pay  back  to  Cath- 
olic Europe  an  ample  compensation  for  all  the  supplies  of  men 
and  money  gratuitously  sent  over  to  subject  American  citizens  to 
the  Roman  yoke  ;  and  here,  too,  the  United  States  may  find  an 
opportunity  to  refund  to  France  to  some  extent  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude we  owe  her  for  the  services  she  as  a  nation,  and  some  of 
her  sons  as  individuals,  especially  the  illustrious  Lafayette,  have 
rendered  us.  They  helped  us  to  gain  our  national  liberty  and 
independence,  and  shall  we  not  aid  them  to  the  attainment  of  the 
liberty  of  the  gospel  ?  . 

There  may  be  some  special  reasons,  perhaps,  why  America 
should  engage  in  this  enterprise.  It  is  true  the  neighbouring 
kingdoms,  and  especially  Great  Britain,  are  more  advantageously 
situated  for  this  work  than  America.  But  missionaries  from  most 
of  these  kingdoms  would  be  looked  upon  with  suspicion,  especially 
where  those  missionaries  were  connected  with  the  state  religion 
of  their  respective  countries.  Great  Britain,  at  the  present  time, 
would  be  the  least  suspected  ;  but  the  fact  is,  there  is  work  enough 
for  all ;  and,  humanly  speaking,  much  more  than  all  can  do.  Per- 
haps, taking  all  things  into  the  account,  the  most  efficient  mission- 
ary institution  in  the  world  at  this  time  is  the  Wesleyan  Mission 
ary  Society  of  England;  but  they  h.ve  a  vast  work  on  hand. 
The  extent  of  the  British  empire  ;  the  number,  and  geographical 
extent,  and  pressing  wants  of  the  British  colonies,  and  of  the 
pagans  under  the  government  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  those 
colonies,  are  so  great  that  they  claim  and  receive  most  of  the 
patronage  of  that  society  ;  and  still  the  society  can  furnish  for  that 
field  only  a  very  partial  supply.  It  is  true,  they  at  present  furnish 
twelve  missionaries  for  France ;  but  three  of  these  preach  in 
English,  to  supply  the  English  emigrants  at  Calais,  Boulogne,  and 
Paris.  They  have,  in  addition,  on  the  Calais  and  Boulogne  cir- 
cuit, two  who  preach  in  French ;  one  also  in  Paris,  and  six  in 


DUTY    OF    AMERICAN    CHRISTIANS.  81 

Normandy  and  the  south  of  France.  How  much  they  will  be 
able  to  enlarge  and  strengthen  this  department  of  the  missionary 
work,  I  am  unable  to  say ;  evidently,  however,  in  no  degree  ade- 
quate to  the  wants  of  the  country. 

Missionaries  from  America  would  be  received,  it  is  believed, 
by  a  great  portion  of  the  people  of  France  more  readily  than 
from  almost  any  other  part  of  the  world.  The  habits,  especially, 
of  the  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  America,  are  pecu- 
liarly suited  to  that  kind  of  work  that  is  the  most  needed  in  France. 
Whoever  undertakes  the  evangelization  of  this  country  must  come 
down  to  the  drudgery,  if  such  it  may  be  called,  of  the  missionary 
work.  He  must  be  a  hewer  of  wood  and  a  draper  of  water ;  a 
colporteur,  a  burden-bearer,  in  the  work  of  the  gospel.  How  many 
such  are  now  wanted !  If  scores  of  prudent  young  men  were 
now  employed  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom,  carrying  round  tracts 
and  Bibles,  taking  up  their  lodgings  with  the  poor,  and  entering 
freely  into  conversation  with  them  on  the  concerns  of  their  souls, 
what  might  they  not  effect  ? 

In  my  opinion,  moreover,  that  form  of  worship  the  freest  possi- 
*  ble  from  all  external  parade  and  mechanical  form  will  be  the 
best  suited  to  the  present  condition  of  the  French,  not  only  as  it 
would  commend  itself  to  those  who  revolt  at  the  excessive  display 
of  the  prevailing  religion,  but  also  because  the  most  simple  form 
of  religious  instruction  and  worship  is  necessary  to  call  off  the 
senses  of  the  multitude  from  images,  ceremonies,  and  external 
pomp,  to  their  own  hearts,  and  to  the  one  God  and  one  Mediator. 
Such  especially  is" American  Methodism.  Our  British  brethren 
have  judged  it  best,  for  reasons  which  have  weight  with  them,  to 
retain  in  their  service  in  the  missionary  stations  the  practice  of 
reading  prayers ;  and  what  struck  me  as  very  remarkable,  they 
carry  their  nationality  so  far  as  even  here  in  France,  and  in  a 
missionary  station,  to  pray  in  due  form  for  "  our  most  gracious 
sovereign  lord  King  William."  The  better  way,  doubtless,  for  a 
missionary  in  this  country  would  be  to  divest  himself  of  everything 
that  wears  the  aspect  of  foreign  associations,  and  to  come  to  the 
people  as  one  whose  sole  object  is  to  benefit  Frenchmen,  as  such, 
in  the  great  interest  of  their  souls.  And  such,  I  doubt  not,  is  the 
method  our  British  ministers  pursue  in  their  preaching  to  the 
French.  It  is  not  good  policy,  however,  as  it  strikes  me,  since 

1 


82  FRANCE. 

the  missionaries  all  come  out  under  the  same  auspices,  and  ulti- 
mately for  the  same  object — the  benefit  of  France — not  to  identify 
themselves  with  the  French  government  as  much  as  they  may, 
and  avoid  all  national  distinctions.  I  do  not  by  this,  however, 
mean  to  intimate  that  the  English  in  France  are  unfriendly  to  the 
existing  government.  So  far  as  I  have  seen,  Louis  Philippe  has 
no  warmer  friends  in  the  French  nation  than  are  the  great  body 
of  the  English  residents. 

But  I  am  wandering ;  to  return.  The  British  Protestants  will, 
if  the  present  kind  feelings  continue  between  the  two  nations,  un- 
doubtedly do  this  country  great  good.  But,  as  I  said  before,  there 
is  more  work  than  all  can  do,  and  there  are  some  reasons  why 
America  might  be,  equally  with  any  other  nation,  and  perhaps  in 
a  greater  degree  even,  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  Christ  here,  if  they 
would  enlist  in  the  enterprise. 

It  is  true,  the  present  political  misunderstanding  (for  so  I  must 
call  it)  must  first  be  settled.  Should  the  present  small  disagree- 
ment ripen  into  war,  which  may  Heaven  forbid,  it  would  blast  all 
our  hopes  of  benefiting  France,  and  might  serve  to  increase  the 
bigotry  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  infidelity  on  the  other,  of  this  in- 
teresting nation.  I  cannot,  however,  believe  that  a  question  of 
mere  etiquette,  for  such  it  really  has  become,  will  be  suffered  to 
produce  nonintercourse,  enmity,  and  bloodshed  between  two  na- 
tions which  have  such  strong  reasons  for  mutual  friendship.* 

It  might  also  be  necessary  to  use  some  precaution  as  to  the 
manner  of  operation  and  as  to  the  number  sent.  The  political 
elements  of  France  are  far  from  being  settled.  The  Carlists  and 
republicans,  though  the  antipodes  of  each  other,  have  met  on  the 
same  meridian  to  oppose  the  present  government.  This  renders 
the  government  extremely  jealous  of  the  republicans,  and,  by  as- 
sociation, they  might  be  jealous  of  Americans,  if  they  appeared  to 
be  engaging  in  any  extensive  work  in  this  country  just  at  this 
moment ;  a  jealousy  which  the  Jesuits,  for  obvious  reasons,  would 
be  disposed  to  increase.  So  that  while  the  people  might  prefer 
Americans,  the  government  might  be  suspicious.  This,  however. 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  intelligence  has  arrived  of  the  proffered  mediation  of  Eng- 
land to  settle  this  unhappy  dispute,  and  it  is  said  France  has  accepted  it.  America 
doubtless  will  accede  to  this  mediation,  and  thus  this  affair  will  be  settled  in  a  way  hon- 
ourable to  both  parties. 


DUTY    OF    AMERICAN    CHRISTIANS.  83 

would  be  easily  avoided,  I  think,  by  prudent  management.  If 
men  came  here  with  the  sole  and  honest  purpose  of  doing  good  to 
the  French,  by  preaching  unto  them  the  gospel  of  Christ,  their 
character  would  be  ultimately  understood  and  their  motives  ap- 
preciated. 

Finally,  if  I  might  be  permitted,  with  my  short  acquaintance,  to 
make  a  suggestion  on  this  subject,  it  would  be  this.  That,  as  soon 
as  the  political  relations  of  the  country  will  permit,  a  judicious 
man  should  be  sent  out  to  France  as  a  pioneer,  who  should  survey 
the  field,  fix  upon  the  points  and  manner  of  approach,  and,  if  cir- 
cumstances should  justify,  to  be  followed  by  others,  by  Bibles,  and 
by  tracts.  And  especially  that,  as  soon  as  circumstances  would 
authorize  it,  a  small  religious  periodical  should  be  established  to  act 
upon  the  public  mind.  This,  if  prudently  conducted  so  as  not  to 
alarm  the  government,  would,  I  think,  do  wonders.  A  proper  un- 
derstanding of  the  French  character  and  of  the  state  of  the  Prot- 
estant cause  in  France,  and  especially  in  Paris,  would  lead  to  the 
conclusion,  I  believe,  that  a  house  of  worship  should  be  built  at 
once  in  Paris,  and  I  seriously  doubt  whether  any  attempt  to  make 
an  impression  on  the  Parisians  will  avail  without  this.  It  does 
not  comport  with  the  regulations  of  the  British  Wesleyan  Mis- 
sionary Society  to  build  chapels  or  churches.  They  say,  collect 
congregations,  raise  up  societies,  and  they  will  build  you  houses ; 
all  this  may  be  very  correct  for  most  countries,  but  I  am  persuaded 
it  is  not  the  true  doctrine  for  Paris,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  a  long 
trial  in  that  city  ought  to  have  satisfied  them  of  this.  If  we  should 
commence  a  mission  here,  this  should  be  our  first  object.  Another 
important  consideration  :  France  is  a  scientific  and  literary  nation ; 
and  any  attempt  to  evangelize  her  should  be  connected  with  a 
native  agency,  and  a  native  agency  properly  fitted  for  the  work. 
That  the  natives  of  France  should  be  chiefly  depended  upon  for 
this  great  work,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  This  should  always  be 
the  reliance  in  all  efforts  to  evangelize  the  world.  The  longer  an 
efficient  native  ministry  is  delayed,  the  more  the  work  will  be  re- 
tarded. But  a  civilized  country — a  proud  country — a  nominally 
Christian  country,  will  have  her  national  pride  excited  to  be  con- 
sidered under  the  charitable  protection  and  instruction  of  foreign- 
ers, and  thus  access  to  the  public  ear  and  heart  might  be  cut  off. 
The  evangelical  course,  therefore,  should  be  commenced  and 


84  PRANCE. 

aided  by  Christians  abroad ;  but  all  possible  aid  should  be  secured 
in  the  nation,  and  to  this  end  a  school  should  be  opened  in  Paris. 
Here,  with  a  little  expense — for  the  lectures  of  a  scientific  and 
literary  character,  which  are  open  to  all  in  Paris,  would  greatly 
dimmish  the  expense- — young  men  might  be  trained  for  the  good 
of  France.  And  if  at  first  they  were  mostly  American  youth,  yet 
if  educated  here,  so  as  to  preach  in  the  French  language  without 
a  foreign  accent,  it  would  greatly  facilitate  the  work.  And  as 
Paris  is  France,  such  an  establishment  in  the  capital,  aided  by  the 
press,  would,  by  the  Divine  blessing,  soon  enable  us  to  speak  of  the 
French  Methodist  Church. 

As  an  additional  consideration,  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
Paris  contains  a  great  many  Americans  ;  probably  there  are  from 
the  United  States,  in  the  city  of  Paris,  continually  from  two  to 
three  thousand,  and  this  number  is  yearly  increasing.*  A  good 
house  of  worship,  conveniently  situated,  would  accommodate,  at 
different  hours,  both  Americans  and  Frenchmen,  in  the  English 
and  French  languages.  How  many  might  in  this  way  be  induced 
to  attend  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  and  perhaps  saved  from  dissipa- 
tion and  sensuality,  who  are  now  drawn  into  the  vortex  of  pleasure, 
because  they  lack  those  restraints  to  which  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed at  home  !  It  is  a  general  remark  in  Paris  that  Americans 
are  more  licentious  than  the  Parisians  themselves.  Many  youth 
of  both  sexes,  doubtless,  finding  themselves  unrestrained  and  sur- 
rounded with  temptation,  break  over  all  bounds,  and  run  the  race 
of  pleasure  with  the  more  greediness,  because  it  is  new.f  Shall 
we  not  try  to  save  them  ?  Shall  we  not  endeavour  to  form  an 
American  Society,  that  shall  have  a  public  opinion  of  its  own  in 
Paris  to  restrain  the  young  and  aid  the  erring  ?  But  how  shall 
we  do  this  without  the  gospel  ?  and  are  we  not  especially  bound  to 
follow,  with  the  means  of  grace,  our  own  wandering  children, 
wherever  they  go,  more  particularly  when  they  gather  in  any 
one  place  in  sufficient  numbers  to  make  it  practicable  and  easy  to 
do  this  ? 

An  influential  minister  of  the  gospel,  therefore,  might  superin- 

*  At  the  late  introduction  of  our  new  minister  Gov.  Cass  at  the  court  of  France,  1700 
American  citizens  called  to  pay  him  their  respects  and  welcome  him  to  Paris. 

t  One  young  lady  of  decided  piety,  as  it  was  supposed  at  home,  left  one  of  our  first 
cities  to  reside  a  while  in  Paris.  The  first  Sabbath  she  wept  at  the  desecration  of  the 
Lord's  day ;  but  in  three  or  four  weeks  she  herself  was  at  the  opera  on  Sunday  evening. 


ARRIVAL    AT    LYONS.  85 

tend  the  mission,  the  school,  and  the  press,  and  at  the  same  time 
be  usefully  employed  both  as  a  preacher  and  a  pastor  to  his 
own  countrymen.  How  long,  then,  shall  a  work  of  this  kind  be 
delayed  ?  Suppose  it  require  an  outlay  at  the  first  of  50,000  dol- 
lars; suppose  it  require  an  annual  expenditure  of  10  or  15,000 
dollars  to  sustain  it,  how  could  American  Christians  devote  that 
sum  to  better  advantage  ?  Where  is  there  a  field  that  promises  a 
better  harvest,  or  that  claims  our  attention  by  stronger  obligations  ? 
But  I  must  close  this  long  letter.  You  may  hear  from*  me  again 
on  this  subject.  In  the  mean  time,  I  beg  the  privilege  of  saying  to 
you,  and,  through  you,  to  my  friends  in  America,  that  my  health 
and  that  of  Mrs.  F.  are  much  better. 

Most  affectionately  yours, 

W.  FISK. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LEFT  Paris  in  the  diligence,  December  17,  1835,  and  contin- 
v-id  without  stopping,  except  to  eat,  for  four  days  and  three  nights, 
when  we  arrived  at  Lyons. 

The  road  from  Paris  to  Lyons  was  excellent — contrary  to  all 
expectations  and  to  all  information,  and  the  diligence  was  remark- 
ably convenient.  Indeed,  I  know  of  no  public  carriage  in  any 
country  more  comfortable,  especially  in  the  winter,  than  the  French 

diligence.     Mr. ,  who  is  now  travelling  in  Europe,  has  said, 

in  a  letter  published  just  as  I  was  leaving  America,  that  England 
was  a  century  in  advance  of  America  in  stagecoaching.  The 
correctness  of  this  I  have  never  been  able  to  discover.  I  think 
England"  is  in  some  respects  behind  France.  Indeed,  although 
the  French  diligences  have  been  a  subject  of  ridicule  to  almost  all 
tourists,  and  the  English  stagecoaches  a  subject  of  praise,  I  con- 
fess, for  myself,  that  I  prefer  the  diligence  altogether.  .The  Eng- 
lish, it  is  true,  on  some  of  their  principal  routes,  exceed  all  others 
for  speed.  This  is  owing,  in  part,  to  their  excellent,  unrivalled 
roads.  They  have  also  good  horses.  But  what,  besides  their 
8 


86  FRANCE. 

speed  and  punctuality,  have  the  English  stagecoaches  to  boast  of? 
They  have  but  four  seats  under  cover,  or  inside,  as  they  term  it, 
and  these  four  inside  passengers  are  wedged  in  with  a  compact 
ness  beyond  all  comfort,  not  to  say  beyond  all  endurance.  The 
outside  passengers  are  exposed  to  heat,  and  cold,  and  rain,  have  a 
hard  oak  plank  generally  for  their  seat,  and  an  iron  rod  to  their  back. 
The  guard  and  coachmen  are  ever  and  anon  tipping  their  hats  to 
you,  and  saying,  "  Please  remember  the  coachman,"  "  Please  re- 
member the  guard,"  both  of  which  must  be  regularly  feed.  You 
are  so  hurried  on  every  moment  that  they  will  neither  give  you 
time  to  satisfy  hunger  nor  anything  else.  Now  the  very  reverse 
of  all  this  is  true  of  the  French  diligence.  It  is  the  opposite  of 
the  English  stagecoach  in  speed.  It  travels  at  the  rate  of  about 
one  hundred  miles  in  twenty-four  hours,  always  going  night  and 
day.  Indeed,  they  seem  rather  to  prefer  the  night  to  the  day ;  for 
if  they  have  a  journey  of  thirty-six  hours  to  accomplish,  they  will 
start  at  night,  so  as  to  be  out  two  nights  and  one  day,  instead  of 
starting  in  the  morning,  so  as  to  be  out  but  one  night.  But,  then, 
they  give  you  ample  time  to  eat,  and  you  are  comfortable  in  your 
seat  by  day  and  by  night.  I  was  astonished  at  the  comfort  with 
which  we  endured  the  ride  of  three  successive  nights ;  we  slept 
tolerably,  and  were  well  defended  from  the  cold,  although  the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow  and  hardened  by  frost.  But  a 
French  diligence,  with  all  its  rigging,  is  truly,  to  look  at,  a  laugha- 
ble affair.  It  is  a  moveable  edifice  of  three  rooms.  The  first  or 
foremost  is  called  the  Coupe,  and  holds  three.  This  is  very 
pleasant  in  comfortable  weather,  as  it  has  glass  in  the  front  and  at 
the  sides,  and,  for  the  accommodation  of  such  as  may  wish  to  see 
themselves,  many  of  them  are  fitted  up  with  a  looking-glass,  be- 
sides huge  pockets  in  which  to  stow  away  your  roast  chicken  and 
other  eatables,  of  which  the  traveller  does  well  to  lay  in  a  good 
stock^  especially  in  particular  sections  of  the  route,  as  good  hotels 
ate  scarce.  But  in  cold  weather  the  coupe  is  rather  airy,  and  there- 
fore less  comfortable  than  the  Interior,  which  is  the  next  apart- 
ment, with  accommodations  for  six,  three  on  a  seat,  vis-a-vis. 
The  next  apartment,  and  the  least  honourable,  is  the  Rotond,  which 
is  generally  entered  behind  like  an  omnibus,  and  the  seats  run,  as 
the  sailors  say,  fore  and  aft.  This  also  will  hold  six.  The  prices 


A    FRENCH    DILIGENCE.  87 

vary  in  each  apartment,  being  highest  in  the  cowpe,  and  the  next  is 
the  interior ;  all  these  are  separated  by  thick  cushioned  walls. 

To  this  huge  machine  four  or  six  horses  are  tied,  generally  by 
rope  traces,  with  immense  collars  and  hames  covered  with  skins 
on  the  shoulders.  The  straps  of  the  harness  are  wide  and  awk- 
ward ;  the  headstalls  are  heavy,  and  covered  with  nobs  of  faded  ar 
tificial  flowers,  almost  as  big  as  teacups,  or  hung  over  with  tas- 
sels and  bows,  until  the  poor  animals  look  as  though  they  were 
half  blinded  and  suffocated  in  their  own  ornaments ;  and  now  the 
postillion  with  his  livery,  his  long  boots  armed  with  wood  or 
iron  on  the  interior  leg,  mounts  his  nigh  wheel-horse,  and  if  they 
have  six,  another  similarly  equipped  mounts  the  next,  and  then 
such  cracking  of  the  whips  and  rumbling  of  the  machine  follows 
as  would  deafen  one  not  accustomed  to  such  noises.  There  were 
six  of  us  Americans  in  company,  viz.,  Mr.  J.  H.  and  lady  and  little 
son  from  New- York,  Rev.  Mr.  H.  from  Boston,  and  Mrs.  F.  and 
myself;  with  this  company  we  enjoyed  social  life,  as  well  as  the 
novelty  of  the  scenes  through  which  we  passed.  Our  road  lay 
through  a  number  of  small  towns,  which  it  will  be  hardly  worth 
while  to  enumerate,  although  most  of  them  are  associated  with 
some  important  event  in  past  history.  The  traveller  leaves  Paris 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Seine ;  soon  crosses  the  Marne,  which  is 
a  branch  of  the  Seine,  and  follows  up  the  valley  of  that  river 
until  he  reaches  the  Yonne,  twenty  leagues  from  Paris,  and  thence 
up  the  Yonne,  or  near  its  course,  to  its  head  waters,  and  thence 
across  to  the  waters  of  the  Saone.  The  principal  towns  passed  are 
Melun,  Sens,  Auxerre,  Sautter  e,  Autun,  to  Chalons-sur- Saone, 
or  Chalons  on  the  Saone.  The  distance  from  Paris  to  Chalons 
by  this  route  is  eighty-nine  leagues,  in  a  southwestern  direction. 
Melun  has  a  population  of  7000.  Between  Melun  and  Sens  is 
Montereau,  where,  in  1814,  a  severe  battle  was  fought  between  the 
French  and  the  allies.  Sens  has  a  population  of  1 1,000.  Auxerre 
is  on  the  river  Yonne,  and  has  a  population  of  13,000.  Autun 
was  anciently  called  Augustodunum,  in  honour  of  Augustus  Caesar. 
The  inhabitants  were  the  ancient  ^Edui,  and  are  said  to  have  as- 
sisted Caesar  in  his  conquest  of  Gaul,  on  which  account  they  were 
greatly  honoured  by  the  Romans,  and  were  admitted  into  the  Roman 
Senate.  Ancient  Roman  remains  are  still  found  here,  but  we  had 
not  time  to  examine  them.  One  feels  a  melancholy  interest  in 


88  FRANCE. 

traversing  these  countries,  and  passing  the  very  places  where 
ancient  heroes  lived  and  fought,  and  where  the  very  monuments 
of  their  deeds  are  crumbling  to  dust. 

The  geology  of  the  country  seemed  mostly  very  similar,  so  far 
as  we  had  an  opportunity  of  examining  it,  to  what  it  was  from 
Dover  to  Paris — a  chalky  soil  with  limestone.  The  products  of 
the  soil  are  grain  and  grapes.  The  vineyards  were  abundant, 
but  were  different  in  their  appearance  from  the  images  of  my 
own  fancy.  I  had  anticipated  that  I  should  see  all  the  vineyards 
hanging  in  festoons,  and  running  in  extended  vines  over  trees  and 
rustic  arcades ;  instead  of  which,  the  vines  were  short  and 
scrubby  ;  not  higher,  perhaps,  than  four  or  six  feet,  some  of  them 
supported  by  stakes,  and  others,  when  the  stock  was  sufficiently 
strong,  supporting  their  own  weight.  Sometimes  the  vines  would 
be  in  rows  so  near  that  the  intervening  soil  was  not  cultivated  for 
other  crops ;  but  at  other  times  they  would  be  planted  in  rows  at 
two  or  three  rods  distance,  and  the  space  between  was  ploughed 
and  tilled  ;  thus  dividing  the  face  of  the  country  into  lovely  lawns, 
with  intermediate  hedges  of  clustering  grapes,  which,  in  the  proper 
season,  must  be  very  picturesque  and  delightful. 

The  public  roads  in  France  are  wide,  and  generally  ornamented 
with  rows  of  lofty  trees  on  either  side,  which  give  them  a  grand 
appearance.  The  French  are  peculiarly  fond  of  trees  planted  in 
regular  rows  ;  not  only  is  this  the  style  of  their  public  gardens,  as 
is  seen  in  Paris  and  other  towns,  and  of  the  public  roads,  as  men- 
tioned above,  but  their  more  private  lanes  and  their  meandering 
watercourses  are  often  lined  with  a  range  of  trees  on  either  side. 
These  trees  are  not  like  the  shade-trees  that  are  planted  in  our 
country,  with  low  and  branching  tops,  but  rather  high  and  com- 
paratively slender. 

In  all  the  northern  and  central  parts  of  France  through  which 
we  passed  there  were  no  hedgerows  like  those  of  England,  nor 
walls  and  fences  like  our  own  country ;  but  the  whole  country 
appears  in  one  common  field  of  extended  magnificence.  Let  the 
reader  imagine  himself  on  an  eminence,  where  nothing  but  the 
distant  mountain  or  the  arch  of  the  sensible  horizon  bounds  his 
vision  ;  let  him  fancy  an  agreeable  variety  of  extended  but  gradual 
slopes  of  hill  and  dale  spread  out  before  him,  over  which  he  be- 
holds the  surface  of  one  boundless  and  undivided  plantation,  except 


FRENCH    SCENERY.  89 

the  long  and  straight  lines  of  various  colours  from  the  different 
crops  and  different  modes  of  cultivation;  and  here  and  there 
double  ranges,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  follow,  of  these  leafy  col- 
onnades of  lofty  trees  already  alluded  to,  and  he  will  have,  I  think, 
a  tolerable  idea  of  a  French  landscape.  It  is  not  so  beautiful  as 
it  is  magnificent.  It  was  to  me,  however,  particularly  pleasant, 
the  more  so,  I  suppose,  because  I  had  just  come  from  England, 
where  the  mind  is  cramped  and  straitened  by  the  minute  chess- 
board divisions  of  the  rural  scenery  of  that  country.  The  English 
think  there  is  nothing  so  dull  and  insipid  as  the  scenery  of  France. 
How  much  we  are,  even  in  our  taste,  the  creatures  of  habit ! 

It  is  proper  here,  however,  to  observe,  that,  as  you  go  farther 
south,  there  are  more  hedges  and  walls  between  the  different 
estates  and  fields.  The  American  traveller,  when  he  first  enters 
France,  cannot  but  be  strujck  with  the  entire  absence,  apparently, 
of  what  we  call  comfort,  in  the  cabins  of  the  lower  classes.  They 
live  almost  universally  in  villages.  You  may  travel  several  miles 
over  well-cultivated  fields,  but  see  no  dwelling;  at  length  you 
come  to  a  petty  town  or  village,  and  here  you  find  herded  together 
in  one  dirty  place  the  labourers  for  several  square  leagues  of  land. 
Their  houses  are  generally  built  of  stone,  more  frequently  than 
otherwise  in  a  low  vale,  where,  of  course,  the  ground  is  moist;  the 
floors  are  as  low  or  lower  than  the  streets,  and  generally  of  stone, 
or  tiles,  or  earth.  They  are  placed,  moreover,  as  near  the  street  as 
it  is  possible  to  place  them ;  and  on  the  same  line  with  the  house, 
and  most  always  under  the  same  roof,  are  their  bam  and  stable. 
With  these  appendages,  and  in  this  locality,  with  a  soil  naturally 
clammy  and  adhesive,  and  with  the  most  slovenly  habits,  the 
reader  may  readily  conceive  how  much  mud  and  manure  will  be 
likely  to  be  carried  into  the  house  upon  the  wooden  shoes,  or 
sabots,  as  they  call  them,  of  a  French  family.  When  the  dirt  has 
accumulated  so  as  to  be  uncomfortable  to  the  inmates,  you  may 
see  them  sometimes  scraping  it  out,  as  a  farmer  his  stable ;  add  to 
this,  these  cottages  are  badly  lighted  and  poorly  furnished.  Can 
there  be  anything  like  comfort  here  ? 

Another  circumstance  which  cannot  fail  to  strike  the  American 

traveller   unfavourably   is   the    drudgery   and    exposure   of  the 

women.     The  women  of  France,  thought  I,  when  we  first  landed 

at  Boulogne,  and  saw  females  bending  under  heavy  loads  in  bas- 

8  M 


90  FRANCE. 

kets,  and  wooden  frames  fitted  to  their  backs,  and  strapped  to  their 
shoulders,  the  women  of  France  are  beasts  of  burden.  You  are 
further  impressed  with  this  sentiment  as  you  travel  through  the 
country,  and  see  the  women  engaged  in  all  the  drudgery  of  the 
field  and  of  other  out-door  labour.  You  see  them  with  their 
spades,  their  teams,  and  their  market-carts ;  they  are  porters  and 
common  carriers  in  some  instances,  they  are  street-scavengers  in 
others.  Indeed,  in  many  respects,  the  order  of  labour  between  the 
sexes  is  inverted  in  France ;  for  while  females  are  engaged  as 
above,  males  are  very  generally  employed  in  various  departments 
of  household  labour;  they  are  sometimes  cooks,  and  in  most 
public-houses  you  have  men  for  chambermaids.  It  is  perhaps 
owing  to  their  employment  that  the  countrywomen  appear  to  me 
so  much  more  rustic  and  unrefined  than  the  men.  The  latter 
were  very  much  like  the  yeomanry  of  our  own  country.  But  to 
see  by  the  side  of  a  man,  who  with  us  would  be  taken  for  a  de- 
cent and  intelligent  labourer,  a  woman  with  a  pair  of  wooden  shoes, 
a  very  short  striped  petticoat,  and  a  short  loose  gown  or  jacket, 
with  a  tanned  skin  and  rough  features,  standing,  if  not  at  work, 
with  both  hands  in  her  pockets  on  either  hip,  seemed  to  me,  at 
any  rate,  a  very  great  incongruity.  The  man  looked  like  other 
men  of  his  standing  and  employment  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
but  the  woman  was  so  unlike  the  decently  dressed,  comparatively 
soft,  and  feminine  wife  of  an  American  peasant,  that  I  am,  without 
a  moment's  hesitancy,  led  to  the  conclusion,  that  in  the  one  case 
the  woman  is  honoured  as  becomes  her  condition,  and  in  the  other 
she  is  degraded. 

The  foregoing  remarks,  however,  do  not  apply  to  a  great  por- 
tion of  the  common  women  of  Paris,  who  are  certainly  a  neater, 
better  dressed,  and  a  more  cheerful  class  than  I  have  ever  seen  of 
the  same  grade  elsewhere. 

Neither  do  these  characteristics  at  all  mark  the  relations  of  the 
two  sexes  in  the  higher  grades  of  society.  There  the  relations 
are  reversed ;  woman  is  placed  too  high.  In  the  one  case  she  is 
an  idol,  and  in  the  other  a  mere  drudge.  But  to  return  to  my 
narrative.  The  general  style  of  building  in  France,  especially  in 
the  country,  is  heavy  and  uninteresting.  This  is  owing  in  part  to 
the  material,  which  is  a  soft  limestone,  and  in  part  to  the  style  of 
the  country  edifices ;  stone  is  plenty,  brick  and  wood  are  scarce. 


KILLING    TWO    BIRDS    WITH    ONE    STONE.  91 

Hence  everything  is  built  of  stone ;  the  humble  cottage  and  the 
stately  mansion ;  the  stable  and  the  palace.  The  character  of 
the  stone  is  dull  and  soft,  and  the  external  surface  is  generally 
covered  with  a  coarse,  dull  stucco.  If  you  pass  a  gentleman's 
chateau,  you  will  find  it  of  the  same  character,  and  it  will  be  en- 
closed, and,  to  a  considerable  degree,  hidden  by  a  high  stone  wall 
of  heavy  masonry  and  coarse  stucco.  iSuch  an  edifice,  with  its 
enclosure,  has  with  it,  to  my  mind,  associations  of  anything  but 
comfort.  It  is  a  convent,  a  stable,  a  prison;  anything  but  a 
convenient,  pleasant  residence  for  domestic  enjoyment. 

Many  of  the  public  hotels  are  miserable  hovels ;  and  they  are 
at  the  same  time  so  constructed  as  to  give  the  traveller  a  view  of 
the  worst  parts  of  the  concern  at  his  first  entrance.  Not  unfre- 
quently  they  are  entered  through  the  kitchen  ;  and  such  a  kitchen  ! 
I  will  not  undertake  to  describe  it.  Suffice  it  to  say,  I  tried,  in 
one  or  two  instances,  for  the  sake  of  the  female  part  of  our  com- 
pany, whose  taste  in  these  matters  was  rather  delicate,  to  avoid 
this  entrance ;  but  it  was  unavoidable ;  we  must  pass  to  our  di- 
ning-room through  the  cookshop,  and  be  initiated  into  the  gen- 
eral aspect,  at  least,  of  the  mysteries  of  French  cooking.  How- 
ever disadvantageous  this  might  be  to  us,  it  was  certainly  for  the 
interest  of  the  innholder ;  for  one  must  feel  pretty  keenly  the 
bitings  of  hunger  to  eat  very  voraciously  after  such  an  initiation. 
In  one  instance,  one  of  our  company  undertook  to  regulate  the 
boiling  of  some  eggs,  for  which  purpose  he  found  it  necessary  to 
watch  the  process  in  person.  To  his  surprise,  the  eggs  were  put 
into  a  soup-pot  that  was  boiling  over  the  fire.  After  the  process 
was  finished,  the  broth  that  had  served  to  cook  the  eggs  was 
served  up  for  another  company  that  was  dining  in  the  same  room. 

The  French,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  Italians,  have  the  art 
of  disguising  their  meats  in  such  a  variety  of  forms  and  dressings, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  tell  what  the  original  substance  was.  This 
enables  them  to  dress  over  and  serve  up  indefinitely  the  same  old 
dish,  until,  by  the  friction  of  the  process,  and  the  picking  and  tast- 
ing of  the  traveller,  the  whole  is  exhausted.  It  would  be  a  hope- 
less task  to  undertake  to  trace  the  various  transformations  the 
article  before  you  has  undergone  before  it  appears  on  your  dish. 
It  was  boiled  for  soup,  perhaps ;  then  it  was  roasted ;  it  was  fric- 
aseed ;  it  was  smothered  in  garlics  ;  it  was  warmed  over,  and 


92  FRANCE. 

dressed  in  parsley ;  and  now  it  appears  to  you  in  a  new  form ; 
and  if  you  do  not  like  this,  here  is  another  dish,  and  yet  another, 
and  another  still ;  but,  alas !  they  are  all  nameless,  and  their  his- 
tory can  only  be  traced  out  by  remote  tradition  ! 

These  remarks  do  not  so  much  apply  to  the  best  inns  in  the 
large  cities  ;  here  you  often  find  a  good  table,  and,  in  some  re- 
spects, a  very  superior  cookery. 

The  chill  of  the  rooms,  from  the  thick  stone  walls  and  the  stone 
or  brick  floors,  almost  invariably  destitute  of  carpets,  renders 
travelling  in  France,  especially  in  cold  or  damp  weather,  very  un- 
healthy. Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  climate  of  France,  I 
could  never  recommend  it  as  a  favourable  winter  resort  for  invalids. 
But  to  return  to  our  journey :  Chalons  sur  Saone  appears,  from 
the  imperfect  view  we  had  of  it,  to  be  a  pleasant  town  ;  its  streets 
were  cleaner,  and  its  buildings  were  better  than  those  of  the  towns 
through  which  we  had  passed ;  at  any  rate,  it  afforded  us  a  very 
good  dinner,  which  was  no  small  luxury  after  what  we  had  ex 
perienced.  This  town  is  situated  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Saone, 
and  has  a  water  communication  with  the  interior  by  means  of  the 
Central  Canal,  which  extends  twenty-four  leagues  across  to  the 
waters  of  the  Loire  ;  thijs  giving  a  water  communication  between 
the  two  extremes  of  the  kingdom. 

The  route  from  Chalons  to  Lyons,  being  a  distance  of  thirty- 
two  leagues  down  the  valley  of  the  Saone,  was,  for  the  most  part, 
very  interesting,  especially  the  lower  section.  Unlike  what  we 
had  before  seen  in  France,  the  country  generally  appeared  to  be 
inhabited.  Country  seats  and  cottages  were  sprinkled  over  the  hills 
and  through  the  vales,  and  an  appearance  of  general  wealth  and 
prosperity  cheered  the  scene.  These  were  multiplied  as  we  ap- 
proached Lyons.  As  you  draw  near  this  city,  you  first  ascend, 
and  afterward  descend,  a  high  hill.  The  view  from  the  top  is  fine, 
and  gives  to  the  public  house  on  the  height  the  appellation  of 
ISHotel  de  la  Belle  Vieu.  Lyons  itself,  according  to  our  exam- 
ination and  estimate  of  it,  is  only  fine  in  its  surrounding  eminen- 
ces, which  are  covered  with  villas,  and  gardens,  and  churches, 
and  castles.  They  are,  in  general,  high  and  picturesque,  rising 
some  two,  three,  or  four  hundred  feet  above  the  town,  and  cannot 
fail,  I  think,  in  summer,  of  being  highly  beautiful.  We  had  a 
fine  view  of  these  environs  as  we  approached  the  city.  The  town 


LYONS.  93 

itself  is  situated  on  the  point  of  land  formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
Saone  and  the  Rhone.  The  former,  coming  from  the  chalky  re- 
gions of  France,  is  said  to  be  discoloured,  like  other  French  rivers, 
with  the  soil  through  which  it  passes ;  but  the  latter,  coming  from 
the  limpid  Lake  of  Geneva,  and  replenished  by  the  numerous 
streams  of  the  Alps,  preserves  its  transparency  up  to  the  point  of  its 
junction  with  its  compeer;  and  even  then,  as  if  reluctantly  yield- 
ing to  the  polluting  amalgamation,  crowds  the  turbid  stream  to  its 
own  shore,  and  for  a  long  time- main  tains  its  own  purity  and  iden- 
tity. So  we  were  informed  ;  but,  when  we  saw  it,  both  streams 
were  of  the  same  colour,  being  bridged  over  with  ice.  With  the 
exception  of  the  bridges  and  the  quays,  Lyons  is  an  uninteresting, 
I  might  almost  say  a  disagreeable  town.  The  streets  are  narrow 
and  dirty.  We  walked  through  several  of  the  streets  where  they 
had  their  dry  goods-shops,  in  dark,  narrow,  dirty  lanes,  that  seemed 
altogether  unfit  for  the  business  of  a  shoeblack.  The  Place  Belle 
CourSj  we  were  told,  is  thought  by  the  Lyonese  to  be  splendid ; 
we  were  so  unfortunate,  however,  as  not  to  see  its  beauty.  The, 
Hotel  de  Ville  and  the  museum  are  worth  visiting.  The  stranger 
will  find  some  tolerable  paintings,  and  a  great  variety  of  ancient 
tombstones,  sarcophagi,  and  other  antiquities,  and  ancient  inscrip- 
tions.* We  visited  a  grand  hospital  which  fronts  on  the  Saone, 
and  is  said  to  have  no  rival  in  France.  The  number  of  inmates 
was  at  that  time  2000.  The  building  appeared  to  be  only  toler- 
ably kept.  Near  the  hospital  is  a  royal  college.  The  public 
library  has  100,000  volumes  and  800  manuscripts. 

Lyons  has  a  population  of  180,000,  and  is  a  city  of  great  com 
mercial  importance.     The  principal  staple  of  commerce  for  ex- 
port is  silk  stufTs  of  various  kinds.     The  manufacture  of  silk  is, 
for  the  most  part,  in  a  private,  domestic  way,  although  there  are 
some  large  establishments  in  the  vicinity. 

For  some  cause,  Lyons  has  given  the  most  trouble  to  the  pres- 
ent king  of  any  city  of  France.  There  appears  to  be  a  spirit  in 
favour  of  the  old  dynasty  which  requires  the  strong  arm  of  law 
and  the  power  of  the  military  to  restrain.  This  city  is,  in  fact, 
an  exception  to  the  general  centralization  spirit  that  prevails  in 
the  French  nation,  and  which  concedes  everything  to  Paris. 

*  These  are  from  the  site  of  the  ancient  Lugdunum,  founded  on  a  hill  just  above  Lyons 
forty-two  years  before  the  Christian  era. 


94  FRANCE. 

Rousseau  is  to  Lyons  what  Voltaire  is  to  Paris,  the  presiding 
deity  of  the  city.  Here  are  his  residence,  his  gardens,  his  walks, 
&c.,  &c.,  all  of  which  must  be  visited  by  the  traveller  if  he  would 
not  be  accounted  a  heretic  in  taste  and  a  Vandal  in  respect  to 
genius  ;  and  yet  we  all  had  the  hardihood  to  leave  the  city  without 
visiting  any  of  the  associations  of  his  history. 

We  had  been  in  Lyons  only  two  days,  but  were  quite  satis- 
fied to  leave  it.  The  weather  was  cold ;  the  hotel  cheerless  ; 
wood  high,  being  about  four  or  five  sous  or  cents  for  each  small 
stick.  On  Tuesday  evening,  therefore,  December  22d,  we  took 
our  seats  for  the  Alps,  by  the  way  of  Chamberry  and  Mount  Cenis. 
We  arrived  the  next  morning  early  at  a  little  town  called  Pont  de 
Beauvoisin,  which  is  the  line  town  between  France  and  Savoy. 
A  small  stream,  called  the  Guieres,  passing  through  the  village, 
forms  the  boundary.  On  the  centre  of  the  bridge  is  a  cross,  and 
here  the  two  sentinels,  one  of  either  kingdom,  meet  and  part  in 
their  constant  walk  on  their  respective  positions  each  side  of  the 
cross.  Here,  too,  passports  are  called  for  and  baggage  is  exam- 
ined, and  not  only  baggage,  but  persons.  Our  ladies  had  to  sub- 
mit to  have  their  cloaks  opened  and  their  persons  slightly  exam- 
ined by  the  officers,  who,  poor  fellows,  seemed  mortified  at  the 
necessity  they  were  under  of  performing  this  part  of  their  duty. 
They  let  us  off  very  easy,  giving  even  our  trunks  but  a  slight  ex- 
amination, and  some  of  them  they  passed  without  opening.  While 
the  remainder  of  the  diligence  freight  was  being  examined,  we  went 
back  to  the  bridge,  with  the  design  of  crossing  over  to  the  other 
part  of  the  village  ;  but  the  custom-house  officer  gave  us  to  under- 
stand that  we  could  not  go  without  a  guard,  lest  we  should  bring 
back  some  contraband  goods  ;  so,  after  amusing  ourselves  a  little 
by  seeing  the  officers  take  hold  of  every  villager  that  passed  and 
repassed  the  bridge,  and  stroke  down  his  or  her  sides  to  detect 
any  concealed  goods,  we  returned.  After  a  detention  of  three  or 
four  hours  we  again  took  our  seats.  And  now  the  mountain  sce- 
nery commenced.  The  trees  were  covered  with  a  most  beautiful 
winter  foliage  of  crystallized  silver.  The  mountain  sides  were 
covered  with  vines  and  with  orchards  on  one  side,  and  on  the 
other  the  noisy  Guieres  fretted  along,  or  shot  in  cascades  down 
a  deep  yawning  gulf.  Over  this  gulf  the  road  formerly  hung  with 
a  hazardous  and  defenceless  approximation  to  the  precipice  below ; 


PASSAGE    OF    THE    JURA    ALPS.  95 

but  now  the  gulf  side  of  the  road  is  defended  by  a  strong  parapet 
wall  breast  high. 

After  passing  through  the  gorge  of  the  mountains,  which  was 
quite  romantic  and  sublime,  we  wound  round  into  a  pleasant  val- 
ley, which,  after  a  little  while,  seemed  to  come  to  an  end ;  the 
road  turned  short  over  a  beautiful  bridge  of  one  stone  arch,  and 
nestled  along  under  a  high,  abrupt  mountain,  which  hung  in  proud 
defiance,  like  an  impassable  barrier,  over  the  approaching  traveller. 
Vain  defiance !  What  will  not  the  ingenuity  and  industry  of  man 
accomplish  ?  Look  across  the  valley  at  that  little  pigeon-hole 
that  opens  into  the  side  of  the  precipice  four  hundred  feet  below 
its  top.  You  cannot  decipher  its  design.  You  advance  up  the 
mountain  side  ;  you  enter  the  opening,  and  find,  to  your  admira- 
tion and  delight,  a  grotto,  with  a  fine  lofty  arch,  extending  about 
300  paces  through  the  limestone  rock  to  a  gorge  on  the  opposite 
side.  When  we  had  passed  through,  and  turned  back  to  view  the 
scene,  the  exhibition  was  stupendous  j  the  superincumbent  mount- 
ain over  the  arch  ;  the  deep  gorge  through  which  the  road  passed 
after  it  debouched  from  the  grotto;  the  high  craggy  rocks  on 
either  side  towering  above  the  clouds,  together  with  the  associate 
emotions  arising  from  the  contemplation  of  the  power  of  human 
skill  and  industry  in  overcoming  the  greatest  obstacles  of  nature, 
produced  a  train  of  emotions  that  I  have  seldom  felt  and  never 
can  describe. 

This  road  and  the  tunnel  through  the  mountain  was  executed 
at  the  first  by  Charles  Emanuel,  duke  of  Savoy,  in  1670,  but  was 
greatly  improved  by  Napoleon.  The  mountain  here  is  called  the 
Echelles,  and  is  the  southern  part  of  the  Jura  Alps. 

It  was  at  first  spoken  of  as  a  matter  of  regret  by  our  party  that 
we  had  to  pass  the  mountains  in  the  winter,  as  the  scenery,  it  was 
supposed,  would  be  much  more  interesting  in  the  summer.  But 
we  had  occasion  afterward  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  that  regret. 
A  mountain  passage  like  this  savours  at  any  time  more  of  the 
sublime  than  of  the  beautiful ;  and  winter,  with  his  fleecy  clouds 
wreathed  round  the  mountain-top  ;  with  his  white  mantle  of  sleet 
covering  the  broad  shoulders  of  the  giant  hills,  and  congealing 
into  belts  of  silver,  studded  with  pearl,  the  numerous  rivulets  and 
cascades  that  wind  round  and  fall  down  their  hoary  sides,  gives 
to  the  natural  exhibition  a  heightened  sublimity ;  and  when  the 


96  SAVOY. 

winter  scene  is  rendered  peculiar,  as  in  the  present  instance,  by 
reason  of  the  crystalline  hoarfrost  already  alluded  to,  it  is  not  only 
grand,  but  gorgeous.  It  was  this  combination  of  circumstances 
that  heightened  the  general  effect  of  the  present  passage. 

But,  in  addition,  there  was  a  peculiar  occurrence,  which  gave  a 
most  splendid  feature  to  the  scene ;  an  aerial  exhibition,  which  I 
can  never  describe  so  as  to  give  a  mere  reader  any  adequate  con- 
ception of  it ;  but  I  will  attempt  a  sketch  of  some  of  its  principal 
parts.  The  heavy  veil  of  rack  and  mist  which  was  spread  out 
upon  the  mountains  associated  gloom  and  obscurity  with  the 
other  characteristics  of  sublimity.  This  mist,  however,  as  it  after- 
ward appeared,  only  extended  part  way  up  the  mountains ;  for  a 
rent  in  the  curtain  disclosed,  as  through  a  window,  far,/ezr  upward 
in  the  blue  ether,  the  silver  turrets  of  the  mountain- top,  throwing 
back  the  bright  beams  of  a  cloudless  sun.  The  mountain  was 
high,  very  high ;  but  the  apparent  height  was  doubtless  magnified 
by  the  narrowness  of  the  aperture  and  by  the  darkness  of  the  fore- 
ground contrasted  with  the  intense  light  of  the  distant  prospect. 
The  world  around  us  was  indeed  a  world  of  shadows,  but  that 
world  of  which  we  gained  a  distant  glimpse  was  one  of  unearthly 
brightness.  It  seemed  like  a  sight  of  the  most  excellent  glory — 
a  distant  yet  bright  vision  of  the 

"  House  of  our  Father  above, 
The  palace  of  angels  and  God." 

We  watched  for  some  time  this  splendid  palace  of  the  skies ;  and 
the  shifting  of  the  misty  veil  without  closing  up  the  aperture 
served  but  to  give  new  aspects  to  the  celestial  vision.  At  one 
time  it  hung  in  festoons  around  the  cylinder  of  light,  and  at  an- 
other it  shot  upward  in  a  twisted  wreath  around  the  outbeaming 
glory,  exhibiting  a  spiral  column  of  light  and  shade.  I  have  often 
read  descriptions  of  that  heavenly  city  whose  walls  are  of  jasper, 
whose  streets  are  of  gold,  and  whose  gates  are  of  pearl,  and  whose 
heavenly  turrets  throw  back  the  glory  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 
But  of  this  I  never  had  so  vivid  a  conception  as  now  flashed  upon 
my  mind  and  kindled  upon  my  imagination  !  It  is  all  but  reality ! 
It  is  the  upper  world  ! 

"  By  faith  I  already  behold 

That  lovely  Jerusalem  here  ; 
The  walls  are  of  jasper  and  gold, 
As  crystal  her  buildings  are  clear. 


CHAMBERRY.  97 

"  Immoveably  founded  in  grace, 

She  stands  as  she  ever  hath  stood, 
And  brightly  her  Builder  displays, 
And  flames  with  the  GLORY  of  GOD." 

The  road,  after  we  passed  the  tunnel  into  the  deep  valley  allu- 
ded to,  followed  down  the  pass  of  the  mountains  by  a  long  and 
gentle  descent  until  it  reached  Chamberry,  the  capital  of  Savoy, 
ten  leagues  from  Pont  de  Beauvoisin,  where  we  arrived  at  dusk, 
and  stopped  for  dinner. 

The  situation  of  Chamberry  is  pleasant,  in  a  valley  watered  by 
two  small  rivers,  Albano  and  Leisse,  and  apparently  surrounded 
by  mountains.  Its  population  is  estimated  at  15,000.  It  has 
extensive  barracks  and  a  garrison  of  soldiers,  made  up  mostly 
of  recruits  from  Piedmont  and  the  more  distant  parts  of  the  Sar- 
dinian government,  as  Savoyards  cannot  be  trusted  to  garrison 
their  own  cities ;  a  plain  proof  that  the  government  is  not  accept- 
able to  the  people.  And  why  should  it  be  ?  The  father  of  the 
present  King  of  Sardinia  was  indebted  to  the  allied  sovereigns,  at 
the  dethronement  of  Napoleon  in  1814,  for  his  present  kingdom. 
This  is  a  kind  of  barrier  kingdom  of  mountains,  as  it  embraces 
the  greater  portion  of  the  Southern  Alps  and  the  Northern  Apen- 
nines. Thus,  between  France,  and  Switzerland,  and  the  Italian 
states,  the  natural  mountain  barrier  is  committed  to  a  dependant 
king,  who  can  at  best  serve  the  purpose  of  a  picket-guard  to  his 
more  powerful  eastern  neighbours  ;  and  who,  as  he  has  little  to 
do  with  the  politics  of  Europe  further  than  to  obey  his  masters, 
has  the  more  time  to  perform  the  part  allotted  him.  And  as  this 
kingdom  is  his  little  all,  he  will  feel,  doubtless,  a  great  interest  in 
guarding  and  defending  it.  But  his  subjects  are  mostly  mount- 
aineers, and  unaccustomed  to  the  yoke  ;  and  some  of  them,  in 
fact,  in  their  former  history,  republican  in  their  form  of  govern- 
ment. It  requires,  therefore,  the  more  care  to  keep  them  in  sub- 
jection, and  this  again  increases  their  burdens,  and,  of  course,  their 
apposition  to  the  power  that  oppresses  them.  What  have  they  to 
hope  ?  Time  was  when,  if  they  had  nothing  else,  they  had  their 
liberty ;  but  now  they  have  a  master  imposed  upon  them  ;  they 
have  poverty  and  oppression. 

In  passing  from  Chamberry  to  Lans-le-bourg  at  the  base  of 
Mount  Cenis,  a  distance  of  thirty-six  leagues,  the  road  follows  iap  a 
9  N 


98  SAVOY. 

valley,  or  a  succession  of  valleys,  of  varied  width,  but  growing  nar- 
rower as  it  advances,  until  it  becomes  simply  fc  pass  of  the  mount- 
ains.    Through  its  whole  course  the  valley  seems  well  cultivated, 
and  on  either  side    shut  in  by  lofty  mountains.     There  are  no 
towns  of  particular  interest,  and  the  villages  generally  are  miser- 
able collections  of  miserable  dwellings.     The  inhabitants  appeared 
ragged,  dirty,  and  sickly,  great  numbers  of  them  being  afflicted  with 
the  goitres  or  swelled  necks;  are  rather  dwarfish  in  their  stature, 
and  many  of  them  deformed.     Like  those  in  France,  their  houses 
are  of  stone,  many  of  them  thrown  up  in  a  very  rough  way,  and 
slated  over  with  flat  stones  rough  from  the  quarry.     Their  dwel- 
lings were  very  generally,  with  the  exception  of  the  occasional  vil- 
lages in  the  valleys,  built  high  up  the  steep,  and,  to  appearance 
from  below,  the  inaccessible  sides  of  the  mountain,  hanging  on  the 
precipices  as  if  waiting  the  first  motion  of  the  avalanche  to  slide 
down  into  the  vale  below.     By  cutting  steps  and  following  zigzag 
courses,  they  not  only  climb  these  steeps  themselves,  but  in  most 
cases  their  donkeys  also  find  foothold  up  and  down  their  devious 
and  dangerous  pathways.     On  these  donkeys  they  fix  pack-sad- 
dles, with  side  straps  fastened  to  either  end  of  a  bent  stick,  which 
passes  round  the  thighs  of  the  little  animal,  by  which  the  saddle 
and  the  burden  are  kept  in  their  proper  position  on  the   back. 
These  animals  are  of  great  service  to  these  mountaineers ;  for 
they  will  live  on  a  very  little,  travel  where  no  other  beast  of  bur- 
den can,  endure  great  hardships,  and  perform  much  labour.     It 
was  amusing  of  a  morning  to  see  groups  of  these  donkeys,  with 
their  drivers,  collecting  in  every  direction  from  the  mountains  to 
one  of  their  little  market  towns,  bringing  what  they  may  to  market. 
The  more  common  article  at  this  season  of  the  year  is  wood,  such 
as  it  was,  fagots,  panniers  of  roots,  and  little  bundles  of  catsticks, 
bound  up  and  placed  upon  the  backs  of  the  asses.     And  even 
these  little  loads  were  too  great  for  the  purses  of  many  of  the 
villagers,  who  appeared  to  live  without  fire,  or  went  themselves 
and  gathered  upon  the  mountains  some  small  combustibles,  which 
they  brought  upon  their  backs,  and  thus,  if  in  no  other  way,  they 
gained  some  heat  from  the  exercise. 

The  cause  of  the  swellings  upon  the  necks  of  these  Savoyards 
(and  the  same  disease  prevails  more  or  less  on  the  side  of  Pied- 
mont also)  it  is  difficult  perhaps  to  determine ;  at  any  rate,  there 


ASCENT    OF    THE    ALPS.  99 

seem  to  be  different  opinions  on  the  subject ;  probably  it  is  owing 
to  the  water,  which  is  very  highly  impregnated  with  lime. 

The  passage  of  the  Echelles,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  mountains  to 
the  Piedmont  barrier,  are  of  limestone,  although  the  eastern  side 
of  the  mountain  and  the  valley  of  Suza  become  in  a  great  measure 
granite  and  slate.  In  one  place,  beyond  a  little  town  called  St. 
Jean  de  Maurienne,  a  rivulet  comes  down  the  mountain,  which 
has,  from  the  quality  of  the  water,  formed  for  itself  a  natural  cal- 
careous aqueduct  through  its  whole  course.  The  appearance 
is  singularly  interesting.  The  water,  by  its  petrifying  qualities 
and  calcareous  depositions,  has  raised  itself  many  inches  above 
the  ground  on  either  side  of  it,  and  formed  for  itself  an  artificial 
spout  or  aqueduct,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  follow  it  up  the  side 
of  the  mountain.  If  such  an  effect  may  be  produced  by  the  water 
in  one  case,  where  the  calcareous  solution  is  of  a  strong  character, 
why  may  not  the  constant  use  of  the  water  injure  the  channels  of 
the  human  system  ? 

We  arrived  at  Lans-le-bourg  in  the  evening,  which,  as  the  mount- 
ain could  not  be  safely  passed  in  the  night,  gave  us  an  opportunity 
not  unwelcome,  after  spending  two  nights  in  the  diligence,  of  pas- 
sing a  few  hours  of  the  third  in  bed.  It  was,  however,  a  short 
night,  and  on  the  next  morning  before  the  dawn  we  were  climb- 
ing up  the  sides  of  the  Alps  on  one  of  the  sublimest  roads  in  the 
world,  for  which,  as  for  many  other  enterprises  that  have  printed 
his  name  indelibly  upon  the  everlasting  mountains,  the  world  is 
indebted  to  the  genius  and  perseverance  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 
Although  the  ascent  to  Lans-le-bourg  was  very  gradual,  and 
without  a  mountain  except  the  Echelles,  which  was  descended 
as  well  as  ascended,  yet  this  village  is  said  to  be  4332  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  sea;  and  we  were  now  to  rise  in  one 
or  two  miles,  I  should  judge  at  farthest,  if  we  could  have  gone 
in  a  direct  line,  1566  feet  higher  before  we  could  reach  the 
plain  of  St.  Nicholas,  the  summit  level  of  the  pass.  To  ac- 
complish this  it  was  necessary  to  take  a  zigzag  course  up  the 
mountain.  The  scene  was  too  magnificent  to  allow  of  a  confine- 
ment in  the  diligence,  and,  in  defiance  of  the  cold  and  the  fatigue, 
a  number  of  us  walked  most  of  the  distance  to  the  summit.  When 
we  had  been  travelling  about  three  hours,  at  a  particular  turn  of 
the  road,  a  little  village,  in  a  very  deep  valley  just  under  our  feet, 


100 


SAVOY. 


presented  itself  to  view ;  what  it  was,  or  how  it  could  be  so  near 
and  not  be  observed  before,  I  could  not  devise.  On  inquiry,  how- 
ever, I  was  surprised  to  learn  that  k  was  the  very  village  from 
which  we  had  started  that  morning !  In  less  than  another  hour 
we  reached  the  top.  The  weather  was  extremely  cold,  and  the 
air  had  become  exceedingly  rarefied,  so  that  I  had  to  pant  for 
breath,  and  seemed  never  able  to  inhale  enough  to  supply  the 
purposes  of  life.  It  was,  therefore,  with  no  small  pleasure  that  I 
found  the  labour  of  the  ascent  completed.  Here  the  conducteur 
dismissed  his  five  extra  mules  by  which  we  had  been  drawn  up, 
and  with  one  pair  of  horses  commenced  the  descent.  The  top  of 
the  pass  is  by  no  means  the  top  of  the  mountain,  for  it  is  itself  a 
valley,  and  the  heights  on  either  side  reared  their  snowy  and 
barren  crests  still  higher  into  the  clouds.  On  this  mountain  plain 
is  the  barrier  between  Savoy  and  Piedmont.  Here,  too,  is  a 
mountain-lake  and  a  fortification,  where  a  small  garrison  is  sta- 
tioned, who,  if  they  can  do  nothing  else,  have  an  opportunity  of 
examining  travellers'  passports  ;  a  great  and  leading  business,  one 
would  think,  in  the  governments  of  Europe. 

The  morning  was  as  fine,  perhaps,  as  ever  mirrored  back  the 
rays  of  the  sun  from  the  snowy  sides  and  crystal  glaciers  of 
Mount  Cenis,  and  the  entire  passage,  although  the  frost  was 
severe,  was  most  delightful.  Indeed,  we  could  not  see  why  the 
passage  may  not  be  perfectly  safe  and  easy  at  any  season  of  the 
year.  The  ascent  is  so  gradual,  and  the  road  is  so  hard  and  so 
well  defended  with  parapet  walls,  that  a  horse  can  trot  in  a  light 
carriage  with  ease  and  safety  in  any  part  of  the  distance.  There 
are  avalanches,  however,  in  some  places  in  the  spring  of  the  year ; 
one  in  1831  killed  a  number  of  persons  and  horses;  and  the 
snowstorms  and  winds  are  said  to  be  at  some  times  very  severe 
and  dangerous.  To  prevent  any  serious  difficulty  or  delay,  how- 
ever, Napoleon  had  "  houses  of  refuge"  established  at  short  dis- 
tances, to  the  number  of  twenty-five,  where  reside  families  whose 
sole  business  is  to  succour  travellers  ;  some  of  them  are  fur- 
nished with  bells  to  ring  in  a  dark  night  or  during  a  storm  for 
the  direction  of  the  bewildered  travellers.  There  are  stationed 
here  also,  to  clear  the  roads  of  snow,  avalanches,  &c.,  two  com- 
panies of  men  called  cantonniers,  to  the  number  of  twenty-six  each, 
who  reside  in  these  refuges,  and  on  either  side  of  the  mountain, 


DESCENT    OF    MOUNT    QSJS'IS.  ,   , 

and  are  therefore  always  at  hand  for  the  objects  proposed.  With 
such  a  road  and  with  such  helps,  it  has  been  well  said,  "  There  are 
no  longer  any  Alps  from  Lans-le-bourg  to  Suza."  While  Napoleon, 
as  an  ambitious  conqueror,  broke  through  the  lines  of  states  and 
kingdoms,  and  united  numerous  small  sovereignties  under  one 
government,  he  also,  as  a  man  of  genius  and  enterprise,  broke 
through  the  barriers  of  nature,  and  joined  together,  by  the  greatest 
facilities  of  intercommunication,  countries  that  had  been  separated 
ever  since  the  flood.  I  can  hardly  refrain  from  saying,  as  I  pass, 
that  as,  in  the  latter,  all  will  give  him  due  credit^  so  every  traveller, 
I  think,  who  sees  the  withering  influence  of  these  petty  govern- 
ments, and  who  has  experienced,  as  I  have  every  few  miles,  the 
interference  and  examination  of  the  agents  of  some  petty  prince, 
will  wish  that  he  had  been  equally  successful  in  the  former.  One 
could  hardly  desire  to  see  another  Bonaparte ;  but  a  breaking  up 
of  these  contemptible  duchies  and  principalities  is  a  most  desira- 
ble event.  But  more  of  this  hereafter. 

The  descent  of  Mount  Cenis,  in  our  way  to  Turin,  was  much 
more  magnificent  than  the  ascent  on  the  other  side.  Leaving  the 
plain  of  St.  Nicholas,  you  descend  an  almost  perpendicular  mount- 
ain by  several  stupendous  galleries  cut  in  the  solid  granite. 
These  galleries  are  guarded  by  strong  walls,  and  the  road  is 
spacious  and  of  easy  carriage.  You  see  it  not  winding,  but  doub- 
ling below  you,  stage  after  stage,  upon  the  steep  precipice  ;  a  cas- 
cade from  the  mountain  is  constantly  crossing  your  course,  but 
conducted  under  you  by  beautiful  arches ;  and  on  the  right  and 
left  of  the  scene,  as  you  look  into  the  valley  of  Cenis  below,  are 
Mount  Genevre  and  Rochemelon  piercing  the  clouds.  After  pas- 
sing into  the  valley  of  Cenis  and  through  it,  you  again  descend 
and  descend  till  you  reach  the  valley  of  Suza,  which  is  watered 
by  the  Doria  Riparia,  a  tributary  of  the  Po.  You  see  below 
delightful  valleys,  checkered  with  villages,  and  laid  out  into  vine- 
yards, and  at  such  a  distance  beneath  you  that  at  first  you  are  in 
doubt  whether  the  houses  of  the  villages  be  not  the  stones  of  the 
valley ;  and  the  vineyards,  with  their  straight  lines,  look  like  the 
marks  of  a  chessboard.  On  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  wherever 
it  is  practicable,  terraces  are  formed  and  planted  with  vines ;  and 
the  mountain  cottages  are  hung  out  upon  the  verge  in  the  manner 
already  described.  We  were  quite  as  long  descending  to  Suza 
9 


:       J02  c        .  ITALY. 

as  we  were '  ascending  from  Lans-le-bourg.  The  distance  was 
greater,  and  these  postillions  are  remarkably  careful  and  moderate 
in  descending.  Our  coachmen  in  America  drive  down  the  Al- 
leghanies  in  a  comparatively  narrow  road,  and  with  little  or  no 
guards  on  the  precipice  side,  upon  a  fast  trot ;  whereas  here  they 
put  their  drag  upon  the  wheel,  and  drive  down  scarcely  faster  than 
a  man  can  walk.  Indeed,  for  about  one  hour  of  the  descent,  Mr. 
H.  and  myself  walked  ahead  of  the  diligence.  We  arrived  at 
Suza,  situated  at  the  base  of  the  mountain,  in  a  beautiful  valley,  a 
little  after  midday.  From  Suza  we  followed  down  the  Doria 
through  a  delightful  valley,  and  the  most  of  the  way  very  fruitful 
apparently,  to  Turin,  fourteen  and  a  half  leagues  from  Suza,  making 
the  entire  distance  from  Lyons  to  Turin  eighty-one  leagues. 

It  was  evening  before  we  reached  Turin,  but  the  approach  was 
beautiful.  The  ground  was  covered  with  a  light  snow,  or  rather, 
perhaps,  a  thick  hoarfrost,  which  clad  the  trees  also  with  a  foliage 
of  silver.  The  road,  for  miles  before  we  reached  the  city,  was 
beautified  on  either  side  with  a  proud  colonnade  of  trees.  But 
the  beauty  of  the  scene  did  not  make  us  regret  the  close  of  the 
journey,  and  we  entered  Turin  gratified  with  our  passage,  thank- 
ful, I  trust,  to  the  kind  Providence  which  had  preserved  us,  and  glad 
to  find  a  resting-place. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

To  the  Students  of  the  Wesleyan  University. 

Turin,  December  26,  1835. 

YOUNG  GENTLEMEN, 

Having  now  entered  Italy,  the  land  of  classic  story  and  of  ancient 
renown,  I  pause  for  a  few  moments  to  contemplate  the  scene  be- 
fore me.  These  mountains  and  valleys  are  the  same  that  they 
were  in  the  days  of  ancient  Rome.  But  all  else  is  changed; 
political,  social,  and  religious  society  is  changed.  This  change 
has  been  the  work  of  centuries,  the  result  of  successive  conquests 
by  foreign  barbarians,  and  of  numerous  revolution  by  internal 
discord  and  civil  war. 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  103 

With  the  ancient  history  of  Italy  you  are  made  acquainted  by 
your  daily  studies  ;  but  I  have  good  reason  to  suppose  that  you, 
and,  in  fact,  a  great  portion  of  the  youth  of  our  country,  are  com- 
paratively ignorant  of  the  intervening  history  of  Italy,  from  the 
fall  of  the  empire  to  the  commencement  of  the  present  century. 
I  have  therefore  thought  it  desirable  to  draw  your  attention,  and 
the  attention  of  the  American  youth  generally,  to  this  subject,  by 
prefacing  what  I  may  hereafter  write  of  the  present  state  of  this 
country  by  a  brief  sketch  of  its  history  since  the  latter  part  of 
the  fifth  century. 

After  a  succession  of  emperors  and  the  general  deterioration 
of  the  ancient  Roman  spirit,  in  476  Odoacer  assumed  the  su- 
preme government  under  the  title  of  king,  having  conquered  and 
deposed  the  reigning  emperor.  This  was  followed  in  about  sev- 
enteen years  by  the  invasion  and  conquest  of  the  Ostrogoths, 
who  inhabited  the  country  north  of  the  Euxine  Sea.  These  sub- 
dued the  country  in  493 ;  and,  in  their  turn,  were  overthrown  in 
553  by  the  Roman  emperors,  so  to  call  them,  of  Constantinople.* 
Soon  after,  viz.,  in  568,  followed  the  invasion  of  the  Lombards,  a 
fierce  and  cruel  race  from  the  north  of  Germany.  These  subdued 
and  held  possession  of  Northern  Ita]y  from  568  to  774,  with  the 
exception  of  the  section  around  the  head  of  the  Adriatic  Sea,  where 
the  brave  inhabitants  maintained  their  independence,  and  estab- 
lished the  Venetian  republic.  That  part  of  Southern  Italy  situa- 
ted on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic  still  continued  under  the  empe- 
rors, and  was  governed  by  an  exarch  from  Constantinople.  Rome, 
however,  was  at  this  time  gradually  receding  from  under  the 
power  of  the  emperors,  and  falling  more  and  more  under  the 
temporal,  as  well  as  spiritual,  control  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rome, 
who  was  already  assuming  that  authoritative  jurisdiction  which 
was  afterward  claimed  to  such  an  extent  and  exercised  with  such 
arrogancy  and  tyranny.  Naples  also,  with  all  the  southern  coun- 
try known  by  the  name  of  Magna  Graecia,  maintained  its  in- 
dependence under  something  like  republican  forms  of  govern- 
ment. In  774  the  Franks,  allured  by  the  wealth  of  the  country, 
invaded  and  desolated  the  Lombard  kingdom  ;  and,  finally,  Charles, 
the  king  of  the  Danes,  afterward  called  Charlemagne,  subdued 
the  whole  of  Italy.  But  instead  of  pillaging  and  destroying  it, 

*  The  seat  of  the  Roman  empire  had  been  transferred  to  Constantinople. 


104  ITALY. 

like  the  preceding  conquerors,  he  conceived  the  plan  of  uniting  it 
into  one  vast  empire,  in  connexion  with  his  other  possessions, 
calling  it  the  western  Roman  empire.  He  himself  was  declared 
emperor  by  the  pope  and  the  Roman  people  under  the  title  of 
Charlemagne  in  800,  and  governed  Italy  as  emperor  fourteen  years, 
and  his  dynasty  continued  through  eighty-eight  years,  when  the 
last  of  the  race,  Charles  the  Gross,  was  deposed.  For  seventy 
years  following  the  crown  was  worn  by  different  kings,  and  was 
finally  settled  on  the  German  emperor  Otho  I.  in  961. 

In  the  mean  time  the  feudal  system  was  formed,  the  process  and 
character  of  which  have  been  so  often  described  that  a  detail  is 
not  necessary.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  the  system  grew  very 
naturally  out  of  the  conquests  of  the  country,  and  the  division  of 
the  property  thus  acquired  among  the  higher  and  lower  grades 
of  officers  in  the  victorious  army.  Each  general  leader  had  di- 
vided to  him  a  portion  of  the  conquered  territory,  with  the  sole 
condition  that  he  should  pay  homage  to  his  superior,  and  furnish 
men  for  his  wars.  These  general  leaders  again  subdivided  their 
territories  among  their  subordinate  officers,  under  the  same  con- 
ditions. Thus  the  tillers  of  the  ground  became  mere  serfs  or 
slaves,  and  each  chief,  in  his  sphere,  maintained  a  kind  of  in- 
dependent military  establishment  and  government  of  his  own,  not 
unfrequently  making  war  in  his  own  right  upon  a  neighbouring 
chieftain,  and  sometimes,  when  he  felt  himself  strong,  or  when 
several  were  disposed  to  make  common  cause,  opposing  the 
king  or  emperor  himself.  This  made  it  necessary  for  every 
chief  to  have  his  own  castle  and  guard.  Thus  every  high  hill  be- 
came a  military  fortress,  and  the  country  and  the  mountain-tops 
were  covered  with  ranges  of  military  castles,  which  remain  in 
multitudes  even  unto  this  day,  the  eloquent  mementoes  of  that 
tremendous  system  which  reduced  the  world  to  slavery,  rolled 
back  civilization  to  barbarism,  divided  the  human  race  into  clans 
of  warlike,  bloodthirsty  desperadoes  and  robbers,  whose  prac- 
tical motto  was,  "  Might  makes  right."  Unfortunately,  too,  just 
at  this  juncture,  as  though  Heaven  had  withdrawn  its  favour 
and  left  man  an  unrestrained  prey  to  his  own  vile  passions,  that 
religion  which  is  our  only  hope  had  undergone  that  corrupting 
process  by  which  it  was  made  to  chime  in  with  the  spirit  of  the 
times  and  aggravate  all  the  existing  evils.  Enough  of  religion 
was  maintained  to  work  upon  the  superstitious  ignorance  of  the 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  105 

multitudes  who  were  led  on  to  private  and  public  crimes,  all  for 
the  love  of  God  and  the  hope  of  paradise. 

It  is,  however,  specially  worthy  of  remark  in  all  the  tracing  of 
historical  events — in  the  changes  and  corruptions,  modifications 
and  reformations  of  society — that,  while  there  are  numerous  oc- 
casions and  means  of  deterioration,  so  out  of  some  of  the  most 
unpromising  conjunctures  and  features  of  the  social  disorder  and 
derangement  arise  frequent  occasions  of  amelioration  and  means 
of  renovation  to  the  social  system.  We  have  seen  that  the  fre- 
quent invasions  and  inundations  of  the  barharians  had  almost 
effaced  civilization  from  what  had  been  the  brightest  spot  on  the 
dark  disk  of  the  world  ;  hence  it  was  to  be  inferred  that  a  contin- 
uance of  these  irruptions  would  put  out  the  lights  of  civilization 
for  ever.  The  reverse,  however,  was  the  fact.  While  the  Danes 
and  the  Normans  ravaged  England  and  France,  and  the  Hungari- 
ans Germany  and  Upper  Italy,  and  the  Saracens,  having  become 
masters  of  Africa,  made  frequent  incursions  upon  the  shores  of 
Middle  Italy  for  purposes  of  pillage  and  plunder,  the  necessity 
of  self-defence  induced  the  cities  and  small  towns  to  urge  with 
such  earnestness  and  such  show  of  reason  the  request  of  the  priv- 
ilege of  city  walls  and  city  guards  as  secured  success  to  their 
importunities.  These  defences,  made  at  their  own  expense,  and 
for  the  imperious  necessity  of  self-defence  against  foreign  robbers, 
soon  gave  the  villages  and  cities  an  importance  and  an  influence 
by  which  they  secured  themselves  more  and  more  against  the  en- 
croachments of  their  domestic  oppressors,  the  feudal  chiefs.  This 
greater  security,  moreover,  encouraged,  and,  of  course,  increased 
enterprise  and  industry  ;  laid  the  foundation,  by  consequence,  of 
wealth,  of  individual  and  social  elevation,  of  intellectual  improve- 
ment, and  all  the  moral,  political,  and  physical  advantages  con- 
nected with  these  improvements.  This,  in  the  end,  had  a  decided- 
ly advantageous  collateral  action  upon  the  condition  of  the  peas- 
antry in  the  country.  For  as  the  citizens  and  villagers  grew  more 
independent  and  less  obsequious  to  the  nobility,  these  latter  be- 
took themselves  more  to  their  country  residences  ;  and,  that  they 
might  secure  the  affection  and  loyalty  of  the  yeomanry,  and,  withal, 
to  prevent  their  flying  to  the  cities  for  advantages  denied  them 
without,  they  granted  them  increased  privileges,  armed  them,  and 
in  various  ways  meliorated  their  condition. 

O 


106  ITALY. 

From  Otho  I.  the  western  empire  was  kept  in  the  same  line, 
through  the  successive  reigns  of  Otho  II.  and  III.,  Henry  II. 
called  the  Saint,  Conrad  II.  the  Salick,  Henrys  III.,  IV.,  and  V., 
to  the  year  1125.  In  the  latter  part  of  this  period  was  the  great 
struggle  between  the  emperors  and  the  church ;  or,  as  we  may 
more  properly  say,  the  pope,  commonly  called  the  war  of  the 
investitures.  The  question  was  simply  who  should  invest  the 
church  dignitaries  with  their  powers ;  the  church  itself,  or  the 
secular  authorities  ?  To  understand  this  fully,  it  should  be  recol- 
lected, that  at  first  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  the  same  was  true 
of  the  other  bishops,  was  appointed  or  elected  by  the  clergy,  the 
senate,  and  the  people  of  his  diocess.  As  this  office,  however,  be- 
came a  greater  object  of  ambition,  great  scandal  and  disorder 
arose  in  the  election,  and  the  divisions  became  so  bitter  and  ir- 
reconcilable that  the  emperors  were  obliged  to  interfere  and  take 
the  appointment  into  their  own  hands.  This,  in  time,  led  to  great 
abuses.  As  in  all  cases  where  the  secular  power  has  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  affairs  and  emoluments  of  the  church,  these  offices, 
which  ought  to  be  kept  for  pure  hands  and  honest  hearts,  became 
the  rewards  of  court  favourites  and  government  partisans  ;  the 
most  unholy  became  the  nominal  ministers  of  the  most  holy  voca- 
tion. So  great  were  these  abuses,  that  there  was  a  universal  voice 
almost  for  a  reform.  This  afforded  a  most  favourable  occasion 
to  the  church  for  the  greatest  stride  towards  supreme  power  that 
ever  was  made  by  mortal  man.  And  this  was  accomplished  by  a 
single  individual,  born  in  Soana,  Tuscany,  of  the  most  obscure 
parentage,  but  of  illustrious  talents  ;  I  mean  Hildebrand,  who  was 
better  known  in  after  life  by  the  title  and  name  of  Pope  Gregory 
VII.  His  talents  were  early  discovered,  and  he  was  sent  by  his 
convent  to  Cluny,  in  France,  for  his  education.  Here  he  con- 
ceived the  plan,  which  he  afterward  executed  in  great  part,  of 
making  the  pope  eligible  to  office  only  by  the  cardinals,  and 
of  making  the  pope's  sanction  necessary  for  all  the  other  prelates  ; 
to  enable  him,  by  his  sole  power,  to  make  and  depose  bishops  ;  as- 
semble, preside  over,  and  dissolve  councils  ;  to  be  absolute  mas- 
ter of  princes,  with  power  to  absolve  their  subjects  from  their  oath 
of  allegiance  ;  and,  in  fine,  to  be  the  vicegerent  upon  earth  of  God 
himself.  He  was  made  pope  in  1073.  His  success  in  humbling 
Henry  IV.,  and  making  him  wait  three  days  and  three  nights, 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  107 

doing  penance  in  the  open  court  of  the  Chateau  de  Canossa  in 
the  winter,  barefooted  and  fasting,  is  a  piece  of  history  well 
known,  and  is  but  an  illustration  of  Gregory's  spirit,  his  doctrine, 
and  his  success. 

This  power,  however,  was  resisted,  and  was  the  fruitful  source 
of  numerous  and  bloody  wars.  The  question  was  finally  settled 
in  the  Diet  of  Worms,  1 122,  by  a  sort  of  division  of  claims.  The 
emperor  conceded  to  the  pope  the  right  of  investing  the  bishops 
with  the  ring  and  the  cross,  that  is,  with  their  ecclesiastical  power, 
but  reserved  to  himself  the  right  of  conferring  or  withholding  the 
royal  rights  which  appertain  to  each  office.  This  war  had  lasted 
above  sixty  years,  and  was  finally  settled  in  consequence  of  the 
people's  becoming  wearied  with  the  contest.  During  its  continu- 
ance, the  different  cities  and  duchies  took  part  either  with  the  em- 
perors or  the  popes,  according  to  their  different  affinities,  and  this 
laid  the  foundation  for  two  characteristics,  which  strongly  mark 
almost  all  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Italian  states  ;  and  which, 
therefore,  ought  to  be  here  particularly  noted  by  all  who  wish  to 
trace  causes  and  effects  in  the  history  of  this  country.  The  first 
is,  the  divisions,  the  irreconcilable  animosities  and  jealousies 
which  were  thereby  begotten  between  the  different  cities  and 
states ;  animosities  and  jealousies  that  continue,  to  some  extent, 
up  to  this  hour,  preventing  all  concert  of  counsel  and  action 
for  the  restoration  of  their  independence  and  liberty,  even  as  they 
prevented  the  union  which  was  so  necessary  to  their  liberties 
when  they  were  free.  And  the  second  is,  what  may  seem  para- 
doxical when  viewed  in  connexion  with  the  other,  so  true  is  it 
that  results,  in  their  different  stages  of  development,  are  by  va- 
rious collateral  combinations  opposite  to  each  other,  viz.,  that 
these  very  divisions,  and  the  spirit  of  independence  produced  by 
them,  were  probably  hastening  causes  of  the  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence of  the  several  states.  I  do  not  say  that  these  states,  if 
they  had  kept  united,  and  moved  in  harmony  in  attempting  a  com- 
mon advancement,  would  not  have  become  free  ;  but  they  would, 
to  all  human  appearance,  have  been  far  less  likely  to  arrive, 
in  this  way,  to  any  favourable  result.  And  this  will  appear  the 
more  evident,  if  it  is  remembered  that  the  idea  of  a  represent- 
ative republic  had  never,  at  that  day,  dawned  upon  the  world. 
Search  ancient  history  ;  trace  through  the  republics  of  Greece  and 


108  ITALY. 

Rome,  and  of  the  more  modern  Italian  states,  and  you  will  never, 
I  believe,  find  the  idea  hinted  at ;  at  any  rate,  never  experimented 
upon,  or  proposed  even  for  experiment.  Hence  all  the  republics 
were  small,  or,  if  they  became  possessed  of  large  territory,  the 
powers  that  governed  that  territory  were  concentrated  in  one  prin- 
cipal city,  and  all  without  were  rather  held  in  subjection,  as  de- 
pendances  upon  the  concentrated  power  of  the  democratic  cap- 
ital. We  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  as,  indeed,  we  might  judge  a 
priori,  how  this  circumstance  of  itself  was  a  sufficient  occasion 
for  the  dissolution  of  a  flourishing  republic.  It  is  alluded  to  here 
merely  to  show  that  the  dissociating  influence  of  the  civil  wars 
probably  hastened  to  maturity  the  republics  of  Italy  in  the  elev- 
enth and  twelfth  centuries.  Each  city  became  patriotic  for  itself; 
it  thought  and  acted  for  itself.  If  it  sent  an  army  to  the  com- 
mon cause,  that  army  had  a  distinct  character ;  was  officered 
by  fellow-citizens;  fed  and  paid  by  them.  The  cities  met  in 
common  council,  elected  their  officers,  civil  and  military,  appointed 
their  official  councils,  &c.  Here,  too,  they  provided  for  their  own 
defence  by  increasing  their  fortresses  and"  strengthening  their 
city  guards.  Thus,  while  kings,  emperors,  and  popes  were  en- 
gaged in  their  great  enterprises,  to  which,  according  to  custom, 
perhaps,  these  cities  were  contributing  their  share,  they  were 
rapidly  advancing  in  wealth,  strength,  and  knowledge,  and  thus 
becoming  prepared,  at  the  first  favourable  opportunity,  to  assert 
their  entire  independence,  or,  at  any  rate,  to  deliver  themselves 
by  degrees  from  the  oppressive  policy  of  their  chiefs,  and  gain  an 
increase  of  privileges  for  the  citizens  at  large.  This  is  the  origin, 
in  general  principles,  of  the  more  modern  free  states  of  Italy. 
Local  causes,  of  course,  hastened  or  retarded  these  states  in  their 
progress  towards  maturity,  some  of  which  may  be  traced  cursorily 
in  glancing  at  the  several  leading  republics  of  Italian  history. 

It  has  already  been  intimated  that,  in  the  Lombard  conquests 
some  of  the  Italian  cities  were  not  subjected  permanently  to  the 
yoke  of  the  conquerors ;  some  of  them  still  retaining  their  rela- 
tions to  the  eastern  empire  of  Constantinople :  among  these 
were  Genoa  and  Pisa  in  central  Italy,  western  coast,  Venice  on 
the  Adriatic,  and  Naples,  Gaeta,  and  Amain*  in  the  south.  These, 
however,  were  so  distant  from  the  parent  government,  and  the 
eastern  empire  became  so  inefficient  in  affording  them  protection, 


: 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  109 

that  they  grew  up  into  independence,  and  became  inured  to  self- 
defence,  in  the  same  manner  that  the  neglected  orphan  often  gains 
a  hardy  and  an  enterprising  character  by  being  early  thrown  upon 
his  own  resources. 

Venice,  however,  could  hardly  be  said  to  belong  to  any  empire 
or  state.  It  was  a  retreat  of  low  marshy  islands  in  the  Adriatic 
gulf,  to  which  certain  citizens  of  neighbouring  cities  had,  at  the 
time  of  the  northern  invasions  of  the  barbarians,  betaken  them- 
selves as  a  protection  from  these  foreign  robbers.  Here  they 
were  secure  from  robbery,  as  their  enemies  had  no  water  craft  to 
follow  them  ;  and  this  became  their  permanent  residence.  They 
enacted  their  own  laws,  chose  their  own  magistrates,  and  by  in- 
dustry of  various  kinds,  and  especially  by  commerce,  they  grew 
up  to  be  the  most  wealthy  and  powerful  state  of  Italy.  This  was 
the  origin  of  the  Venetian  republic. 

The  southern  republics  had  a  shorter  history.  The  adventur- 
ous Normans,  that  had  penetrated  into  almost  every  part,  seeking 
adventures,  like  knights-errant,  even  before  the  days  of  chivalry, 
penetrated  to  the  south  of  Italy  under  Roger  II.,  and  between  the 
years  1131  and  1138  subdued  these  three  republican  cities,  which 
had  heretofore  successfully  resisted,  for  the  greater  part,  the  bar- 
barian invaders. 

Pisa,  however,  and  Genoa  continued  to  prosper  as  independent 
states.  Like  Venice,  they  owed  their  wealth  and  improvement  to 
commerce,  which  they  conducted  in  every  port  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean ;  and  like  Venice,  also,  they  had  escaped  being  plundered 
by  the  northern  invaders,  either  because  they  were  under  the 
nominal  protection  of  the  eastern  empire,  or  because,  accustomed 
to  self-defence,  they  were  better  able  to  secure  themselves  against 
any  successful  attack  from  a  foreign  foe.  It  is  true  the  Saracens, 
in  936,  succeeded  in  taking  and  pillaging  Genoa,  and  subsequently 
made  two  unsuccessful  attempts  to  take  Pisa,  viz.,  in  1005  and 
1012.  But  afterward  these  two  cities  combined  to  attack  their 
common  enemy,  and  in  1050  they  conquered  Sardinia  from  the 
Saracens,  and,  not  long  after,  the  Balearic  islands. 

As  a  proof  of  the  affluence  and  power  of  these  three  little  mar- 
itime republics,  Venice,  Pisa,  and  Genoa,  we  are  told  that  at  the 
commencement  of  the  crusades,  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, they  had  more  vessels  in  the  Mediterranean  than  all  the  rest 
10 


110  ITALY. 

of  Christendom.  They  seconded  with  enthusiasm  this  enterprise 
— Venice  sent  two  hundred  vessels,  the  Pisans  one  hundred  and 
twenty,  and  the  Genoese  twenty-eight  galleys  and  six  vessels. 

Such  was  the  advance  of  freedom,  and  wealth,  and  enterprise 
of  society  in  Italy,  that  during,  and  a  little  after  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, were  produced  some  of  the  most  magnificent  works  of  mili- 
tary and  civil  architecture ;  works  that  remain  until  this  day  mon- 
uments of  admiration  and  taste.  The  Duomo,  or  cathedral  of  Pisa, 
is  said  to  have  been  finished  before  the  close  of  this  century — 
that  of  Florence  was  commenced  in  the  twelfth,  and  the  Basilica 
de  St.  Marco  of  Venice  was  finished  1071. 

As  wealth  and  power  increased,  however,  ambition  and  a  love 
of  domination  came  in  to  annoy  the  peace  and  check  the  pros- 
perity of  the  states.  These  were  heightened  by  the  war  of  the 
investitures,  not  only  as  that  war  had  increased  the  military  spirit* 
but  also  because  it  had  divided  the  cities  into  opposing  parties, 
and  had  begotten  jealousies  and  prejudices  that,  in  a  warlike  age, 
were  easily  kindled  into  a  belligerent  spirit.  This  state  of  feel- 
ing, added  to  an  ambitious  desire  on  the  part  of  the  more  power- 
ful cities  to  subdue  the  smaller  ones  under  their  authority,  so  far 
at  least  as  to  compel  them  to  make  common  cause  with  them  in 
their  party  wars  and  in  repelling  their  enemies,  led  to  numerous 
contentions  and  wars  between  the  different  cities.  The  two  great 
parties,  to  one  or  the  other  of  which  belonged  almost  every  city 
of  Europe,  which  were  formed  by  the  war  of  the  investitures, 
came  afterward  to  be  called  Guelfs  and  Ghibelines ;  the  former 
designating  the  party  which  was  opposed  to  the  pretensions  of 
the  German  emperors,  and  the  latter  those  who  were  of  the  em- 
perors' party.  Indeed,  it  is  rather  difficult  to  trace  all  the  differ- 
ent causes  of  division  between  these  violent  parties.  One  general 
distinction  was  that  already  mentioned,  viz.,  the  supporting  or  re- 
sisting the  claims  which  the  German  emperors  set  up  over  the  free 
cities  of  Italy  and  over  the  ecclesiastical  authority ;  but  another 
mark  of  difference  seemed  to  be  the  supporting  or  resisting  the 
claims  of  the  feudal  chieftains  upon  the  free  cities  of  Italy,  the 
Guelfs  rallying  on  the  side  of  the  liberty  and  independence  of 
these  cities,  and  the  Ghibelines  sustaining  the  claims  of  the  feudal 
lords.  As  the  popes  were  always  struggling  to  maintain  their 
power  and  influence,  secular  as  well  as  spiritual,  and  as  the  em- 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  Ill 

perors  were  the  principal  obstructions  to  their  wishes,  the  former 
found  it  good  policy  to  unite  with  the  free  cities  in  their  resistance 
of  the  latter.  In  this  way,  anomalous  as  it  is  in  the  history  of 
the  Roman  hierarchy,  all  the  power  of  the  holy  see  was  exerted, 
for  a  number  of  years,  in  a  common  cause  with  those  cities  who 
were  defending  their  freedom  against  their  imperial  tyrants  and 
feudal  lords.  It  is  true  Arnaud  di  Brescia  was  burnt  alive  by 
Pope  Adrian  IV.  in  1155  for  venturing  to  broach  to  the  Romans 
the  political  heresy,  as  the  pope  called  it,  of  republican  liberty ; 
but  what  was  heresy  at  Rome  was,  a  little  after,  both  at  Rome  and 
elsewhere,  good  policy  with  his  holiness  when  it  would  subserve 
the  claims  of  the  church.  Hence  the  popes  favoured  the  Guelf 
party. 

The  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century  is  rendered  illustrious,  in 
Italian  history,  by  the  ambition  of  one  man,  and  by  that  combina- 
tion to  resist  that  ambition  called  the  League  of  Lombardy.  Fred- 
eric Barbarossa,  duke  of  Swabia,  of  the  house  of  HohenstoufTen, 
so  far  as  the  spirit  and  intelligence  of  the  age  will  allow  of  the  com- 
parison, may  be  called  the  Napoleon  of  his  day.  Brave,  skilled  in 
war,  born  to  command,  enterprising,  and  ambitious,  he  began  his 
career  with  a  determination  to  add  to  the  crown  of  silver  with 
which  he  was  invested,  as  Emperor  of  Germany,  by  the  German 
Diet  of  Frankfort  in  1152,  the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy  and  the 
crown  of  gold  of  Rome.  And  not  only  this,  but  he  determined 
to  reduce  to  obedience  the  Milanese,  and  others  of  the  free  cities 
of  Italy,  whom  he  claimed  as  fiefs  of  the  empire,  and  who  had 
proved  refractory  in  opposing  the  wishes  and  claims  of  the  em- 
peror. To  this  end  he  entered  Italy  in  1154  at  the  head  of  a 
powerful  army.  He  marched  through  the  country  and  the  towns, 
exacting  from  the  people,  as  he  passed,  forage,  food,  and  lodging ; 
and  where  these  were  not  furnished,  he  ravaged  the  country,  and 
gave  the  cities  up  to  pillage  and  fire.  He  burnt  Asti  and  Chieri. 
He  reduced  Tortona  by  famine,  after  a  siege  of  sixty-two  days, 
and  sacked  and  burnt  the  city.  The  army,  however,  grew  impa- 
tient of  delay,  and  compelled  the  emperor  to  hasten  on  to  Rome 
without  stopping  to  chastise  all  the  rebellious  cities  in  his  way. 
On  this  occasion,  therefore,  the  cities  found  the  advantage  of  their 
walls.  They  would  not  suffer  the  army  to  enter  their  walls,  but 
generally  submitted  to  the  exactions  of  forage,  &c.,  according  to 


112  ITALY. 

the  long-established  principles  of  the  feudal  system.  In  short,  he 
arrived  at  Rome,  was  crowned  by  Adrian  IV.  with  the  crown  of 
gold  as  Emperor  of  Rome  and  of  the  western  empire,  and  then 
marched  back  to  the  mountains,  as  it  was  in  the  heat  of  summer, 
to  avoid  the  consequences  to  his  army.  But  the  malaria  had  in- 
fused the  poison  already,  and  escape  was  impossible.  After  he 
had  taken  and  burnt  the  city  of  Spoleto,  because  it  did  not  furnish 
as  speedily  as  he  desired  the  supplies  for  his  army,  the  sickness 
broke  out  in  his  camp.  He  hastened  to  return,  but  desertion  and 
death  thinned  his  ranks ;  and  by  the  time  he  had  led  his  barbari- 
ans back  to  Germany  he  had  but  a  remnant  left  him.  He  had 
spread  desolation  in  his  track,  and  had  ruined,  in  a  single  year, 
one  of  the  most  formidable  armies  that  Germany  had  ever  sent 
into  Italy. 

Barbarossa,  never  discouraged  by  his  losses,  soon  returned 
with  another  army,  and  invested  Milan,  which  was  compelled  by 
famine  to  capitulate,  but  obtained,  as  she  supposed,  honourable 
terms,  by  a  treaty  signed  in  1158.  The  citizens  soon  discovered, 
however,  that  the  emperor  determined  to  deprive  them  of  their 
liberties,  and  so  construe  the  treaty  as  to  give  him  the  entire  con- 
trol, almost,  of  the  rights  and  property  of  the  citizens.  Upon  this 
they  dismissed  the  emperor's  judge,  called  a  podesta*  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  treaty,  he  had  aright  to  appoint,  and  prepared  anew 
to  defend  their  rights  by  their  walls  and  their  arms.  Enraged  at 
this,  the  emperor  announced  that  he  would  never  cease  to  exert 
his  power  until  he  had  reduced  the  rebellious  city.  Instead  of  a 
regular  siege,  he  devastated  the  country,  destroyed  the  crops,  cut 
off  supplies,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  followed  up  his  plan  by  redu- 
cing the  smaller  cities  of  Lombardy.  As  a  specimen  of  his  char- 
acter and  of  the  resistance  made  to  him,  the  case  of  the  city  of 
Crema,  besieged  by  him,  might  be  mentioned.  After  the  former 
pacification,  he  had  required  Milan  and  Crema  to  give  hostages. 
Several  of  these  hostages  of  Crema  he  hung  in  front  of  their  walls, 
ard  others,  who  were  children  of  some  of  the  first  families,  he 
placed  upon  a  moving  tower,  which  he  caused  to  be  moved  to- 

*  After  the  submission  of  Milan  and  other  Italian  cities,  a  general  diet  was  held  at 
Roncflglia,  in  which,  among  other  things,  it  was  decided  that  the  emperor  had  the  right 
to  appoint  a  judicial  magistrate  in  each  town,  called  a  podesta,  who  was  in  no  case,  how- 
ever, to  be  a  native  of  the  city  over  which  he  presided.  This  was  a  measure  most  dis- 
astrous to  liberty. 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  113 

wards  the  walls.  Thus  the  besieged  were  reduced  to  the  alterna- 
tive of  either  not  repelling  the  enemy,  or,  by  defending  their 
walls,  of  killing  their  own  children.  The  fathers  cried  to  their 
fellow-citizens  to  do  their  duty  and  defend  their  city,  and  to  their 
children  not  to  hesitate  to  die  for  it,  and  only  asked  to  be  excused 
from  being  witnesses  of  their  children's  agony.  The  tower  was 
repulsed  and  driven  back,  covered  with  the  dead  bodies  of  the 
nine  young  hostages. 

Crema,  however,  was  reduced  by  famine,  and  the  city,  after  a  six 
months'  siege,  sacked  and  burnt.  Milan  also,  after  three  years  of 
struggle,  in  an  unequal  contest  with  the  enemy,  and  after  losing 
part  of  her  stores  by  an  accidental  fire,  was  reduced  by  famine  to 
the  necessity  of  surrendering  at  discretion,  and  the  enraged  em- 
peror razed  the  city  from  the  foundation,  so  that  not  one  stone 
was  left  upon  the  top  of  another,  and  scattered  the  wretched  in- 
habitants throughout  the  different  cities  of  Lombardy.  Thus  the 
capital  of  Lombardy,  and  the  leading  city  in  the  free  states  of 
Italy,  was  annihilated  by  the  power  of  the  victorious  tyrant.  But 
it  was  not  as  easy  to  annihilate  principles  as  it  was  cities  ;  wher- 
ever the  inhabitants  went  they  carried  with  them  their  love  of 
liberty,  and,  by  the  story  of  their  wrongs,  excited  an  abhorrence 
of  Frederic.  This  odium  was  increased  by  the  rigour  with 
which  the  other  cities  of  Lombardy,  now  mostly  in  the  hands  of 
the  emperor,  were  taxed  and  oppressed ;  their  rights  were  vio- 
lated, their  liberties  taken  from  them,  their  property  taxed  until 
two  thirds  went  to  the  state. 

About  this  time,  1159,  the  death  of  Adrian  IV.  opened  a  door 
for  a  singular  contention  respecting  the  infallible  head  of  an  in- 
fallible church,  which  finally  resulted  in  favour  of  the  cause  of  lib- 
erty. In  electing  a  new  pope,  the  cardinals  were  divided  between 
two  candidates,  both  of  which  were  declared  elected  by  their  re- 
spective parties,  one  under  the  title  of  Alexander  III.,  and  the 
other  of  Victor  III.  Frederic  declared  for  the  latter;  but  the 
church,  generally,  for  the  former.  After  mutual  excommunica- 
tions, Alexander,  to  strengthen  his  cause,  espoused  that  of 
liberty,  and  sustained  the  Guelf  party  in  opposition  to  the  em- 
peror. He  was,  however,  obliged  to  flee  to  France,  and  Frederic 
visited  Rome  in  the  year  1163,  to  strengthen  the  opposing  pon- 
10  P 


114  ITALY. 

tiff.  In  his  absence  the  cities  of  Verona,  Padua,  and  others 
sent  their  consuls  to  a  congress  to  consult  upon  the  common 
cause,  and  the  means  of  defence  against  the  common  foe.  Fred- 
eric heard  of  the  combination,  and  returned  to  suppress  it.  But 
he  soon  found  that  the  popular  voice  was  against  him,  and  that 
the  Italian  army,  with  which  he  had  undertaken  to  chastise  the 
Veronese,  could  not  be  trusted  ;  and  he  therefore  precipitately  re- 
turned to  Germany.  In  the  mean  time  the  antipope,  Victor, 
died,  and  Pascal  III.  was  appointed  his  successor  ;  but  his  cause 
became  unpopular,  and  Alexander  III.  was  invited  to  Rome,  and 
generally  acknowledged  pope. 

The  emperor  marched  another  army  from  Germany  into  Italy, 
laid  siege  to  Rome,  and  took  it ;  the  pope,  however,  making  his 
escape.  But  while  these  things  were  going  on,  the  combination 
of  the  free  cities  of  northern  Italy  against  the  tyrant,  under  the 
name  of  the  League  of  Lombardy,  continued  to  gain  strength. 
They  bound  themselves  to  each  other  by  oath  ;  they  rebuilt  Milan ; 
and,  that  the  two  cities,  Pavia  and  Montserrat,  which  still  ad- 
hered to  the  emperor,  might  have  no  intercourse  with  each  other, 
they  built  a  new  city  between  them,  which,  after  the  name  of  the 
pope,  they  called  Alexandria ;  and  so  rapidly  did  this  city  increase 
that,  in  one  year  after  its  foundation,  it  sent  into  the  field  an  army 
of  15,000  men.  While  this  was  in  progress  the  emperor's  army 
in  Southern  Italy  was  again  attacked  by  disease,  which  swept  off 
such  multitudes,  that  he  was  constrained  to  hasten  back  to  Ger- 
many as  secretly  as  possible,  that  he  might  not  be  intercepted  by 
the  army  of  the  league. 

The  emperor  made  another  attempt  to  subdue  Lombardy,  but 
without  success.  The  army  that  was  brought  from  Germany  for 
that  purpose  was  completely  routed  and  dispersed,  and  finally  a 
truce  was  concluded  for  six  years,  which  was  followed  in  1183 
by  the  Diet  of  Constance,  in  which  a  general  peace  was  agreed 
upon,  the  basis  of  which  was  an  acknowledgment  of  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  free  cities  and  states  of  Italy. 

Previous  to  this,  to  wit,  in  1096,  commenced  the  famous  war 
of  the  crusades.  This  war,  if  it  had  no  other  good  effect,  pro- 
duced, at  intervals,  a  suspension  of  hostilities  among  the  Christian 
states  in  Europe  ;  and  Frederic  himself  at  this  time,  as  if  to  atone 
for  his  crimes,  and  wash  from  his  crown  and  his  arms  the  stain 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  115 

of  the  blood  of  thousands,  girded  himself  in  his  old  age,  and,  at 
the  head  of  an  army  little  short  of  100,000  strong,  marched 
against  the  infidels.  In  this  expedition  he  died  in  Armenia, 
while  bathing  in  the  river  Salef,  tenth  June,  1190. 

After  these  events  various  wars  occurred  between  the  cities 
of  Italy  and  the  successor  of  Frederic,  aided  by  some  Italian 
cities,  and  the  King  of  Sicily ;  in  all  of  which  the  pope  managed 
to  increase  his  own  power  against  that  of  the  emperor !  This 
was  the  time  in  which  the  Roman  see  ascended  to  its  highest 
pitch  of  arrogant  assumption.  Hungary,  France,  Portugal,  Spain, 
and  England  acknowledged  the  papal  supremacy  ;  and  the  same 
might  be  said  of  Italy,  with  the  exception  of  Pisa  and  a  few  other 
cities,  which  sustained  the  cause  of  the  emperor.  At  length  a 
Guelf  prince,  Otho  IV.,  was  chosen  emperor,  and  crowned  by  the 
pope  at  Rome  in  1209.  But  soon  the  seeds  of  discord  sprung  up 
between  him  and  Innocent  III.,  who  was  then  the  sanguinary  and 
ambitious  reigning  pontiff,  which  involved  all  Italy  in  war,  arming 
the  different  cities  against  each  other.  In  1215,  however,  Otho 
was  supplanted  by  Frederic  II.  of  Naples,  whose  cause  the  pope 
had  espoused,  but  who,  in  turn,  became  afterward  obnoxious  to 
the  holy  see  ;  nevertheless,  while  under  excommunication,  he  in- 
vaded Palestine  and  procured  an  honourable  peace  with  the  Sultan 
of  Egypt,  and  restored  Palestine  to  the  Christians.  During 
which  service  for  the  church,  the  head  of  the  church,  who  then 
was  Pope  Gregory  IX.,  was  fomenting  treason  in  his  empire  at 
home.  Frederic  returned  and  quelled  it ;  but  the  pontiff  was  too 
strong  for  him,  and  procured  his  excommunication  by  a  general 
council  at  Lyons,  under  the  patronage  of  St.  Louis  of  France. 
After  many  vigorous  efforts  to  resist  the  current  of  opposition 
raised  against  him,  the  detail  of  which  would  be  but  a  history  of 
blood  and  slaughter,  of  cruelty  and  revenge,  he  died  of  a  dysen- 
tery at  Florence. 

It  should  be  noticed  by  the  reader,  that  to  be  emperor  of  Ger- 
many was  one  thing,  and  emperor  of  the  whole  western  empire 
another.  This  will  account  for  the  historical  fact,  that,  for  sixty 
years  after  the  death  of  Frederic  II.,  there  was  no  assumption  of 
the  imperial  power  in  Italy,  for  the  reason  that  the  German  em- 
perors had  no  leisure  or  security  to  leave  their  own  dominions, 
which  were  at  this  time  torn  by  internal  dissensions,  to  come,  after 


ITALY. 

the  manner  of  their  predecessors,  and  claim  their  imperial  corona- 
tion. During  this  period  of  exemption  from  German  interference 
the  Guelf  and  Ghibeline  war  raged  as  much  as  ever,  assuming 
almost  exclusively,  as  the  ground  of  contention,  the  opposition  be- 
tween the  nobles  and  the  people.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  natural  con- 
vulsions and  efforts  of  an  oppressed  people  to  shake  off  the  un- 
natural pressure  of  feudal  domination ;  and  the  name  of  Guelf  and 
Ghibeline  being  retained,  the  people  were  either  the  one  or  the 
other,  as  the  circumstances  of  the  case  required.  If  the  nobles 
were  Guelfs,  they  were  Ghibelines,  and  vice  versa.  These  wars 
were  marked  with  all  the  desolation,  horror,  and  cruelty  of  a  bar- 
barous age.  And  that  the  reader  may  form  some  idea  of  the  hor- 
rors of  those  times,  it  may  not  be  deemed  inconsistent,  perhaps, 
with  this  brief  historical  sketch,  to  notice  more  particularly  the 
character  of  one  of  the  feudatory  tyrants  of  this  age — Eccelino 
Romano  of  Padua.  He  was  a  monster  of  cruelty  even  in  this 
dark  period  of  cruelty  and  blood,  not  only  on  account  of  the  num- 
ber of  his  victims,  but  also  by  reason  of  the  various  and  infernal 
tortures  which  he  invented  to  torment  his  prisoners.  On  account 
of  his  cruelty,  as  also  because  he  was  a  prominent  Ghibeline 
chieftain,  Alexander  IV.,  who  had  succeeded  Innocent  IV.  in  the 
pontifical  chair,  preached  a  crusade  against  him.  An  army  was 
collected,  which  attacked  Padua  and  took  it,  and  released  from 
the  dungeons  more  than  one  thousand  of  the  wretched  victims  of 
Eccelino's  tyranny.  The  army  which  accomplished  this  was  in 
part  made  up  of  refugees  which  had  fled  from  the  city  to  escape 
his  cruelty.  To  revenge  himself  on  the  city  for  this,  the  tyrant, 
who  was  then  absent,  took  about  1 1,000  of  the  citizens  of  Padua, 
who  were  serving  in  his  army,  and  put  them  to  death.  Scarcely 
200,  it  is  said,  escaped.  He  then  captured  the  castle  of  Friola, 
and  caused  the  garrison,  together  with  the  women  and  children,  to 
be  horribly  mutilated  by  tearing  out  their  eyes  and  cutting  off 
their  noses  and  their  legs.  Soon  after,  however,  having  rilled  up 
his  measure  of  iniquity  by  a  bloody  reign  of  thirty-four  years,  he 
was  conquered,  wounded,  and  taken  prisoner.  He  refused  medi- 
cal aid  and  food,  tore  open  his  wounds  with  the  same  ferocity 
with  which  he  had  been  wont  to  torment  others,  and  died.  Very 
soon  his  brother  was  also  taken,  and  the  whole  family,  men  and 
women,  were  put  to  death ;  and  their  mangled  limbs  were  sent 


SKETCHES   OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  117 

to  all  the  cities  that  had  endured  the  cruelty  of  the  tyrant !  a  hor- 
rid visitation  !  and  as  strikingly  illustrative  of  the  bloody  charac- 
ter of  the  times  as  the  cruelty  of  Eccelino  himself.  The  instru- 
ments of  torture  of  this  sanguinary  monster  are  still  preserved  in 
the  arsenal  at  Venice.  In  my  visit  to  that  city  I  saw  them,  and 
the  very  sight  was  enough  to  chill  one's  blood.  His  jealousy 
was  as  great  as  his  cruelty ;  and  they  still  show  at  Venice  a  most 
extraordinary  memorial  of  this  tormenting  passion,  the  character 
of  which  delicacy  forbids  me  to  detail.  So  true  is  it  that  tyrants 
are  themselves  tormented  in  the  same  proportion  as  they  torment 
others.  Eccelino  died  September  16,  1259. 

This  triumph  of  the  Guelf  party  in  northern  Italy,  and  the  sub- 
sequent strength  and  ascendency  of  the  popular  cause,  did  not  long 
afford  the  promised  advantages  to  the  people.  What  they  had  so 
violently  and  perseveringly  resisted  in  their  hereditary  feudal  chief- 
tains they  yielded  willingly  or  by  constraint  to  demagogues  from 
among  themselves.  The  commanders  who  led  their  armies  suc- 
cessfully against  their  hereditary  enemies  turned  the  power  of  the 
same  armies  against  the  liberties  of  the  very  cities  for  whose  freedom 
they  had  waged  successful  war.  And  this  they  were  enabled  to 
do  the  more  readily,  because  these  armies  were  mostly  mercenary 
troops  which  the  cities  had  hired  into  their  service,  because  their 
own  militia,  being  infantry,  were  unable  to  combat  with  the  well- 
trained,  heavy-armed  cavalry  of  the  nobility.  In  this  way  Milan 
and  several  other  cities  fell  into  the  hands  of  self-constituted  sov- 
ereigns and  emperors.  These  were  at  length  subjugated  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Milan,  Otho  Visconti,  who  defeated  and  took  pris- 
oner Napoleon  della  Torre,  who,  like  his  namesake  of  later  date, 
had  become  a  sovereign  by  being  the  man  of  the  people  ;  and 
thus  was  established  the  Visconti  dynasty,  which  long  swayed  the 
sceptre  of  Lombardy. 

Nor  was  the  cause  of  liberty  any  more  successful  in  the  south 
of  Italy.  By  the  intrigues  and  influence  of  Pope  Urban  IV.,  the 
successor  of  Alexander  IV.,  Charles  of  Anjou,  one  of  the  Guelf 
party,  brother  to  Louis  IX.,  commonly  called  St.  Louis  of  France, 
was  invested  with  the  crown  of  the  two  Sicilies  and  Naples. 
Clement  IV.,  Urban's  successor  in  the  papal  chair,  pursued  the 
same  policy,  and,  after  much  hard  fighting,  Charles  triumphed 
over  Manfred,  who  held  the  crown  before,  and  who  was  slain  in 


118  ITALY. 

battle.  His  successor,  Conradin,  was  also  conquered,  captured, 
tried,  and  executed,  with  many  others.  Charles,  the  Guelf  leader, 
in  short,  proved  himself  a  cruel  tyrant,  to  the  disappointment 
and  enslaving  of  his  own  friends. 

The  death  of  Conradin,  which  took  place  1268,  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  the  death  of  Pope  Clement ;  whereupon  the  succession 
of  St.  Peter's  representatives  was  interrupted  three  years,  because 
the  conclave  of  cardinals  could  not  agree  upon  his  successor 
How  strange  it  is  that  the  apostolic  succession,  so  much  insisted 
on  by  Catholics,  and  so  strongly  claimed  by  some  Protestants, 
should  have  been  intrusted  by  the  great  head  of  the  church  to  in- 
triguing politicians,  whose  mutual  jealousy  and  party  spirit  some- 
times gave  the  church  two  heads,  and  at  other  times  kept  it  from 
having  even  one  head,  for  several  successive  years  !  Is  this  the 
boasted  unbroken  apostolical  succession?  This  the  only  true 
church  ?  whose  head,  when  it  had  one,  was  constituted  and  ap- 
pointed by  political  intrigue,  and  who  was  himself,  when  consti- 
tuted, a  political  intriguer  ? 

At  length  Gregory  X.  was  chosen,  and  he,  and  his  four  imme- 
diate successors,  the  pontifical  lives  of  three  of  whom  were,  uni- 
tedly, only  of  one  year's  duration,  applied  themselves  to  heal, 
rather  than  foment,  as  their  predecessors  had  done,  the  divisions 
between  the  Guelf  and  Ghibeline  factions.  These  efforts  were 
attended  with  considerable  success. 

Charles  of  Anjou  was  finally  deprived  of  his  dominions  in  Si- 
cily by  the  interposition  of  Spain,  and  the  sovereignty  of  that 
island  continued  in  the  family  of  Peter  of  Arragon  until  Charles 
died,  1 285 ;  and,  by  a  subsequent  treaty  and  marriage,  not  only 
was  this  acquisition  confirmed  to  the  royal  family  of  Arragon,  but 
the  kingdom  of  Naples  was  reunited  with  it ;  and  this  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  subsequent  influence  from  that  time  possessed 
by  the  court  of  Spain  in  the  government  of  Naples  and  the  two 
Sicilies.  • 

It  would  be  contrary  to  the  design  of  this  sketch  to  follow  out 
the  various  wars  and  contentions,  the  intrigues  and  massacres  of 
the  following  years.  One  pope  was  poisoned,  another  resigned 
through  imbecility.  Different  states  and  cities  went  to  war  with 
each  other,  and  at  length  Henry,  count  of  Luxembourg,  came 
from  Germany,  and  was  crowned  at  Milan  with  the  iron  crown. 


SKETCHES    OF    ITALIAN    HISTORY.  119 

and  at  Rome  with  the  crown  of  gold ;  defied  Florence,  was  going 
to  attack  Naples,  when  his  career  was  suddenly  terminated  by 
his  death. 

The  republics  of  Northern  Italy,  except  Venice,  were  now 
mostly  swallowed  up  in  the  manner  above  explained,  but  those 
of  Tuscany  and  Genoa  were  still  in  a  flourishing  condition,  and, 
but  for  their  jealousies  of  each  other,  might  long  have  contin- 
ued so.  Their  mutual  jealousies  and  wars,  however,  kept  the  en- 
tire country  in  a  state  of  alarm,  and  gave  an  opportunity  for  com- 
panies of  marauders  to  prowl  about  the  smaller  villages,  and 
live  by  plunder,  while  two  visitations  of  the  plague,  in  one  of 
which  Florence  alone  lost  100,000  persons  and  Pisa  seven  tenths 
of  her  inhabitants,  seemed  to  threaten  the  country  with  utter  des- 
olation. At  length,  in  a  war  between  Florence  and  Pisa,  the  latter 
was  conquered,  ninth  November,  1406,  and  added  to  the  sover- 
eignty of  Florence,  and  from  this  first  war  of  conquest  Florence 
began  to  decline.  A  warning  this  to  other  republics  not  to  seek 
conquests  and  accessions  of  territory  by  this  means ;  for  this  is 
the  high  road  to  their  own  decay  and  ruin.  The  ambition  that 
prompts  to  such  a  course  will  not  fail  to  lead  to  an  abandonment 
of  those  principles  by  which  alone  a  republic  can  be  sustained. 

While  these  things  were  passing  the  holy  see  was  divided  be- 
tween rival  claimants  for  the  tiara.  There  was  a  pope  at  Rome, 
and  another  at  Avignon  in  France.  They  mutually  excommuni- 
cated each  other ;  and  finally  a  general  assembly  of  the  cardinals, 
prelates,  &c.,  at  Pisa,  declared  the  holy  see  vacant,  and  another 
pope  was  elected  under  the  name  of  Alexander  V.  At  his  death 
John  XXIII.  was  elected,  Gregory  and  Benedict  still  claiming 
to  be  popes.  John  called  together  the  famous  Council  of  Con- 
stance, by  which  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague  were  mur- 
dered, although  the  former  had  had  his  safety  guarantied  to  him 
by  the  emperor.  This  council  deposed  John  and  his  two  rivals, 
and  elected  a  member  of  the  Colonna  family  pope  under  the  name 
of  Martin  V.,  and  Martin,  when  elected  into  office,  dissolved  the 
council.  Here  are  several  paradoxes  in  the  Roman  hierarchy. 
1.  There  were  three  claiming  to  be  the  successor  of  St.  Peter, 
and  one  of  these,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  called  a  general  council, 
and  presided  in  it.  2.  The  council  he  called  deposed  him,  as 


120  ITALY. 

well  as  his  rivals.  3.  The  successor  elected  by  the  council  dis- 
solved the  council  itself  that  made  him  pope  ! 

But  it  is  unnecessary,  for  my  present  purpose,  to  dwell  longer 
on  the  general  affairs  of  Italy.  We  have  traced  them  far  enough 
to  show,  in  a  very  brief  and  general  way,  the  rise  of  some  of  the 
principal  republics  and  governments  of  Italy.  The  downfall  of 
those  of  northern  and  southern  Italy ;  the  proximate  symptoms  of 
the  decline  of  the  central  republics,  together  with  some  general 
features  of  the  Roman  hierarchy  in  its  assumptions  of  secular 
power  and  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  in  connexion  have  sketched 
some  of  the  characteristics  of  the  iron  age  of  darkness  and  blood. 

These  events  have  been  traced  up  to  the  period  in  which  we 
are  called  to  notice  three  striking  and  eventful  features  in  the  his- 
tory of  Italy,  viz.,  1.  The  dawning  of  literature.  2.  The  de- 
cline of  the  mercantile  republics.  3.  The  breaking  out,  spread, 
and  final  suppression  of  the  reformation.  A  few  thoughts  on  each 
of  these  will  prepare  the  way  for  a  brief  statement  of  the  events  of 
the  French  revolution  and  conquests,  so  far  as  they  affected  Italy 
and  the  situation  of  the  country  as  settled  by  the  Congress  of  Vi- 
enna in  1814  and  15. 

With  respect  to  the  literature  of  Italy,  little  can  be  said  of  it 
after  the  decline  of  the  ancient  Roman  literature  until  the  four- 
teenth century.  How  the  Italian  language  became  what  it  is — 
whether  it  is  the  natural  deterioration  of  the  Augustan  Latin,  or 
whether  it  is  the  result  of  foreign  influences  by  means  of  the  suc- 
cessive conquests  of  Italy  by  the  barbarians,  is  not  agreed.  The 
greater  probability  is,  that  it  is  the  concurrent  result  of  these  two 
causes.  It  appears  that  so  late  as  the  seventh  century  the  Latin 
language  was  spoken  in  Rome,  and  that  the  ordinary  religious 
discourses  to  the  common  people  were  delivered  in  that  tongue. 
But  in  the  ninth  century  the  clergy  began  to  preach  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  which  was  called  rustica  Romana  lingua.  The  earliest 
inscription  in  this  language  now  known  is  said  to  be  on  the  front 
of  the  cathedral  in  Ferrara,  bearing  date  1135.  And  there  are, 
it  is  said,  some  written  specimens  of  obscure  authors  as  early  as 
the  beginning  of  the  next  century.  But  still  the  language  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  had  a  character,  or  modern  Italy  to  have 
had  a  literature,  until  the  time  of  Dante,  who  was  born  in  1 265, 
and  died  in  1321.  He  made  the  language  ;  that  is,  polished  and 


I 


REFORMATION    IN    ITALY.  121 

elevated  it,  and  gave  it  a  classical  character.  Immediately  fol- 
lowing him  were  Boccaccio  and  Petrarch,  the  one  in  prose  and  the 
other  in  poetry.  These  were  Tuscans  as  well  as  Dante,  and  they 
raised  the  language  to  its  zenith. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  and  the  earlier  part  of 
the  fifteenth  centuries  the  classical  literature  of  ancient  Greece  and 
Rome  was  greatly  cultivated  ;  and  the  savans  of  that  period  gave 
themselves  so  exclusively  to  the  literature  of  antiquity,  that  the 
modern  Italian  was  neglected,  and  actually  declined.  It  was  con- 
sidered vulgar  to  write  in  Italian,  and  all  the  poets  and  writers  of 
that  age  studied  me  idiom,  taste,  and  style  of  the  ancients.  In 
the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  however,  Italian  literature 
again  revived,  and,  under  the  patronage  of  the  family  of  the  Med- 
ici, may  be  said  to  have  enjoyed  its  Augustan  age.  It  was  du- 
ring this  period  that  Ariosto,  Tasso,  Alfieri,  Metastasio,  Machia 
velli,  and  a  host  of  others  flourished  and  wrote. 

With  respect  to  the  fall  of  the  mercantile  republics  of  Italy,  es- 
pecially of  Genoa,  Venice,  and  Florence,  I  will  speak  something 
when  I  give  an  account  of  these  respective  cities.  Suffice  it  to 
say  here,  that  the  most  wealthy  of  the  citizens  gained,  by  degrees, 
such  an  influence  as  to  give  them  the  control  over  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  and  finally  to  secure  that  control  as  a  hereditary  right 
in  their  families.  Such  were  the  Doria  family  in  Genoa  and  the 
Medici  family  in  Florence.  Pisa,  as  we  have  seen,  was  con- 
quered by  Florence,  and  a  great  portion  of  the  principal  citizens 
immediately  left  the  city,  so  that  its  population,  with  its  wealth 
and  glory,  faded  away  never  to  be  restored.  To  some  extent  the 
same  result  happened  to  Lucca  and  Sienna,  which  were  also 
conquered  by  the  Florentines. 

From  a  work  of  Dr.  Thomas  M'Crie,  of  Scotland,  the  English 
reader  has  now  the  facts  respecting  the  reformation  in  Italy 
brought  within  his  reach  to  a  much  greater  extent  than  at  any 
former  period.  This  work  had  its  first  edition  in  1827;  and  in 
1833  the  author  published  a  new  edition,  revised  and  improved.* 

*  This  learned  and  industrious  historian  is  now  dead.  His  death  is  the  more  to  be 
regretted,  as  he  had  designed,  as  intimated  in  the  preface  of  the  history  referred  to,  to  pub- 
lish a  history  of  John  Calvin.  This  work,  however,  it  is  hoped,  may  not  be  deserted. 
His  amiable  and  intelligent  son,  with  whom  I  became  acquainted  at  Rome,  was  employed 
by  his  father  in  Geneva  to  collect  materials  for  the  work.  In  this  he  was  very  success- 
ful, and  found,  as  he  informed  me,  many  documents  hitherto  unpublished,  that  throw  much 

11  Q 


122  ITALY. 

It  is  from  this  edition,  chiefly,  that  the  few  facts  here  presented 
have  been  taken. 

The  churches  of  Northern  Italy  were  among  the  last  to  submit 
to  the  high  claims  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  It  was  not  until  the 
eleventh  century  that  the  popes  succeeded  in  establishing  their 
authority  over  the  Bishop  of  Milan.  The  Ambrosian  ritual,  as  it 
is  called,  prevailed  there  until  that  time,  and  the  Ambrosian 
Church  was  independent  of  all  others. 

In  the  twelfth  century  the  Vaudois  Christians,  or  Albigenses 
and  Waldenses,  those  ancient,  and,  as  Mr.  M'Crie  calls  them, 
"hereditary  witnesses  for  the  truth  against  the  corruptions  of 
Rome,'*  penetrated  the  Alps,  and  established  themselves  in  Lom- 
bardy,  and  in  the  thirteenth  century  were  found  in  Rome.  Nay, 
it  appears  that  they  were  dispersed  through  Sicily,  Naples,  Tus- 
cany, and  the  Venetian  states.  They  were  subject  to  various  and 
bitter  persecutions  ;  but  still  they  continued  to  spread,  and  had 
not  only  established  congregations,  but  in  the  fourteenth  century 
they  had  academies  in  Lombardy  for  the  education  of  their  young 
men.  A  colony  of  these  were  settled  in  Calabria,  in  southern 
Italy,  in  1370,  which  existed  for  two  centuries,  and  was  then  ex- 
terminated by  persecution. 

These  scattered  adherents  to  the  faith,  once  delivered  to  the 
saints,  were  prepared  to  give  aid  and  influence  to  the  first  general 
struggle  that  was  made  to  reform  the  impurities  of  the  church. 

To  aid  them,  there  went  out  a  collateral  influence  from  the  re- 
vival of  ancient  literature  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Although 
many  of  the  most  learned  were  most  profligate  and  heathenish  in 
their  views,  as  might  be  shown  from  the  character  of  the  Pope 
Leo  X.,  and  most  of  his  court,  yet  there  were  others  who  were 
led,  by  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  ancient  fathers,  to  see 
and  deplore  the  corruptions  of  the  church.  And  some  of  the 
early  poets,  even  Dante  himself,  appeared  to  have  very  correct 
views  of  many  of  the  prevailing  dogmas  of  the  Roman  Church, 
and  wrote  against  them  with  great  severity.  The  same  also  is 
true  of  Petrarch,  of  Boccaccio,  Berni,  and  Ariosto.  These  wri- 
tings, from  the  pens  of  Catholics  themselves,  undoubtedly  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  graver  writings  of  the  subsequent  reform- 

Jight  upon  the  life  and  times  of  the  great  reformer.  It  is  to  be  hoped  he  may  sooner  or 
later  be  able  to  complete  his  father's  design. 


REFORMATION    IN    ITALY.  123 

ers.  Among  them  was  Jeronimo  Savonarola,  who  flourished  the 
latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  appears  not  to  have 
sought  a  change  in  doctrine  so  much  as  a  reform  in  manners,  for 
which  he  wrote  and  preached  with  great  influence.  He  effected 
a  great  reform  in  the  morals  of  the  Florentines,  and  was  doubtless 
one  of  the  instruments  of  restoring  the  republic  at  the  time  of  the 
expulsion  of  the  Medici  from  Florence.  He  was,  however,  sub- 
sequently condemned  as  a  heretic,  and  burnt  by  Pope  Alexan- 
der VI. 

But  the  writings  of  Luther,  Melancthon,  and  Zuinglius  were 
extensively  circulated  through  Italy,  sometimes  under  fictitious 
names ;  for,  after  the  rupture  between  Luther  and  the  holy  see, 
denunciations  and  calumnies  of  him  and  his  coadjutors  were  so 
industriously  propagated  among  the  people,  that  their  works  could 
not  circulate  under  their  own  names. 

Copies  of  the  Scriptures  also,  at  this  time,  began  to  be  multi- 
plied, not  only  in  the  oriental  and  ancient  languages,  but  also  in 
the  vernacular  tongue,  and  thus  served  as  great  helps  to  the  dis- 
semination of  light. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  Charles  V. 
marched  an  army  of  Germans  into  Italy,  among  whom  were 
many  Protestants,  who  boldly  proclaimed  their  views  among  the 
people,  and  disseminated  much  Protestant  influence,  even  in 
Rome  itself,  which,  by  Charles's  general,  the  Duke  of  Bourbon, 
was  taken  and  sacked. 

There  is  one  subject  particularly  worthy  of  remark  here,  that 
many,  not  only  of  the  satirists  and  poets,  such  as  Dante  and  Pe- 
trarch, but  also  some  of  the  bishops  and  priests  of  the  Roman 
Church,  publicly  taught,  that  the  woman  upon  the  scarlet  beast, 
and  Babylon,  described  in  revelation,  indicated  Rome  in  her  ec- 
clesiastical character.  This  was  publicly  taught  by  Staphylo, 
bishop  of  Sibari,  in  a  public  oration  before  the  apostolical  Rota 
held  after  the  sacking  of  Rome  by  Bourbon. 

About  this  time,  through  the  influence  of  a  Protestant  French 
princess,  who  married  one  of  the  Este  family,  Duke  of  Ferrara, 
that  city  became  a  great  resort  for  Protestants.  Even  Calvin 
himself,  under  a  fictitious  name,  resided  there  for  some  time. 

Somewhere  between  1530  and  1540  a  Protestant  church  was 
formed  at  Naples,  under  the  patronage  and  guidance  of  some  of 


124  ITALY. 

the  best  men  of  the  age.  Here  was  Ochino,  whose  eloquence,  un- 
rivalled in  his  day,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Cardinal  Bembo 
himself,  had  filled  all  Italy  with  his  praise.  Here  were  Valdez, 
and  Marco  Antonio  Flaminio,  and  Pietro  Martire  Vermigli;  all 
men  of  renown.  This  latter  afterward  went  to  Lucca,  and  was 
so  instrumental  in  spreading  the  reform  doctrines  in  that  city,  that 
it  reckoned  more  converts  than  perhaps  any  other  city  in  Italy. 
Churches  were  also  formed  at  Pisa,  Sienna,  Modena,  &c.  At 
Venice  also  there  were  many  of  the  reformed,  but  were  not  organ- 
ized into  a  church. 

Indeed,  so  extensively  had  these  sentiments  of  the  reformers 
prevailed  in  Italy,  that  one  eminent  papist,  Sadolet,  declares,  in  a 
letter  to  the  pope,  that  there  was  "  an  almost  universal  defection 
of  the  minds  of  men  from  the  church,  and  an  inclination  to  exe- 
crate ecclesiastical  authority."  Cardinal  CarafTa  said  that  the 
"  whole  of  Italy  was  infected  with  the  Lutheran  heresy,  which  had 
been  extensively  embraced  both  by  statesmen  and  ecclesiastics." 

What,  then,  checked  the  progress  of  this  work  ? 

"In  1542  the  court  of  Rome  first  became  seriously  alarmed  at 
the  progress  of  the  new  opinions  in  Italy,"  and  in  1543  new  life 
and  power  were  given  to  the  Inquisition.  This  ecclesiastical 
court  was  established  in  Italy  in  the  twelfth  century ;  but  the 
free  states,  which  at  that  time  covered  the  most  of  this  country, 
refused  to  sanction  it  in  all  its  claims.  It  was  circumscribed  in 
its  power  and  limited  in  its  jurisdiction,  so  that  it  did  not  answer 
the  designs  of  the  papal  court.  Already,  in  consequence  of  the 
favour  shown  to  heretics  by  the  civil  authorities,  many  heresiarchs 
had  made  their  escape,  and  the  prospect  of  soaking  the  soil  of 
Italy  with  the  blood  of  its  victims  was  very  unpromising,  un- 
less some  more  efficient  measures  could  be  adopted.  Paul  III., 
the  reigning  pontiff,  therefore  established  a  court  consisting  of 
six  cardinals,  under  the  title  of  inquisitors  general,  with  power,  on 
both  sides  of  the  Alps,  of  trying  all  cases  of  heresy,  and  of  appre- 
hending and  incarcerating  persons  of  whatever  rank,  and  of  ap- 
pointing all  inferior  officers  and  tribunals.  With  papal  manage- 
ment and  hypocrisy  the  system  was  submitted  to  by  the  different 
Italian  states,  although  some  for  a  considerable  time  resisted. 
The  history  of  this  whole  affair,  however,  shows  how  false  the 
representations  of  some  are  at  the  present  day  in  reference  to  this 


REFORMATION    IN    ITALY.  125 

subject.  It  has  been  pretended  that  this  court  was  a  civil  tribu- 
nal, and  that  the  church  should  not  be  made  responsible  for  it. 
Whereas  it  had  its  head  at  Rome ;  its  subordinate  tribunals  were 
of  the  appointment  of  the  supreme  court  at  Rome ;  and  the  secu- 
lar power  was  only  called  into  requisition  to  execute  the  bloody 
decisions  of  this  sanguinary,  dark,  and  capricious  tribunal.  Nay, 
many  of  the  states  were  reluctant  to  admit  the  court  within  their 
borders,  and  yielded  the  point  only  to  the  influence  and  manage 
ment  of  the  papal  court.  And,  indeed,  as  many  of  the  accused  as 
possible  were  procured  to  be  sent  to  Rome  for  their  trial,  that 
the  inquisitors  general  might  be  more  sure  of  their  prey. 

With  this  bloody  organization  the  papal  court  prepared  herself 
for  the  extirpation  of  heresy  from  Italy !  For,  as  dead  men  tell 
no  tales,  so  dead  men  can  propagate  no  heresies.  Heresy  can  be 
extirpated  in  any  land,  if  all  its  heretics  are  burnt  and  butchered, 
"  The  erection  of  the  Inquisition,"  say  the  Catholics  themselves, 
"  was  the  salvation  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  Italy."  The  work 
of  blood  went  on.  But  it  was  twenty  years  before  the  movement 
in  favour  of  reform  could  be  got  under  in  Italy.  Nor  probably 
would  it  even  then  have  been  subdued,  if  the  retreat  from  perse- 
cution had  not  been  so  near.  Germany  and  Switzerland  were 
thronged  with  the  refugees.  Had  they  stayed  and  endured  the 
most  their  persecutors  could  have  heaped  upon  them,  it  would 
have  kindled  such  a  fire  in  Italy,  doubtless,  as  would  have  con- 
sumed the  papal  palace,  pope,  conclave,  and  all.  But  retreat 
gave  their  enemies  new  courage,  and  not  only  thinned  the  ranks 
of  the  reformed,  but,  being  deprived  of  their  leaders,  multitudes 
grew  dispirited,  and,  yielding  to  the  importunities  of  friends  and 
the  threats  of  authority,  renounced  their  adherence  to  their  new 
views. 

One  means  of  discovering  who  those  were  that  were  tainted 
with  new  opinions,  adopted  by  the  inquisitors,  was  to  furnish  to 
certain  accomplished  instruments  of  cruelty  letters  of  recommend- 
ation to  numerous  respectable  families  in  the  different  Italian 
states,  under  various  characters,  and  with  a  variety  of  pretexts, 
who,  by  their  address,  insinuated  themselves  into  the  confidence 
of  their  hosts  and  associates,  and  thus  drew  from  them  their  pri- 
vate opinions,  and  then,  by  turning  informers  and  witnesses,  caused 
the  dupes  of  their  diabolical  hypocrisy  to  be  dragged  before  the 
1] 


126  ITALY/, 

Inquisition.     Here  they  were  imprisoned,  tortured,  banished,  and 
executed  in  great  numbers. 

Inquisitors  were  sent  out  in  every  direction;  informers  were 
liberally  paid  for  their  accusations,  until  suspicion  and  jealousy 
in  some  places  broke  in  sunder  all  the  bonds  of  social  and  domestic 
life.  Many  fled ;  others  were  banished.  From  the  town  of  Lo- 
carno, on  Lake  Maggiore,  two  hundred,  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, were  expelled  in  a  body.  These  settled  in  the  country  of 
the  Orisons  and  in  the  canton  of  Zurich.  From  Lucca  some  of 
the  principal  families  fled  to  Geneva,  where  their  descendants 
unto  this  day  are  reckoned  among  their  most  distinguished  citizens. 
The  colony  of  Waldenses,  already  spoken  of  in  Calabria,  had 
increased  to  the  number  of  about  4000.  These,  about  the  mid- 
dle of  the  sixteenth  century,  were  exterminated  in  the  most  hor- 
rid manner  by  the  bloody  inquisitor  Panza  and  others. 

The  horrid  details  of  torturing,  burning,  and  butchering  men, 
women,  and  children  are  shocking  almost  beyond  endurance,  even 
at  this  distant  period  !  What,  then,  must  the  amount  of  suffering 
have  been  to  those  on  whom  it  fell  ? 

It  was  in  these  times  also,  and  in  reference  to  the  same  object, 
that  the  Roman  Index  Expurgatorius  was  formed  by  that  infa- 
mous pope  Paul  IV.  It  was  a  list  of  authors  and  books  that  were 
prohibited  to  be  imported,  published,  or  even  owned  and  read. 
Thus  every  measure  was  taken  to  obstruct  free  inquiry,  and  to 
bind  in  ignorance,  and  in  entire  dependance  upon  the  dictates  of 
the  priests,  the  public  mind;  a  system  which  is,  to  some  extent, 
kept  up  even  at  the  present  day.  The  Index  Expurgatorius,  with 
all  its  authoritative  prohibitions,  meets  the  traveller  on  his  ap- 
proach to  Italy,  and  trammels  the  press  in  all  its  operations ;  the 
Catholics  thereby  acknowledging  that  their  system  cannot  endure 
the  ordeal  of  free  inquiry.  Thus,  if  the  Inquisition,  as  the  Cath- 
olics themselves  claim,  saved  Italy  from  Protestantism,  then  it  has 
only  been  saved  by  hypocrisy,  by  cruelty,  by  oceans  of  blood, 
by  stifling  free  inquiry,  and  by  cutting  off  or  obstructing  all  the 
great  channels  of  mental  and  moral  improvement. 

It  was  thus  that  the  bloody  church  succeeded  in  stopping  the 
progress  of  reform ! 

What  must  at  the  present  day  be  the  state  of  a  country  which 
was  under  such  an  influence,  and  which  applied  itself  with  such 


THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION. 

success,  and  by  such  sanguinary  instrumentality,  to  the  stifling  of 
free  inquiry  and  of  religious  reform  in  the  latter  part  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  may  be  easily  conjectured,  especially  when  it 
is  known  that  the  same  church  maintains  the  same  doctrines,  and, 
in  point  of  principle,  the  same  policy,  and  the  same  views  of  what 
she  calls  heresy  up  to  the  present  hour. 

What  we  might  suppose  a  country  would  be  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, we  find  Italy  is  at  the  present  moment;  a  country 
enervated,  broken-spirited,  unenterprising,  and  superstitious. 

And  yet  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  Italy  has  yielded  herself  up 
without  a  struggle ;  that,  from  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century 
until  now,  she  has  calmly  and  stupidly  slumbered  over  her  politi- 
cal and  ecclesiastical  degradation  and  chains.  This  would  be 
entirely  contrary  to  the  known  laws  of  the  human  mind.  The 
people  groaned  under  their  burdens,  and  sighed  for  deliverance. 
Many  of  them,  too,  became  as  incredulous  to  the  religion  which 
had  imposed  her  dogmas  by  the  torture  and  by  fagots,  as  they 
were  restless  under  the  political  tyranny  that  had  consented  to  be 
the  partner  and  the  instrument  in  this  unholy  work.  And  this 
was  the  general  state  of  the  public  mind  when  the  French  Revo- 
lution broke,  like  a  tornado,  over  the  Alps.  This  prepared  the 
way  for  giving  vent  to  the  smothered  fires  that  had  long  burnt  in 
concealment  in  the  bosom  of  society.  And  it  was  this,  chiefly, 
and  not  the  power  of  the  French  armies,  that  crippled  and  finally 
broke  the  power  of  Austria  in  Lombardy,  and  Tuscany,  and  some 
other  smaller  states  ;  it  was  this  that  threw  open  the  watery  gates 
of  Venice  to  Napoleon ;  that  enabled  him  to  take  Genoa,  and 
Rome  itself,  so  as  to  humble  the  haughty  pontiff  at  his  feet,  and 
make  him  his  servile  tool.  And,  finally,  it  was  owing  to  the  same 
cause  that  the  Neapolitan  government  was  overthrown,  and  a 
brother  of  Napoleon's  first,  and,  after  he  was  transferred  to  Spain, 
Joachim  Murat,  were  made  sovereigns  of  Magna  Grsecia.  Anx- 
ious for  a  change,  trusting  to  the  promises  of  the  French  and  to 
the  sweet  sound  of  liberty,  which  was  the  watchword  at  the  gates 
of  Milan  and  Genoa,  Rome  and  Naples,  as  it  was  in  France,  the 
Italians  thought  the  deliverers  of  the  world  were  come,  and  that  a 
day  of  universal  jubilee  was  proclaimed.  They  were  deceived. 
The  French  had  neither  virtue  nor  intelligence  enough  to  sustain 
the  cause  of  liberty  at  home,  and,  of  course,  when  they  submitted 


128  ITALY. 

to  a  second  despotism  under  a  victorious  military  chieftain,  the 
way  was  prepared  for  an  extension  of  the  same  power  over  Italy. 
It  is  true,  Italy  need  not  have  yielded  to  Bonaparte  because 
France  did,  but  the  same  causes  were  followed  by  the  same  re- 
sults on  either  side  of  the  Alps.  The  Italians  were  no  more  pre- 
pared for  liberty  than  were  the  French.  Nor  had  they  as  much 
unanimity  and  energy  among  themselves.  Paris  was  France  ; 
but  what  city — what  ten  cities  were  Italy  ?  And  what  bond  of 
union  between  Milan  and  Venice,  Florence  and  Genoa,  Rome 
and  Naples,  to  say  nothing  of  the  score  of  other  separate  and  in- 
dependent governments  and  states  ? 

Besides  this  their  weakness,  arising  from  divided  strength  and 
internal  jealousies,  another  foe  was  at  the  door.  Austria  was 
waiting  to  return  to  her  original  prey,  and  this,  in  fact,  she  did 
while  Napoleon  was  in  Egypt,  in  1799.  The  Austrians  swept 
victoriously  over  Lombardy,  took  Genoa,  and  recovered  Florence, 
all  of  which  had  before  submitted  to  the  republican  army. 

When  Napoleon  returned  from  Egypt,  and  broke  down  the  Di- 
rectory, and  assumed  the  supreme  power  under  the  appellation  of 
First  Consul,  he  prepared  himself  to  recover  the  lost  conquests 
in  Italy ;  and  to  this  end  he  crosses  the  St.  Bernard,  and  throws 
himself  upon  the  plains  of  Lombardy  before  his  enemy  could  ex- 
pect him,  gains  the  great  battle  of  Marengo,  by  which  he  has 
control  of  Northern  Italy.  He  reorganizes  the  Cisalpine  republic. 

Of  this  republic  Bonaparte  by  his  arts  first  procures  himself 
to  be  chosen  president.  Then,  after  he  becomes  emperor,  he 
changes  the  name  from  "  Cisalpine  Republic"  to  "  Kingdom  of 
Italy,"  of  which  Milan  was  the  capital,  and  Eugene  Beauharnais, 
the  son  of  his  wife  Josephine,  was  the  viceroy.  Central  Italy 
becomes  a  kingdom  under  the  name  of  the  Kingdom  of  Etruria  ; 
and  Genoa  and  Piedmont,  Parma  and  Placentia,  are  formally 
united  to  France.  Ferdinand  is  driven  from  Naples,  and  Joseph 
Bonaparte  at  first,  afterward  Joachim  Murat,  made  king;  and, 
finally,  the  states  of  the  pope  are  united  to  the  French  empire, 
and  Rome  itself  is  annexed  to  France  as  an  imperial  city. 

Such  was  the  state  of  Italy  during  the  reign  of  the  Emperor 
Napoleon ;  and  during  this  time,  although  the  sovereigns  of  these 
respective  states  might  take  occasion  to  complain,  yet,  on  the 
score  of  justice,  what  rights  had  they  more  than  the  Emperor  of 


ma* 


THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION.  129 


ihe  French  ?  Was  he  a  usurper  ?  So  were  they.  By  what 
right  did  Austria  claim  Lombardy  ?  or  Tuscany  ?  What  was 
the  government  of  Genoa  but  a  usurpation  ?  The  states  of  the 
pope  were  no  more  his,  nor  did  Magna  Graecia  any  more  belong 
to  Ferdinand  by  virtue  of  any  right  of  lawful  origin,  than  did  all 
Italy  belong  to  Napoleon.  There  was  as  much  real  justice  in 
Bonaparte's  absurd  claim  to  Rome  on  the  ground  of  being  suc- 
cessor to  Charlemagne,  as  in  any  of  the  claims  of  the  legitimates 
of  Europe  to  that  country.  And  certainly  the  Bonapartean  era 
was  of  service,  to  wake  up  from  the  sleep  of  centuries  this  op- 
pressed country.  Napoleon's  government  was  a  despotism,  but 
it  was  a  stirring,  rousing  despotism,  that  shook  the  public  mind 
into  action,  and  drew  out  the  slumbering  energies  of  the  people. 
Every  traveller  in  Italy  must  see  this.  The  records  of  the 
French  upon  Italy,  after  all,  whether  you  speak  of  the  physi- 
cal aspect  of  the  country  and  of  the  cities,  or  of  the  impress  upon 
her  institutions  and  upon  the  public  mind  generally,  are,  on  the 
whole,  records  of  improvement  and  of  mental  elevation.  In  say- 
ing this  I  am  not  to  be  understood  to  approve  of  Napoleon's 
ambition;  of  his  violated  faith;  of  his  bloody  wars  and  high- 
handed acts  of  authority.  But,  if  I  must  have  a  despot,  give  me 
a  man  who  has  a  capacious  and  energetic  mind ;  who  plans  great 
things ;  who  aspires  to  great  things ;  who  wakes  up  all  the  ener- 
gies of  the  country  in  attempting  to  move  heaven  and  earth  to  en- 
sure his  own  aggrandizement,  rather  than  that  heavy  and  torpid 
incubus  who  suffocates  me  with  his  immoveable  weight  upon  my 
vitals,  and  fattens,  like  the  vampire,  by  sucking  my  curdled  and 
sluggish  blood. 

But  the  ambition  of  Napoleon  drove  him  from  the  throne  ;  and 
the  allied  sovereigns,  legislating  for  Europe — or  rather,  I  should 
say,  legislating  for  themselves  upon  Europe — restored  Italy,  I  will 
not  say  to  the  status  ante  bellum — to  the  precise  political  rela- 
tions she  was  in  before,  but  so  meted  it  out  that  the  influence  of 
Austria  was  increased,  and  the  rights  of  legitimacy  were  strength- 
ened, while  the  rights  of  the  people  were  totally  disregarded. 
England  herself,  in  this  partition,  proved  recreant  to  her  own  prin- 
ciples, without  gaining  much  for  herself  either  in  point  of  territory 
or  continental  influence.  What  a  glorious  time  was  this  for  her 
to  have  secured  liberty  to  Genoa,  which  her  own  general,  Lord 

R 


130  ITALY. 

William  Bentinck,*  had  promised  the  Genoese,  under  the  most 
solemn  pledges,  if  they  would  unite  in  the  league  against  Napo- 
leon !  What  an  opportunity  to  have  secured,  by  guarantees  that 
could  not  have  been  violated,  a  constitutional  form  of  government, 
essentially  like  her  own,  to  Lombardy,  the  states  of  Venice,  and 
the  other  states  of  Italy,  to  all  of  whom  the  most  specious  and 
encouraging  promises  had  been  made,  on  condition  that  they  would 
help  put  down  the  tyrant !  What  a  favourable  opportunity  to 
have  secured  toleration,  to  the  true  and  full  extent  of  that  term, 
to  Protestantism  in  Italy  !  But,  alas  !  she  who  had  fought  the 
battles  of  the  continental  sovereigns  by  sea  and  land;  she  who 
has  been  and  still  is  the  stanch  defender  of  constitutional  liberty 
and  the  grand  bulwark  of  Protestantism,  threw  all  the  prizes  she 
had  won  into  the  continental  box,  to  be  hustled  for  by  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  despots.  If  the  memory  of  any  man  that  has  held 
power  and  office  for  the  last  half  century  in  Europe  ought  to  be 
held  in  utter  detestation,  Castlereagh,  the  betrayer  of  liberty,  of 
British  honour,  and  of  the  rights  of  man,  is  that  individual.! 

By  the  congress  of  the  allied  sovereigns  the  arrangements  for 
Italy  were  as  follows  : — Victor  Emanuel  was  restored  to  the  throne 
of  Sardinia,  with  a  dominion  embracing  Savoy,  Piedmont,  Genoa 
city  and  territory,  Nice,  and  a  part  of  the  Duchy  of  Milan.  The 
greater  part  of  the  Duchy  of  Milan,  and,  in  short,  the  great  whole 
of  ancient  Lombardy  and  Venice,  including  the  Venetian  territo- 
ries, were  adjudged  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  then  Francis  II. 
This  kingdom  is  governed  by  a  viceroy,  and  its  capital  is  Milan. 
Maria  Louisa,  the  ex-empress  of  France,  had  assigned  to  her  the 
Duchies  of  Parma  and  Placentia.  Modena  is  a  separate  sover- 
eignty, under  a  grand  duke  of  the  house  of  Austria.  Tuscany 
was  allotted  to  the  house  of  Austria,  and  is  now  governed  by  the 
second  son  of  the  emperor,  under  the  title  of  grand  duke.  The 
pope  has  all  the  states  on  the  Adriatic  from  the  river  Po  to  the 

*  Bentinck  went  to  Sicily  at  first  with  full  power  to  say  to  the  queen, "  Either  a  Con- 
stitution or  a  Revolution ;"  and  his  proclamation  to  the  Italians,  and  his  restoring  to  Genoa, 
after  he  got  possession  of  the  city,  the  original  form  of  government,  all  held  out  the  prom- 
ise of  liberty  to  the  Genoese.  Well  might  the  historian  Carlo  Botta  say,  "  It  was  well 
to  put  down  Napoleon;  it  would  have  been  better  still  not  to  have  imitated  him." 

t  So  early  as  the  year  1808  the  Prince  Moliterno  went  from  Naples  to  England  to  en- 
deavour to  persuade  the  British  government  to  declare  for  the  union  and  independenca 
of  all  Italy  under  a  constitutional  government,  But  they  would  not  listen  to  it. 


GENOA.  131 

Kingdom  of  Naples,  together  with  Perugino,  Spoleto,  Rome,  &c., 
across  to  the    Mediterranean.     The  Neapolitan  states  were   re 
united  with  Sicily,  forming  one  kingdom,  which  was  restored  to 
Ferdinand  IV. 

Such  are,  essentially,  the  present  political  divisions  of  Italy. 
It  may  be  proper  to  add  that  there  is  no  constitutional  government 
in  Italy,  if  we  except  the  little  republic  among  the  mountains,  San 
Marino.*  The  hereditary  or  appointed  chief  of  each  state,  whether 
he  be  pope,  grand  duke,  viceroy,  or  king,  is  absolute.  He  makes 
the  laws,  levies  the  taxes,  and  executes  the  laws  according  to  his 
own  sovereign  will  and  pleasure,  save  that,  such  at  the  present  day 
is  the  influence  of  public  sentiment,  the  reigning  prince  is  afraid  to 
do  too  great  violence  to  public  opinion,  lest  he  drive  them  to  in- 
surrection and  outrage.  This  is  the  only  influence  the  people 
can  exert  over  the  government ;  and  this  is  not  great  where  the 
cities  are  filled  with  an  armed  soldiery,  as  is  the  case  very  gen- 
erally in  this  country. 

I  remain,  as  ever,  young  gentlemen, 

Yours  in  sincere  affection, 

W.  FISK. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

To  the  Editor  of  Zion's  Herald,  Boston. 

Genoa,  Jan.  3,  1835. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, 

From  this  distant  land  permit  me  to  salute  you,  and,  through 
you,  the  many  readers  of  the  Herald  whom  I  love  and  honour  in 
my  own  native  New-England. 

I  am  now,  as  you  see,  in  the  far-famed  city  of  palaces.  Our 
route  hither  was  from  Paris  to  Lyons,  and  thence  through  Savoy, 
over  Mount  Cenis  to  Turin,  the  capital  of  Piedmont,  and  the  prin- 
cipal residence  of  the  King  of  Sardinia.  We  were  in  the  public 

*  This  little  republic  seems,  by  its  poverty  and  obscurity,  to  have  maintained  its  inde- 
pendence among  the  mountains  of  Urbino  for  many  centuries.  Its  population  is  7000,  in 
a  territory  of  twenty-two  square  miles. 


132  ITALY. 

diligence  from  Paris  to  Turin,  which  took  us,  exclusive  of  two 
days'  delay  in  Lyons,  six  days  and  nights,  during  which  time  we 
were  in  bed  but  about  five  hours.  The  weather  also  was  severe, 
the  earth  and  the  streams  being  locked  up  in  frost,  and  the  Alps 
covered  with  snow.  Our  carriage,  however,  was  comfortable, 
and  we  performed  the  passage  much  better  than  we  anticipated. 
Your  old  friend,  the  Rev.  R.  B.  H.,  of  Boston,  was  in  company, 
and  Mr.  J.  Harper  and  lady  and  little  son,  from  New- York  (of  the 
firm  of  Harper  &  Brothers).  With  this  company  we  were  ena- 
bled to  charter  the  whole  of  the  interior  of  the  diligence,  which 
made  it  the  more  pleasant. 

The  passage  of  the  Alps  was  magnificent,  such  as  I  cannot  de- 
scribe, and,  as  I  have  sketched  it  elsewhere,  I  will  not  attempt  it 
again  here.  The  population,  to  a  great  degree,  is  made  up  of 
priests  and  other  ecclesiastics,  and  soldiers,  and  beggars.  To 
support  these  and  the  royal  splendour  of  the  court,  the  proportion 
of  the  industrious,  labouring  population  have,  you  may  be  sure,  a 
grievous  burden.  The  wretchedness  and  hardships  of  the  people 
are  great,  and  painful  to  the  spectator.  They  hang  their  huts 
upon  the  sides  of  the  mountain,  and  wall  up  little  patches  for  cul- 
tivation upon  steeps  and  among  rocks  where,  to  appearance,  no 
human  foot,  at  the  first,  without  artificial  supports,  could  find  a 
safe  yesting-place.  Here  poverty  holds  her  court,  and  here  she  has 
erected  her  throne,  vying  with  the  Sardinian  king  in  her  empire. 
Some  of  the  valleys  and  the  plains  of  Piedmont  look  better  ;  but 
even  here  poverty  and  want  prevail.  Beggars  beset  you  on  every 
side ;  some  of  them  will  sit  in  a  cold  winter's  day,  from  morning 
to  night,  upon  the  cold  stones  of  the  street,  exposing  a  naked  foot 
or  limb,  distorted  or  ulcerated  by  disease. 

The  number  of  churches  and  chapels,  even  in  the  poorest  part 
of  the  country,  is  immense.  We  entered  Italy  on  Christmas  day, 
and  the  priests  and  people  were  everywhere  engaged  in  the  mass 
and  other  religious  ceremonies.  Some  of  their  churches  and  chap- 
els we  entered,  and  in  most  cases  were  struck  with  the  apparent  in- 
attention with  which  the  worshippers  would  say  over  their  prayers 
— gazing  at  us,  and  at  whatever  else  might  strike  their  attention, 
while  they  muttered  over,  with  the  greatest  haste,  their  allotted 
task.  Wherever  the  Virgin  had  an  altar  or  a  shrine,  there  I  no- 
ticed was  the  greatest  throng.  In  some  instances,  where  there 


ROMANISM.  133 

was  an  image,  I  observed  the  worshipper  would  approach  very 
near,  and  get  his  mouth  close  to  the  ear,  that  he  might  be  sure 
of  being  heard.  Will  it  be  said  that  this  is  not  praying  to  an 
idol  ?  We  passed  one  house  among  the  Apennines,  over  the  door 
of  which,  as  is  very  common  here,  was  a  Madonna  with  her  babe, 
and  underneath  the  following  inscription :  Me  Custodem  posue- 
runt — "  They  have  placed  me  here  as  a  keeper."  Is  not  this 
trusting  to  graven  images  ?  In  the  same  region  we  passed  a 
church,  on  the  front  of  which  was  a  miserable  daub  of  an  angel, 
and  underneath  the  following  inscription :  Adsit  nobis  sanctus 
Michael  Archangelus — "  Holy  Archangel  Michael,  favour  us,  we 
pray  thee,  with  thy  presence."  Is  not  this  consecrating  a  temple 
to  the  worship  of  angels  ?  Is  it  not  making  a  god  of  a  creature  ? 
I  say  not  these  things  captiously,  but  I  ask  in  candour,  and  I  ap- 
peal to  the  good  sense  of  the  world,  how  the  conclusions  can  be 
avoided.  If,  then,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  one,  as  its  sup- 
porters boast,  in  every  age  and  place ;  if  its  decisions  and  conse- 
quent usages  are  infallible,  and  therefore  immutable,  be  it  re- 
membered, and  let  the  sentiment  be  inscribed  upon  the  canopy  of 
heaven  in  letters  of  light,  and  in  the  face  of  the  world — Whoso- 
ever countenanceth  Romanism,  transgresseth  the  second  command- 
ment. 

It  is  a  favourite  practice  of  the  Catholics  to  unite  military  pa- 
rade with  their  worship.  They  perform  mass  by  the  aid  of  mar- 
tial music,  and  elevate  the  host  under  the  deafening  roll  of  the 
drum.  I  know  not  how  it  may  strike  others,  but  I  confess  this 
associating  the  symbols  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  with  the  clarion 
of  war  and  the  implements  of  death  strikes  me  as  very  incon- 
gruous. I  am  always  led  to  ask,  is  this  the  way  the  apostles  and 
primitive  Christians  worshipped  ?  Notwithstanding  the  Pied- 
montese  are  in  some  respects  so  religious,  they  appear  to  have 
less  regard  for  the  Sabbath  than  for  some  of  the  feast-days  of  their 
traditional  calendar.  We  arrived  on  Friday  night,  too  late  for 
banking  business,  and  as  we  needed  something  in  this  line  to 
settle  up  our  diligence  fare,  we  proposed  calling  the  next  morning 
to  get  accommodated.  We  were  informed,  however,  that  the 
next  morning  was  the  feast-day  of  some  saint,  and  therefore  they 
could  not  do  business ;  but  if  we  called  the  next  day  (Sunday), 
12 


134  ITALY. 

they  would  wait  upon  us !     As  this,  however,  did  not  suit  our  hours 
of  business,  we  made  other  arrangements. 

Our  party  had  the  curiosity  to  go  into  the  grand  saloon  of  the 
palace  at  Turin,  to  see  his  majesty  come  out  on  Sabbath  morning 
to  go  to  church.  After  waiting  a  long  hour  with  the  rabble — fre- 
quently crowded  forward  by  the  mob  behind,  and  crowded  back- 
ward again  by  the  military  guard  before,  during  which  time  some 
three  or  four  hundred  officers,  in  full  dress,  entered — we  had  the 
pleasure  of  beholding  the  pageant.  Here  were  the  hundreds  of  mil- 
itary officers,  with  their  shining  gold  and  silver  trimmings  and  ep- 
aulets ;  here  were  the  pages  of  the  court,  dressed  in  small  clothes, 
white  silk  stockings,  and  red  coats ;  here  were  also  the  grooms, 
in  court  dress,  mostly  flaring  red ;  and  here  was  the  queen,  in  a 
splendid  white  satin  dress,  inwrought  with  silver,  with  a  page  be- 
hind holding  up  her  trail,  strutting  like  a  lord,  as  if  conscious  of 
his  high  calling ;  and  here  was  the  king  himself,  who  was  so 
much  like  other  men  that  it  was  difficult  to  identify  him  until  we 
were  told  it  was  "  that  great  man" — for,  as  it  happens,  he  is  of 
uncommonly  large  size.  The  train  passed  on;  the  pageant  van- 
ished ;  and  nature  kept  her  wonted  course.  I  was  led  to  exclaim, 
"  What  is  a  king  !"  and  the  empty  echoing  hall  responded,  "  What 
is  a  king  !" 

Turin  is,  on  the  whole,  a  pleasant  city ;  it  contains  about 
80,000  or  90,000  inhabitants,  has  a  university,  founded  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  a  cathedral,  a  palace  (such  as  it  is),  and  some 
fine  public  squares.  The  streets  are  at  right  angles,  and  some 
of  them  accommodated  with  fine  arcades.  The  Strada  del  Po 
is  fine,  and  by  some  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
streets  in  Europe.  We  pass  out  through  this  when  we  leave  for 
Genoa,  at  the  end  of  which  we  cross  the  Po  over  a  splendid 
bridge,  beyond  which  is  a  fine  church,  built  in  the  form  of  an  an- 
cient temple.  The  city  is  in  the  centre  of  a  beautiful  plain,  sur- 
rounded at  a  distance  with  picturesque  highlands,  and  washed 
on  two  sides  by  the  rivers  Doria  and  Po.  In  leaving  Turin  we 
followed,  for  a  time,  the  Po,  or  ancient  Padus.  This  is  the  river 
into  which  Phaeton  was  hurled  by  Jupiter  for  his  careless  driving 
of  the  chariot  of  the  sun,  by  which  the  world  was  set  on  fire. 
The  waters  of  the  Po,  however,  were  not  dried  up,  as  we  had  an 
opportunity  of  testing  by  actual  observation.  The  poplar-trees 


WINTER    FOLIAGE.  135 

into  which  his  sisters  were  changed  by  the  wrath  of  the  same 
god  have,  since  that  time,  been  greatly  multiplied,  I  should  think ; 
for  these  or  some  other  trees  form  beautiful  lines  of  leafy  columns, 
stretching  along  the  roads  and  the  streams.  I  say  leafy  columns 
— their  only  leaves,  however,  at  this  time,  were  those  of  silver 
crystals,  formed  by  the  joint  action  of  a  damp  atmosphere  and  a 
severe  frost.  These  resplendent  crystals,  indescribably  more  gor- 
geous and  magnificent  than  the  artificial  tinsel  of  the  Sardinian 
court,  threw  back  the  rays  of  a  bright  Italian  sun  in  such  dazzling 
beams  of  quivering,  waving  light,  as  were  never  painted  by  hu- 
man pencil  or  described  by  human  language.  I  took  my  seat 
outside  of  our  voiture  alone,  that  I  might  enjoy  unmolested  this 
unrivalled  exhibition  of  nature's  imagery.  For  a  time,  the  chill 
of  the  atmosphere  neutralized  the  heat  of  the  sun's  rays,  and  they 
were  mirrored  back  as  cold  as  they  were  bright.  At  length,  how- 
ever, the  latter  prevailed ;  the  enchantment  was  dissolved,  and  the 
foliage  of  winter  melted  away. 

We  passed  the  ancient  but  now  miserable  town  of  Asti,  famous, 
however,  for  its  wine,  and  containing  about  10,000  inhabitants 
Also  Allessandria  or  Alexandria,  which,  as  already  mentioned,  was 
built  expressly  for  warlike  purposes.  And  well  does  its  history 
correspond  with  the  military  character  of  its  birth,  as  it  has  suf- 
fered the  horrors  of  many  a  siege.  It  has  a  strong  citadel,  a  mag- 
nificent covered  bridge  over  the  Tanaro,  which  runs  through  it, 
and  contains  about  18,000  inhabitants. 

After  leaving  Allessandria  we  passed  the  plain  and  village  of 
Marengo,  where  Napoleon,  in  1800,  gained  one  of  his  most  de- 
cided victories  over  the  Austrians,  and  where  the  brave  Dessaix 
lost  his  life. 

The  plain  is  remarkably  favourable  for  the  strife  of  mighty  ar- 
mies, being  extensive,  level,  and  unobstructed.  When  we  passed 
it  was  covered  with  a  wheat  crop  just  shooting  from  the  ground. 
Thus  death  supports  life;  the  field  enriched  with  human  gore 
teems  with  nourishment  for  the  living  race.  Alas,  how  many  of 
the  rich  fields  of  Lombardy  have  been  fattened  by  the  blood  of 
the  slain  ! 

The  passage  of  the  Apennines  was  uninteresting,  especially 
the  ascent  from  the  northern  side.  It  was  gradual,  and  wound 
its  way  through  bald,  barren  mountains,  which  excited  emotions 


136  ITALY. 

neither  of  sublimity  nor  beauty.  The  descent,  however,  was 
more  rapid  and  picturesque,  and  an  intense  interest  was  excited 
in  my  own  mind  when  I  first  caught  a  glimpse,  from  the  gorge 
of  the  mountains,  of  the  Mediterranean :  "  The  sea !  the  sea  !"  I 
vociferated,  as  my  eye  for  the  first  time  lighted  upon  thdSe  classic 
waters.  ,Oh  !  what  is  there  of  interest  to  man;  what  is  there  of 
science,  of  literature,  of  art,  of  history,  of  religion,  that  is  not  as- 
sociated with  the  waves  and  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea ! 
From  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  round  every  bay,  and  gulf,  and  sub- 
ordinate sea,  in  all  the  sinuosities  of  the  indented  coast,  to  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules  again,  there  is  not  a  league  in  the  distance 
which  has  not  its  classic  associations.  The  trough  of  the  Medi- 
terranean is  the  centre  of  the  world  ;  and  on  its  shores  or  in  their 
neighbourhood  all  the  great  transactions  of  the  world's  drama 
have  been  beheld.  Not  far  from  this  man  was  at  first  created 
— and  here,  too,  he  was  redeemed.  The  patriarchs,  some  of 
them  at  least,  saw  these  waters,  and  on  their  eastern  boundaries 
the  tribes  of  Israel  had  their  inheritance.  Here  literature  was 
cradled  ;  and  the  arts  were  not  only  born  here,  but  here  they 
were  matured  and  perfected.  On  this  inland  ocean  navigation 
was  so  advanced,  and  the  maiiner  so  trained,  as  prepared  the  way 
and  prompted  to  the  effort  to  traverse  the  Atlantic,  and  find  a  new 
hemisphere.  I  cannot  look  upon  these  waters  without  enthusi- 
asm. As  the  waves  break  at  my  feet,  I  fancy  it  may  be  the  same 
billow  that  laved  the  side  of  the  ship  Argo,  in  which  Jason  sailed 
for  the  golden  fleece ;  or  one  which  had  kissed  the  ship  of  Cad- 
mus while  he  was  conveying  the  alphabet  to  Greece  ;  or  perhaps 
it  is  the  treacherous  surge  that  broke  over  the  ship  of  old  Palinu- 
rus,  and  washed  him  into  the  sea  ;  or,  if  none  of  these,  it  may 
have  danced  beside  the  ship  of  the  Apostle  Paul  in  his  passage  to 
Rome. 

What  has  not  the  Mediterranean  beheld.  She  is  the  chroni- 
cler of  the  world,  and  on  her  shores  the  history  of  the  nations  is 
recorded.  Egypt  and  Carthage,  Tyre  and  Sidon,  Greece  and 
Rome,  all,  all  have  had  their  day,  and  printed  their  indelible  his- 
tory upon  these  shores.  Even  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  the  great 
king,  could  almost  look  from  the  heights  of  Zion  into  the  "  Great 
Sea."  Here,  too,  is  the  birthplace  of  republicanism,  where  those 
models  of  government  and  principles  of  jurisprudence  were  ad- 


REFLECTIONS    ON    THE    MEDITERRANEAN-  137 

vanced  which  have  been  the  admiration  and  study  of  all  succeed- 
ing ages. 

But  what  is  the  Mediterranean  now  ?  In  point  of  literature 
and  science,  far  brighter  light  shines  upon  other  parts  of  Europe 
and  America  than  shines  on  any  part  of  those  lands  which  once 
enjoyed  the  only  spots  of  sunshine  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  In 
a  great  part,  indeed,  semi-barbarism  prevails  ;  such  is  Africa  on 
the  south,  such  is  Asia  on  the  east,  and  Turkey  on  the  north. 
What  can  we  find  of  civil  liberty  on  the  Mediterranean  coasts  ? 
Nothing  worthy  of  the  name.  There  are  the  seven  specks  of  isl- 
ands called  the  Ionian  Republic,  besides  which  there  is  nothing, 
I  believe,  that  bears  the  name  of  republicanism  in  the  entire 
length  and  breadth  of  the  Mediterranean  coasts.  Two  thirds  of 
the  coast  is  under  a  despotism ;  not  one  fourth  of  it  has  even  a 
constitutional  government,  and  not  one  league  of  its  entire  shore 
enjoys,  in  the  true  import  of  the  term,  civil  liberty.*  And  what 
shall  we  say  of  religion  ?  This  is  the  region  where  the  gospel 
was  first  proclaimed ;  wafted  on  these  seas,  it  spread  out  over  the 
islands  and  along  the  coasts  in  every  direction ;  and  yet,  now,  alas  ! 
"  how  is  the  gold  changed,  and  the  most  fine  gold  become  dim  ?" 
With  the  exception  of  a  little  sprinkling  of  the  Greek  church  in 
Greece,  and  some  part  of  Turkey  and  Asia  Minor,  there  is  nothing 
to  be  found  but  Mohammedanism  and  Romanism.  All  the  south- 
ern, eastern,  and  part  of  the  northern  coasts  are  under  the  undis- 
puted sway  of  the  false  prophet ;  and  Italy,  France,  and  Spain  are 
either  infidel  or  Catholic.  The  Beast  of  the  Apocalypse,  it  is  said, 
rose  up  "  out  of  the  sea."  How  literally  has  that  been  fulfilled  ! 
how  fatally  to  the  interests  of  the  church  ! 

Such  being  a  brief  outline  of  the  past  and  present,  the  Mediter- 
ranean affords  a  picture  to  the  man  of  literature  and  science,  to 
the  republican  and  the  Protestant  Christian,  of  melancholy  interest. 
The  sight  begets  feelings  indescribable.  We  ask  of  every  object 
we  meet  for  some  intelligence  from  the  ancients,  and  everywhere 
we  meet  with  objects  that  discourse  eloquently  of  the  past ;  of 
heroes  and  of  statesmen,  of  philosophers  and  of  republics,  of 
apostles  and  of  evangelical  churches.  We  ask,  Where  are  they 
now  ?  and  echo  answers,  "  Where  are  they  now  ?" 

We  entered  Genoa  by  moonlight,  and  found  comfortable  ac- 

*  San  Marino  is  too  small  to  be  taken  into  the  account. 

12  S 


1 38  ITALY. 

commodations  in  the  Hotel  de  Quatre  Nations.  Here  we  spent 
four  days,  and  devoted  what  time  and  strength  we  had  to  seeing 
the  lions  of  the  city.  There  are  many  points  in  which  all  cities 
are  similar ;  and  many  of  those  smaller  things  in  which  any  one  is 
peculiar  are  not  worthy  of  detail,  at  least  such  details  come  not 
within  the  scope  of  my  present  design.  After  stating,  however, 
generally,  that  Genoa  contains  about  75,000  inhabitants  ;  that  it 
is  situated  at  the  bottom  of  the  gulf  of  the  same  name ;  that  it 
was  once  immensely  rich,  and  abounding  in  commerce  and  navi- 
gation ;  that  it  was  the  capital  of  a  powerful  republic,  which  con- 
tested the  control  of  the  seas  with  Venice,  which  city  it  on 
one  occasion  had  wellnigh  subjugated ;  and  that  it  bears  in  the 
walls  of  its  arches  and  public  edifices  to  this  day  large  iron  chains 
and  hooks,  as  trophies  of  its  subjugation  of  Pisa,  I  will  proceed 
to  state,  briefly,  some  of  the  peculiarities  of  this  city. 

Its  location  is  peculiar ;  the  country  immediately  about  the  Gulf 
of  Genoa  has  a  bold,  mountainous  character,  leaving  no  room  for 
a  city  of  any  size  on  level  ground ;  what  land  there  was  of  this 
description  was  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  circling  round  the 
bay.  This,  of  course,  is  the  shape  of  the  town  ;  but  as  this  affords 
but  little  room  for  building,  most  of  the  city  has  been  crowded 
back  upon  the  hills  around  in  singularly  romantic  elevation; 
hence  the  town  shows  to  the  best  advantage  from  the  water, 
outside  of  the  mole.  Here  you  see  it  spread  out  before  you  and 
rising  above  you  like  a  beautiful  and  magnificent  amphitheatre. 
The  steepness  of  the  site  is  probably  one  reason  that  the  town 
is  built  with  such  narrow  lanes  that  carriages  cannot  pass.  Never 
before  did  I  see  so  few  carriages  of  any  kind  in  so  large  a  city. 
The  streets  are  mere  foot-lanes.  I  believe  carriages  pass  in  but 
three  or  four  principal  streets.  Sedan  chairs  are  a  substitute  for 
coaches,  and  donkeys  with  pack-saddles  for  drays  and  wagons. 
You  will  see  these  little  animals  climbing  up  the  steep  streets, 
loaded  on  their  backs  with  bricks,  stones,  and  timber  for  building, 
or  with  firewood,  furniture,  &c.,  for  the  houses  already  built. 
One  great  inconvenience  of  these  narrow  streets  is  the  want 
of  lights  in  the  houses ;  and  yet  this  is  not  so  great  as  it  would 
be  if  the  houses  were  on  the  same  level,  since  the  upper  range  is, 
in  part  at  least,  lighted  over  the  tops  of  the  next  lower.  Another 
is  the  urihealthiness  of  these  confined  streets.  It  is  this, 


GENOA.  139 

probably,  that  aggravated  the  cholera,  which  proved  so  fatal  the  past 
season. 

Genoa  is  a  place  of  remarkable  strength,  yet  it  has  been  taken. 
The  Austrians  took  it,  in  1799,  from  the  French  general,  but 
this  was  by  starvation.  Again  it  was  taken,  in  1714,  by  the  Brit- 
ish general,  Lord  W.  Bentinck.  It  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  disad- 
vantage rather  than  a  safeguard  to  the  place,  that  there  are  so 
many  fortifications  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  town,  rising,  as 
they  do,  one  above  another,  on  each  successive  height  and  more 
distant  mountain.  If  one  of  these,  say  the  highest  and  farthest, 
was  taken  by  an  enemy,  I  see  nothing  to  prevent  his  commanding 
the  fortress  next  below  him,  and  so  of  the  others  in  succes- 
sion. I  suppose,  however,  those  who  planned  these  fortresses 
understood  the  subject  much  better  than  I  do ;  certainly  there  are 
enough  of  them,  and  they  are  strong  enough  to  repel  a  mighty 
army  with  a  small  force.  In  addition  to  the  external  fortresses, 
there  are  round  the  city  two  impregnable  walls,  with  occasional 
fortresses  and  towers ;  and,  on  the  side  of  the  harbour,  the  entire 
city  is  walled,  and  defended  by  strong  batteries,  at  which  cannons 
are  kept  constantly  mounted.  This  is  the  more  necessary,  as  his 
Sardinian  majesty  has  very  little  naval  strength,  not  exceeding, 
perhaps,  fifteen  or  eighteen  vessels  of  every  description. 

The  harbour  is  defended  from  the  wind  on  the  side  that  opens 
into  the  sea  by  an  artificial  mole,  without  which  vessels  in  south 
or  southwest  winds  would  not  be  safe.  There  are  no  wharves, 
and  all  the  merchandise  has  to  be  brought  from  the  ships  by  fe- 
luccas to  one  place  of  entrance,  where  is  the  custom-house  ;  and 
the  wall  around  the  harbour  is  a  safeguard  against  all  smuggling, 
which  appears  to  be  its  only  present  use,  except  as  a  public 
promenade.  All  travellers  notice  thefanale,  or  lighthouse,  which 
is  a  tower  on  an  insulated  rock  at  the  west  end  of  the  town.  I 
can  hardly  see,  however,  why  it  should  be  so  worthy  of  special 
notice,  unless  it  be  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  only  one  either  here 
or  anywhere  on  the  coast,  a  deficiency  that  appears  very  singular 
to  those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  see  their  coast  studded 
with  lights.  But  not  more  so  than  another  fact,  which  strikes  me 
with  great  force,  viz.,  the  fewness  of  the  ships  in  these  waters. 
The  Genoese  were  once  the  greatest  navigators  in  the  world,  and 
behind  no  others  in  commerce  ;  but  now,  neither  they  nor  any 


140  ITALY. 

one  else  appear  to  have  much  business  on  these  waters.  On 
our  coasts  and  in  the  British  seas,  we  see  the  waters  whitened 
with  canvass  ;  but  here — "  Naves  natantes  rarce,  in  gurgite  vasto" 
— a  ship  is  comparatively  a  rare  sight. 

Genoa  is  situated  in  the  ancient  Liguria,  and  is  mentioned  in 
Livy  and  Strabo,  the  latter  describing  it  as  furnishing  fine  timber 
from  the  neighbouring  mountains,  all  of  which  might  be  true  in 
his  day ;  but  the  mountains  are  quite  naked  of  timber  at  this  time, 
and  the  scarcity  of  wood  shows  that  there  is  very  little  in  the 
neighbourhood.  It  cost  us  about  two  dollars  a  day  to  keep  one 
poor  fire,  although  we  were  most  of  the  time  abroad.  The  wea- 
ther, however,  was  on  this  occasion  extremely  cold ;  so  much  so 
that  many  of  the  fountains  in  the  town  were  frozen  into  hanging 
icicles,  to  the  great  admiration  of  the  citizens.  As  we  were  return- 
ing from  church  on  the  Sabbath,  we  saw  hundreds  going  in  and 
out  at  a  court  of  one  of  the  palaces ;  we  turned  in  to  see  the  great 
sight ;  when  lo !  we  found  a  little  cascade  from  a  fountain  frozen 
into  hanging  ice  spars ;  and  this  is  so  rare  it  was  a  wonder  of  the 
Genoese.  The  greatest  wonder  with  me  was  how,  with  the 
thermometer  several  degrees  below  the  freezing  point,  the  oranges 
and  citrons  in  and  about  the  city  should  remain  uninjured.* 

Another  peculiarity  of  Genoa  is  the  number  and  richness  of  its 
palaces.  It  is  said  there  are  above  fifty  of  these  palaces  that  are 
worthy  of  notice.  Indeed,  the  rich  Genoese  appear  to  have 
thought  that  they  could  in  no  other  way  display  their  wealth  and 
vindicate  their  rank  so  well  as  by  building  a  splendid  palace,  and 
furnishing  it  in  a  princely  style.  We  visited  a  number  of  these 
palaces  as  specimens  of  the  whole,  but  deem  it  not  necessary  to 
go  into  a  detail  of  the  apartments.  Suffice  it  to  say,  they  were 
elegantly  finished  and  furnished,  not  only  with  marble  floors  of 
various  colours  and  workmanship,  and  of  gilt  and  frescoed  ceilings, 
and  marble  and  mosaic  tables,  but  they  were  also  furnished  with 
paintings  and  works  of  art  by  the  first  masters.  The  edifices  are 
generally  of  marble,  walls,  floors,  and  all.  We  saw,  among  other 
palaces,  a  splendid  one  of  Paganini,  the  Italian  fiddler,  who  appears 
to  be  more  splendidly  lodged  than  his  Sardinian  majesty  himself. 

*  In  some  parts  the  citrons  were  injured,  and  the  olives  almost  ruined.  In  Pisa 
they  were  lamenting  greatly  the  injury  of  their  olive  crop  by  the  frost.  The  olive 
vields  a  biennial  crop,  and  the  fruit  is  ripe  in  December. 


SUCCESSIVE    CHANGES    IN    THE  GOVERNMENT  OF    GENOA.    141 

Our  lacquey  de  place  amused  us  as  much  as  the  sights  we 
saw.  He  was  a  remarkably  intelligent  and  active  Frenchman, 
who  could  speak  all  languages  with  his  eyes  and  gestures.  He 
took  us  into  one  palace,  where  we  saw  one  of  the  noble  family 
sitting  over  a  kettle  of  coals,  deranged  ;  and  showed  us  the  estate 
of  another  nobleman  who  was  in  the  same  situation.  We  asked 
him  how  many  mad  noblemen  they  had.  "  Oh  !"  said  he,  "  eight, 
ten,  or  twelve ;  a  great  many  of  them  have  their  heads  disordered !" 

Some  of  the  churches  of  Genoa  are  elegant,  and  are  furnished 
with  some  splendid  paintings  and  statuary.  In  one,  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  Lorenzo,  they  have  the  mortal  remains  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist, although  I  must  believe  they  cannot  have  his  head,  be- 
cause we  saw  that  in  the  cathedral  of  Amiens,  in  France  ;  unless, 
indeed,  the  head  of  the  saint  has  been  miraculously  multiplied, 
like  the  wood  of  the  true  cross.  Several  of  the  pictures  of  the 
churches  here  were  carried  to  Paris  by  Napoleon,  and  were  at  his 
dethronement  returned  to  their  places. 

Genoa,  as  we  have  seen,  gained  its  ascendency  by  its  wealth ; 
and,  we  may  add,  by  its  wealth  it  fell.  Had  not  its  citizens  been 
corrupted  and  enervated  by  luxury,  they  never  would  have  sub- 
mitted to  the  domination  either  of  a  foreign  yoke  or  of  a  native 
lord.  They  were  weakened  also  by  foreign  wars,  and  were  di- 
vided into  factions  among  themselves.  This  last  was,  in  fact,  the 
principal  cause  of  their  downfall.  They  were  conquered  by  the 
French  in  1458,  and,  after  shaking  off  this  yoke,  they  submitted 
voluntarily  to  the  Duke  of  Milan  in  1464 ;  after  several  changes 
Genoa  was  taken  and  pillaged  by  the  Spaniards  in  1522.  By 
this  wanton  act  of  the  Spaniards  the  interests  of  all  the  merchants 
of  Europe  were  affected,  so  extensive  was  the  trade  of  this  city. 
It  again  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  In  1 528,  however, 
by  the  intervention  of  Andre  Doria,  liberty  and  independence  were 
restored  to  Genoa ;  but,  availing  himself  of  his  wealth  and  power, 
he  established  an  aristocracy,  against  which  the  people  revolted. 
After  several  conspiracies  and  various  internal  and  external  com- 
motions, they  fell  under  the  power  of  the  Austrians  in  1746.  Here 
followed  the  last  struggle  of  the  Genoese  worthy  of  their  ancient 
character ;  oppressed  and  insulted  by  the  Austrians  beyond  all  en- 
durance, a  trifling  circumstance  led  to  the  expulsion  of  their  op- 
pressors. A  sergeant,  attempting  to  cane  one  of  the  citizens,  was 


142  ITALY. 

resisted ;  the  citizens  rallied  at  the  commotion  which  followed,  and, 
although  they  had  no  arms,  they  used  stones  and  various  missiles, 
filled  the  narrow  streets  and  many  of  the  houses  with  the  dead 
bodies  of  the  Germans,  and  finally  expelled  them  from  the  city. 
This  was  the  last  glorious  event  in  their  history.  The  events  of 
the  French  revolution  affecting  Genoa  have  already  been  al- 
luded to. 

The  Dorian  palace  remains ;  some  of  the  ancient  families  still 
have  a  name  in  Genoa  ;  her  marble  palaces  and  churches  still 
tower  one  above  another  up  the  sides  of  the  mountain  in  one  mag- 
nificent amphitheatre,  but  the  Ligurian  republic  is  no  more. 
"  The  soul  of* the  city  is  fled."  It  is  subjected  to  a  foreign  yoke, 
and  its  glory  is  departed. 

Our  healths  have  been  kindly  preserved  and  improved.  We 
start  to-morrow  morning  for  Florence,  which  is  distant  five  days' 
journey,  according  to  the  slow  travelling  of  the  veturino,  which 
carries  us  through,  finding  everything  on  the  road,  for  fifty  francs 
each,  or  about  ten  dollars. 

My  kind  regards  to  all  friends.  Peace  be  with  you  and  with 
the  churches  of  Christ.  W.  FISK. 

On  Tuesday,  January  5,  we  took  our  departure  from  Genoa 
to  Florence. 

Genoa,  as  you  are  aware,  is  called  the  native  city  of  Columbus. 
He  was  born,  however,  a  little  out  of  the  city,  where  his  paternal 
house  is  still  standing ;  to  our  regret,  our  time  and  circumstances 
did  not  permit  us  to  visit  it. 

The  gardens  and  orchards  of  the  sloping  hills  and  sunny  vales 
which  we  passed  the  first  few  miles  out  of  Genoa  were  yellow 
with  the  golden  orange  and  citron.  This,  being  the  first  scene  of 
the  kind  we  had  seen,  had  novelty  as  well  as  its  own  rich  beauty  to 
recommend  it.  Here  also,  in  great  abundance,  far  up  the  mount- 
ains, even  in  most  cases  to  their  very  tops,  the  ever-green  olive 
spreads  out  its  branches,  laden,  just  at  this  moment,  with  ripe 
fruit.  Each  of  these  mountains  might  be  called  Mount  Olivet, 
for  their  entire  slopes,  in  most  cases,  were  terraced,  cultivated, 
and  planted  with  the  olive.  Fig-trees,  too,  were  frequent,  but 
"  the  time  of  figs  was  not  yet,"  nay,  nor  yet  of  fig-leaves,  and  the 
tree  in  its  undress  is  not  interesting,  except  in  its  associations. 


MOUNTAIN    SCENERY.  143 

Its  branches  are  crooked,  clumsy,  and  terminating  so  suddenly, 
and  in  such  large  blunt  stems,  that  you  may  say  of  it,  what  can  be 
said  of  few  othei  trees,  it  has  no  twigs. 

In  addition  to  the  interesting  foliage  and  fruits  of  these  mount- 
ains, they  are  spotted  with  isolated  dwellings,  with  clustering  vil- 
lages, with  churches  and  castles,  to  their  very  summits  ;  and  these 
summits  themselves,  in  numerous  instances,  capped  with  fortresses 
and  towers.  The  mountain  scene  also  is  infinitely  varied,  by 
reason  of  the  sea  in  its  various  bays  and  indentures  upon  the 
coast.  At  one  time  it  throws  in  its  watery  arm,  as  if  exulting  in 
its  power  to  invade  the  possessions  of  terra  firma,  and  subjugate 
the  land  to  its  watery  dominion ;  and  at  another  time  retreating 
before  t  jutting  promontory  of  the  mountain,  which  comes  down 
upon  the  domains  of  the  watery  god  with  abrupt  and  frowning 
aspect,  threatening,  as  has  often  been  done,  to  take  possession  of 
a  part  of  his  kingdom  by  colonial  avalanche.  These  frequent 
processions  and  recessions  of  the  land  and  water,  in  their  apparent 
strife  for  dominion,  add  nothing  to  the  facilities  of  the  traveller's 
advancement,  however  much  they  may  vary  and  beautify  the 
scenery.  It  is,  in  point  of  direct  advancement,  like  travelling  up 
the  doubling  galleries  of  the  Alpine  roads  ;  for,  after  travelling  most 
of  the  day,  you  look  back  upon  Genoa,  and  find  it  still  in  your 
own  neighbourhood.  Of  the  city,  and  of  the  entire  coast,  studded 
with  villages  and  indented  with  bays,  and  of  the  mountains,  clothed 
with  olives  and  sprinkled  with  dwellings,  you  have  an  elegant  view 
as  you  look  back  through  one  of  the  three  grottoes  that  you  pass 
on  the  first  day's  journey  from  Genoa.  The  first  of  these  grottoes 
is  cut  through  under  the  top  of  the  mountain,  to  avoid  going  over 
it,  and  is  much  shorter  than  the  grotto  of  the  Echelles  before  spoken 
of;  it  is  also  arched  with  masonry,  which  renders  it  less  rustic 
and  imposing  than  the  Alpine  grotto.  The  other  two  are  near 
each  other,  and  are  cut  through  the  side  of  the  mountain  as  it 
hangs  over  the  sea.  It  seems  as  easy  to  cut  the  road  inside  of  the 
surface  as  to  cut  it  through  on  the  outside  and  build  the  necessary 
protections  against  the  precipice ;  and,  in  addition,  the  danger  and 
obstruction  of  avalanches  are  in  this  way  avoided. 

At  length  we  once  more  descended  to  the  seashore,  along  which 
we  passed  two  or  three  miles,  the  most  of  the  way  bordered  on  the 
water  side  by  the  flowering  aloe,  that  lives  and  grows  for  a  cen- 


144  ITALY. 

tury  only  that  it  may  blossom  to  die  ;  and,  on  the  other  side,  by  high 
perpendicular  precipices,  to  Sestri,  the  ancient  Segeste.  Here 
we  took  lodgings  for  the  night  in  the  Hotel  de  la  Belle  Europe, 
a  house  of  no  great  claims,  whatever  may  be  its  pretensions. 
One  of  our  company  was  so  displeased  with  the  wine,  that,  on 
leaving,  he  offered  the  landlord  to  be  at  the  expense  of  repainting 
his  sign  if  he  would  have  it  painted  with  the  appropriate  name 
of  the  Hotel  de  Vin-aigre  (Vinegar).  There  are,  however,  more 
than  one  Hotel  de  Vin-aigre  in  France  and  Italy ;  for,  although 
they  are  imbowered  with  vines  which  yield  the  finest  of  grapes, 
yet  they  manufacture  the  wine  so  badly  that  it  is  often  miserable. 
The  next  day  we  ascended  the  Bracco,  said  to  be  one  of  the 
loftiest  passages  of  the  Apennines.  Much  of  the  way  the  road, 
which  is  as  fine  as  can  be  conceived  of,  being  hard  and  smooth, 
and  of  gradual  ascent,  is  hewn  in  the  sides  of  mountains  of  marble 
and  slate,  and  carried  by  magnificent  galleries  over  what  seem  to 
be  impassable  eminences.  What  will  not  the  industry  and  perse- 
verance of  man  accomplish  ?  One  gazes  at  these  stupendous  sta- 
gings up  and  down  these  barriers  of  the  world,  at  a  loss  which  most 
to  admire,  the  power  that  "  Ossa  on  Pelion  piled,"  or  the  Heaven- 
inspired  enterprise  by  which  these  pigmies  of  the  earth  construct 
their  thoroughfares  over  these  desolate  and  cloud-capped  mountains. 
I  say  cloud-capped  mountains ;  but  perhaps  I  should  have  said, 
rather,  the  cloud-girded  or  cloud-mantled  mountains ;  for  our  obser- 
vation led  us  to  conclude  that  these  mountains  oftener  wore  the 
clouds  around  the  waist  as  a  zone,  or  around  the  shoulders  as  a 
mantle,  than  over  the  head  as  a  crown.  At  first  we  were  dis- 
posed to  regret  that  we  made  this  pass  in  a  foggy  morning,  as  it 
interrupted  our  distant  view,  and  diminished  the  interest  of  the 
passage  ;  but  we  afterward  found  that  this  loss  was  more  than 
compensated  in  another  way.  We  kept  rising  until  we  penetrated 
the  misty  veil,  and  found  it  no  poetic  fiction  that  mountains  might 
"  wear  sunshine  on  their  brow,  while  tempests  waste  their  fury  at 
their  feet."  The  mountain  top  was  bright,  the  cloud  hung  midway 
in  the  air  below  us,  and  such  an  exhibition  was  made  to  our  de- 
lighted vision  as  neither  poet  nor  painter  has  ever  delineated.  It 
was  not  a  sea  of  glass,  nor  yet  of  water,  and  still  we  could  make 
nothing  of  it  but  a  sea,  an  unruffled,  distant  sea,  somewhat  blanched 
by  a  low  mist  hovering  over  the  even  surface,  softening  the  light 


IMPOSITION    ON    TRAVELLERS.  145 

of  the  sun  into  a  mild  whiteness,  and  checking  the  intenseness  of 
the  reflected  rays.  There,  too,  were  the  islands,  for  so  the  mount- 
ain tops,  which  occasionally  rose  above  the  surface,  appeared,  and 
there  were  the  bays,  and  even  rivers  of  that  sea,  winding  up  be- 
tween the  distant  heights.  And  the  depths  below  !  Here  ima- 
gination had  full  play.  How  deep  might  be  the  sub-nubian  caverns 
in  that  white  sea,  over  which  we  hung  on  our  mountain  galleries, 
who  could  tell  ?  But  the  lowest  of  them  we  were  destined  to 
fathom,  not  by  plummet  and  line,  but  in  our  own  proper  persons, 
in  our  descent  we  left  the  region  of  light,  plunged  into  the  sea  of 
mist,  and,  after  hours  of  descent,  found  ourselves  ^underneath  in- 
stead of  above  the  fairy  sea ;  its  dark  side  hung  over  us,  excluding 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  having,  previous  to  our  descent,  according  to 
appearances,  moistened  the  earth  with  a  gentle  shower.  Here  we 
breakfasted,  at  1  P.  M.,  at  a  village  called  Borghetto;  thence 
over  another  mountain  to  La  Spezia,  to  lodge. 

Without,  however,  tiring  the  reader  with  dry  detail  of  each 
day's  labour  and  travel,  I  will  conduct  him  to  Florence  in  much 
less  time  than  it  took  us  to  accomplish  the  course  ;  not,  however, 
without  mentioning  one  or  two  incidents  of  the  remainder  of  the 
journey.  In  passing  thus  far  from  Pont  de  Beauvoisin,  on  the 
line  between  France  and  Savoy,  we  had  travelled  all  the  way 
through  the  possessions  of  the  King  of  Sardinia,  thus  making  the 
entire  tour  of  his  dominions,  I  might  almost  say,  from  east  to  west* 
and  from  north  to  south,  travelling  in  it,  small  as  it  is,  between 
four  and  five  hundred  miles.  But  now  we  were  destined  to  pass 
through  two  other  sovereignties  before  we  reached  the  empire  of 
the  Grand-duke  of  Tuscany,  those  of  Modena  and  Lucca.  We 
were  to  pass  through  but  a  corner  of  Modena,  but  enough  of  it  for 
the  puissant  monarch  to  show  his  power  over  unarmed  and  defence- 
less travellers.  At  the  line,  not  only  were  our  passports  demanded, 
according  to  custom,  but  we  were  also  required  to  present  our 
carte  de  sanite — our  bill  of  health.  We  had  none.  "  You  cannot 
pass."  Remonstrance  was  useless  ;  we  had  to  go  back  five  miles  to 
Sarsana,  where,  by  buying  a  dinner  of  the  landlord,  and  paying  his 
lacquey  de  place  six  or  seven  pauls,  they  procured  for  us  from  the 
police-officers  of  the  town  (who,  by-the-way,  neither  by  themselves 
or  by  the  medical  board,  felt  our  pulse  nor  saw  our  faces)  a  cer- 
13  T 


146  ITALY. 

lificate  that  we  were  in  good  health,  and  free  from  the  infection 
of  any  contagious  disease.  With  this  humbug  we  went  back, 
when,  after  plumbing  our  baggage  without  looking  at  it,  another 
fee  of  a  few  pauls  gained  us  a  passage  through  the  plantation  of 
the  Grand-duke  of  Modena  !  This  is  the  only  obstruction,  on  the 
ground  of  health  regulations,  that  we  have  met  with;  and  whether 
this  was  anything  more  than  a  concerted  scheme  to  get  a  few 
pauls  out  of  us,  I  am  unable  to  say.  One  thing  is  very  clear  in 
my  mind,  and  that  is,  that  this  whole  business  of  examining  pass- 
ports and  baggage,  and  the  like,  is  but  a  miserable,  despicable  device 
of  these  petty  governments  to  support  their  half-starved  emissaries. 
In  travelling  from  Paris  to  Florence,  including  the  two  places,  my 
passport  has  received  twenty-four  official  endorsements,  and  it  has 
been  examined,  I  think,  a  still  greater  number  of  times  without 
being  stamped.  Sometimes  it  is  done  gratuitously,  but  in  most  in- 
stances custom,  if  not  law,  requires  a  fee  for  proving  to  your  jailer, 
as  you  enter  his  prison-house  (for  so  all  these  military  governments 
have  been  appropriately  called),  by  official  documents,  that  you 
are  an  honest  man  ;  and  you  are  not  only  to  prove  it  when  you 
enter  the  kingdom,  but  you  must  prove  it  over  and  over  again. 
When  you  enter  a  city,  your  name,  the  gate,  and  hour  of  passing 
it,  must  all  be  entered ;  and  when  you  leave  the  same  ceremony 
must  be  gone  through  with  ;  and  if,  through  ignorance  or  other- 
wise, you  happen  to  fail  of  getting  all  the  signatures  at  any  place, 
you  are  sent  back  without  ceremony,  perhaps  scores  of  miles ; 
nay,  you  may  think  yourself  well  off  if  you  escape  thus.  One 
of  our  countrymen  recorded,  in  one  of  those  public  books  kept  in 
almost  every  hotel  in  this  country  in  which  travellers  write  their 
names  and  their  commendations  of  the  house,  that,  for  one  of  these 
mistakes  in  obtaining  a  proper  signature,  he  was  arrested  and  con- 
ducted away  as  a  prisoner;  and,  after  much  delay  and  expense, 
succeeded  in  obtaining  his  liberty  by  applying  to  higher  authority. 
The  traveller  will  meet  with  nothing  more  annoying  than  these  in- 
terruptions; and  the  more  insignificant  the  petty  state  through 
which  he  passes,  the  more  he  is  harassed  by  these  public  robbers. 
The  entire  system  is  an  outrage  upon  civilized  society,  and  ought  to 
be  made  a  subject  of  international  negotiation,  until  this  refinement 
on  feudal  tyranny  shall  be  banished.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  France 
will  see  the  propriety  of  shaking  off  this  mean,  despicable,  sus- 


POLICY    OP    AMERICA.  147 

picious,  guilt-convicting  practice,  and  set  a  noble  example  of  re 
form  to  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  As  I  am  now  in  the  spirit 
of  complaining,  I  will  say  a  word  respecting  our  own  government 
as  connected  with  this  system.  As  things  now  are,  it  becomes 
necessary  for  our  consuls,  in  different  places,  to  vise  or  endorse 
the  passports,  and  for  this  they  are  obliged  to  charge  the  poor  trav- 
eller two  dollars  each ;  I  say  obliged,  for  this,  in  some  instances, 
is  all  the  compensation  the  consul  gets  for  his  official  services. 
He  is  obliged  to  pay  every  attention  to  his  fellow-citizens  (or  to 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  for  the  consul  is  not  always  our  fel- 
low-citizen), and  for  all  this  official  protection,  protection  that 
government  owes  its  citizens,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  he  is 
obliged,  much  to  his  own  mortification,  to  charge  for  the  signa- 
ture of  his  name  a  paltry  fee.  He  is  unable  frequently  to  con- 
ceal his  mortification  when  exacting  this  fee.  This  is  a  shame  to 
the  American  government.  With  an  overflowing  treasury,  by 
which  she  might  allow  a  fair  compensation  to  all  her  officers,  she 
nevertheless  sends  her  agents  abroad  to  unite  with  and  keep  in 
countenance  the  execrable  policy  of  other  governments,  by  picking 
the  pocket  of  every  passing  traveller.  Who  will  see  to  this  thing, 
and  correct  our  beggarly  policy  in  this  matter  ? 

The  custom-house  regulations  have  more  plausibility  for  their 
existence  than  this  passport  system,  and  yet  they  are  executed 
with  far  less  exactness.  Any  man  may  buy  his  peace  of  the  officer 
of  customs  for  a  few  pauls.  Our  trunks  were  not  opened  by  an 
officer  from  the  French  line  to  Florence,  although  we  travelled 
through  three  sovereignties  and  entered  a  fourth.  Indeed,  the  of- 
ficers did  not  hesitate  to  tell  us  that  for  two,  three,  or  four  pauls, 
as  the  case  might  be,  we  might  pass  unmolested ;  otherwise  we 
must  be  delayed,  perhaps  one  or  two  hours,  and  have  our  baggage 
unpacked  and  rummaged,  and  even  then  they  would  be  very  sure 
to  light  on  a  book,  or  some  trifle  by  which  they  would  still  exact 
their  fee. 

Lucca,  which  was  the  next  empire  we  passed  after  Modena,  is 
a  miserable  place  ;  not  that  the  soil  is  poor,  for  this  is  rich  and 
fertile  all  the  way  from  Sarsana  to  Florence ;  but  the  inhabitants 
look  wretched,  and  seem  to  be  subjected  to  great  hardships  for  a 
miserable  existence.  What  can  it  mean,  that  here  is  a  land  like 
the  garden  of  Eden,  and  yet  teeming  with  such  a  wretched  popula- 


148  ITALY. 

lion  ?  There  is  guilt  somewhere.  Who  has  taken  the  bread  from 
the  poor,  and  filled  the  land  with  beggary  and  squalid  poverty  ? 
Let  those  concerned  see  to  it,  for  the  day  of  retribution  is  at  hand. 
Beggars  constantly  assailed  us  in  the  public  road,  and  many  others 
looked  as  though  they  might  with  propriety  be  furnished  with  a 
carte  de  lapauvrete  to  beg.  One  special  exhibition  met  us  frequently 
in  this  ride.  The  weather  was  extremely  cold  for  Italy,  so  that 
the  streams  were  freezing  at  the  edges,  and  the  still  ponds  of 
water  were  frozen  over ;  the  wind  was  cold  and  piercing,  and  yet 
the  females  were  everywhere,  almost,  on  the  road,  washing  in  the 
cold  streams  ;  scores  of  them  might  be  seen  standing  in  the  running 
water  up  to  their  knees,  remaining  probably  for  hours  in  this  sit- 
uation. I  had  seen  the  poor  women  of  France  washing  in  the 
Seine,  in  a  cold  winter  day,  reaching  over  the  sides  of  long 
scows,  fitted  up  with  a  roof  and  moored  in  the  stream  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  this  I  thought  was  at  least  uncomfortable  ;  but  to  be 
turned  into  the  stream  feet  and  hands,  at  this  inclement  season, 
appeared  unsafe,  if  not  insupportable.  It  is  not  the  fashion  of  the 
country,  either  in  France  or  Italy,  to  wash  in  warm  water,  and  there 
is  for  this  a  very  good  reason  ;  they  cannot  afford  fuel  to  heat  it, 
and  therefore  they  wash  in  the  rivers  and  brooks.  These  poor 
creatures,  after  washing  all  day  in  this  situation,  and  after  wring- 
ing out  their  clothes,  and  carrying  them  home  in  a  tub  upon  their 
heads,  some  of  them,  perhaps,  a  mile  up  a  steep  mountain,  have 
no  fire  to  sit  down  by,  and  spend  a  winter  evening  in  thawing  the 
rheumatism  out  of  their  chilled  and  almost  frozen  limbs.  They 
have  a  stone  hovel,  perhaps  ;  oh,  how  many  of  these  wretched, 
cheerless  lodges  have  I  seen — a  stone  hovel !  The  lower  story 
is  a  stable  for  the  cow  or  the  donkey,  if  they  have  one,  surrounded 
and  filled  with  filth  at  any  rate,  and  the  upper  story  covered  with 
rough  flat  stones,  floored  with  the  same,  without  fire,  without  glass 
windows,  and  filled  with  dirty,  ragged  children. 

In  the  city  of  Lucca,  which  is  the  capital  of  the  duchy  of  the 
same  name,  we  were  surrounded  with  beggars  ;  and,  wherever  we 
went,  were  watched  and  followed  by  soldiers  and  spies,  who 
seemed  suspicious  that  we  had  come  to  take  away  their  place  and 
nation.  If  we  went  into  a  church,  they  would  enter  and  kneel 
near  us,  but  were  watching  us  rather  than  saying  their  prayers ; 
if  we  went  into  the  street,  they  followed  us  thither ;  and  if  we 


FLORENCE.  149 

walked  about  the  town,  they  followed  us  still.  In  short,  we  were 
glad  to  leave  this  ancient  city,  which  is  said  to  have  been  honoured, 
in  the  days  of  Julius  Caesar,  with  his  taking  up  his  winter-quarters 
there ;  and  thither  most  of  the  Roman  nobility  came  to  visit  him, 
insomuch  that  there  were  said  to  have  been  two  hundred  Roman 
senators  in  the  city  at  one  time.  Subsequently,  and  for  many  cen- 
turies, it  was  a  free  city,  and  had  "  Libertas"  inscribed  upon  its 
gates.  But  the  name  has  been  effaced,  and  the  thing  itself  lost. 
Upon  her  gates  Ichabod  should  now  be  inscribed,  for  her  glory  is 
departed. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

To  Professor  D.  D.  Wheden,  of  the  Wesleyan  University. 

MY  DEAR  PROFESSOR, 

ON  entering  Florence  we  found  lodgings  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville 
de  Londres,  an  excellent  house,  and  reasonable  in  price.  The 
next  day  was  Sabbath,  and  we  were  glad  to  find  Protestant  wor- 
ship in  English.  A  doorkeeper  requested  a  fee  of  three  pauls 
for  each  seat ;  a  fee  which,  however  revolting  the  charge  might 
seem  at  first,  we,  on  a  moment's  reflection,  paid  most  cheerfully, 
and  were  glad  in  this  way  to  contribute  our  mite  towards  the  sup- 
port of  divine  worship,  for  English  and  American  Protestants,  in  the 
heart  of  a  Catholic  country.  That  such  worship  is  permitted  in 
these  states  is  a  triumph  over  old  prejudices  which  augurs  well 
of  the  future  ;  especially  when  I  add  that,  not  only  in  English, 
but  in  Italian  also,  Protestant  worship  is  maintained  here  in  Flor- 
ence. We  found,  also,  Protestant  service  in  Genoa ;  and  it  is 
held,  we  were  informed,  in  the  other  principal  cities  of  Tuscany, 
as  well  as  in  Naples,  and  Rome  itself. 

We  devoted  the  following  week  to  seeing  the  wonders  of  art  in 
this  interesting  city,  sometimes  styled  the  Athens  of  Italy.  I  say 
interesting,  but  not  for  what  the  city  is  so  much  as  for  what  it 
contains.*  The  general  character  of  the  city,  like  other  Italian 

*  There  is  much  of  historical  interest  connected  with  the  various  palazzi,  &c.  of 
Florence ;  but  an  allusion  now  to  these  would  be  tedious,  and,  for  my  purpose,  useless*. 

13 


150  ITALY. 

cities,  is  not  very  pleasant ;  the  streets  are  narrow,  and  the  houses 
high,  which  renders  the  rooms  dark ;  and,  as  if  eager  to  shut  out 
what  little  light,  there  is,  it  is  usual  to  extend  the  eaves,  or  jet  of 
the  roofs  out  four  or  six  feet  from  the  wall.  This,  in  a  narrow 
street,  almost  brings  the  opposite  eaves  together.  This  practice 
of  narrow  streets,  high  houses,  and  projecting  roofs,  appears  to 
be  common'  throughout  Italy ;  and,  although  it  transforms  their 
houses  into  gloomy  prisons,  and  seems,  to  a  resident  in  a  more 
northern  and  healthy  climate,  an  outrage  upon  all  taste  and  pro- 
priety, yet  in  this  climate  it  has  its  advantages.  The  houses  in 
summer  are  much  more  comfortable,  and,  so  far  as  the  malaria  is 
concerned,  much  more  healthy,  for  they  interrupt  the  death-bear- 
ing vapour,  and  protect  the  inhabitants  from  its  fatal  contact.  In 
winter,  also,  the  tramontane  winds,  which  are  piercing  and  un- 
healthy, are  measurably  shut  out.  On  the  other  hand,  certain 
kinds  of  diseases  are  greatly  aggravated  by  these  close,  pent-up, 
dirty  cities ;  the  cholera,  for  instance.  It  is  on  this  account,  in 
part,  doubtless,  that  this  latter  disorder  was  so  fatal  in  Genoa  and 
some  other  Italian  cities  the  past  season.  Indeed,  I  cannot  con- 
ceive how  Florence  can  escape  being  visited  with  frequent  conta- 
gious epidemics.  Every  warm  day  while  we  were  there  a  most 
offensive  effluvia  saluted  our  olfactory  nerves  as  we  walked  the 
streets  ;  and,  if  the  smell  was  not  sufficient  to  make  one's  stomach 
heave,  the  sight  of  the  eye,  one  would  think,  might  produce  that 
effect ;  all  kinds  of  nuisances  are  committed  in  the  street,  and  that 
in  open  day,  without  any  apparent  shame  or  attempt  at  conceal- 
ment. One  cannot  but  laugh  at  his  own  misconceptions,  when 
the  sober  reality  dissipates  the  delusions  with  which  poesy  and 
romance  have  invested  Italy.  He  comes  with  an  imagination 
glowing  with  blue  skies,  and  spicy  breezes,  and  ambrosial  sweets, 
and  he  finds  his  room  so  dark  at  midday,  frequently,  that  he  needs 
a  lamp,  and  the  air  around  him  highly  impregnated,  it  is  true,  but 
with  anything  rather  than  an  agreeable  fragrance.  I  speak  now 
of  the  cities  and  villages.  Well  may  one  writer  have  said  that 
Cloacina,  the  ancient  Roman  goddess  of  cleanliness,  or  rather  of 
filth  and  odour,  had  fled  the  country,  and  taken  up  her  residence 
at  the  North  ;  he  says,  the  other  side  of  the  British  Channel ;  but 

Any  one  wishing  details  of  this  kind  will  find  them  spun  out  to  their  heart's  content  in 
Lady  Morgan's  Italy. 


THE    ROYAL    GALLERY.  151 

I  would  say,  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  ;*  for  although  the 
cities  of  England  have  not  generally  so  much  of  the  most  offensive 
kind  of  dirt  that  abounds  in  Italian  cities,  still  my  observation 
thus  far  has  inclined  me  to  the  opinion  that  the  English  cities 
bear  no  comparison  with  ours  for  cleanliness.  I  think,  however, 
in  England,  it  is  more  the  fault  of  the  soil  and  the  atmosphere  than 
of  the  people. 

Florence  is  encompassed  by  a  wall  of  six  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence, contains  about  eighty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  the  capi- 
tal of  Tuscany  (which  was  the  ancient  Etruria),  and  the  residence 
of  the  grand-duke.  It  is  divided  into  two  parts  by  the  river  Arno, 
over  which  are  four  very  good  bridges.  It  contains  various 
churches,  palaces,  piazzas,  and  public  statues,  which  are  worthy 
of  the  notice  of  a  traveller,  but  which,  if  described  in  detail,  would, 
at  best,  be  a  dry  story,  unless  one  had  a  greater  skill  at  this  kind 
of  delineation  than  I  have.  A  general  notice,  however,  of  what 
is  most  interesting,  cannot  fail  to  be  desirable  ;  and  if  but  tolerably 
executed,  must,  to  one  unacquainted,  be  interesting. 

The  Royal  Gallery*  This  is  a  collection  of  statuary  and  paint- 
ings, ancient  and  modern,  made  by  the  successive  sovereigns  of 
Tuscany,  and  especially  by  the  Medici  family.  The  princes  of 
this  family,  who  appear  to  owe  their  first  elevation  to  wealth  ac- 
cumulated in  the  commerce  of  the  Levant,  applied  a  portion  of 
their  vast  means  to  the  encouragement  of  the  arts  and  of  literature, 
and  to  the  collection  of  the  most  rare  specimens  of  the  ancient 
artists  that  had  survived  the  wreck  of  the  northern  barbarians. 
The  works  of  the  most  celebrated  artists  of  modern  times,  together 
with  the  antiques,  are  arranged  in  three  long  corridors,  two  of 
four  hundred  and  thirty  feet  each,  and  one  of  ninety-seven  feet,  and 
numerous  side  cabinets  and  halls,  making  in  the  whole,  I  think, 
about  twenty-two.  The  ceilings  of  most  of  these  apartments  are 
painted  with  elegant  frescoes  by  the  first  artists.  Here  are  ar- 
ranged ancient  busts  of  the  most  eminent  men ;  here  also  is  a 
great  number  of  ancient  sarcophagi,  statues,  and  bronzes ;  here  are 
medals,  inscriptions,  gems,  Egyptian  antiquities,  vases,  and  paint- 
ings. The  paintings  are  of  all  the  different  schools,  viz.,  Tuscan, 
Italian,  Dutch,  Flemish,  French,  and  Venetian,  and  are  arranged  in 

*  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  I  had  not  yet  seen  Holland  nor  the  south  of  Italy 
Compared  with  the  former,  our  cities  are  filthy ;  and  compared  with  the  latter,  the  cities 
of  Tuscany  are  cleanly. 


152  ITALY. 

separate  cabinets.  Here  are  portraits  of  nearly  three  hundred 
painters,  mostly  executed  by  themselves.  The  cabinet  of  gems 
is  most  splendid,  and  it  seems,  in  the  various  ingenious  forms  into 
which  they  have  been  wrought,  that  much  time  of  the  greatest 
artists  has  been  employed  on  these  splendid  baubles.  Millions, 
perhaps,  of  value  are  concentrated  in  this  one  cabinet. 

But  the  great  centre  of  attraction  is  the  cabinet  called  the  Trib- 
une. Here,  among  other  ancient  statues  and  elegant  paintings, 
»s  the  famous  Venus  de  Medici,  that  chef  d'&uvre  of  art,  the 
beau  ideal  of  beauty,  the  wonder  of  the  world.  This  statue  was 
found  in  Adrian's  villa  at  Rome,  and  is  very  generally  attributed 
to  Praxiteles,  the  Greek  artist,  and,  if  correctly,  it  has  been  in  be- 
ing between  twenty-one  and  twenty-two  hundred  years,  as  Prax- 
iteles flourished  more  than  three  hundred  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era !  This  goddess  has  not  passed  down  the  stream  of  time, 
in  some  of  the  most  troublous  eras  of  history,  without  loss.  It 
is  indeed  wonderful  that  she  could  have  escaped  with  only  the 
loss  of  one  arm  and  part  of  the  other,  and  some  small  fractures 
in  other  parts.  These  all,  however,  have  been  restored  with 
great  care  and  skill,  so  as  not  to  mar  the  general  appearance  of 
the  statue ;  though,  perhaps,  the  restorations  are  not  equal  to  the 
original.  The  position  is  modest,  if  a  female  figure  in  a  state 
of  perfect  nudity  can  have  that  epithet  applied  to  it,  and  the 
body  and  limbs  are  most  beautifully  fashioned ;  but  the  head  is 
too  small,  and  phrenologists  say  she  has  every  indication  of 
being  a  fool.  Although  I  have  no  great  faith  in  phrenology,  I 
must  confess  there  is  nothing  in  the  countenance  or  head  of 
this  Venus  that  would  lead  me  to  admire  her  if  she  was  flesh 
and  blood  ;  as  a  work  of  art,  however,  it  is  undoubtedly  admi- 
rable. This  would  accord  with  my  own  judgment;  and  this  I 
must  concede,  at  any  rate,  because  all  the  world  have  so  decided. 
I  confess  I  am  not  as  enthusiastic  an  admirer  of  statuary  as  some, 
especially  of  imitations  of  the  human  frame.  As  forms  alone  are 
the  province  of  the  sculptor,  he  is  limited  in  his  sphere.  He  can- 
not portray  those  workings  of  the  immortal  mind  in  the  counte- 
nance, and  those  flashings  of  intellectual  fire  in  the  eye,  which  out- 
weigh every  other  visible  attribute  of  the  "  human  form  divine." 
However,  I  have  no  objection  to  marble  men  and  women ;  they 
certainly  have  their  interest;  but  long  may  the  time  be  before 
naked  human  figures  shall  be  exhibited  on  the  American  shores* 


THE    PALAZZO    PITTI.  153 

At  present,  such  an  exhibition  would  not  be  tolerated ;  and  it  is 
at  first  one  of  the  objects  that  surprise  us,  that  men  and  women 
can  mingle  together,  and  examine,  without  embarrassment,  these 
undraped  works  of  art :  yet  so  it  is ;  and  American  ladies,  who, 
like  the  rest  of  their  sex,  readily  fall  into  the  fashions  of  times 
and  places,  soon  become  familiar  to  such  exhibitions. 

Another  Venus  has  risen  up  at  Flprence,  in  modern  days,  from 
the  chisel  of  Canova,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  rivals  the 
antique.  Although  this  Venus  is  not  in  the  gallery,  but  in  the 
Palazzo  Pitti,  of  which  I  shall  speak  presently,  yet,  as  these 
two  editions  of  the  goddess  of  love  are  generally  spoken  of  to- 
gether, I  will  here  say  that  Canova's  Venus  evidently  has  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  other  in  that  she  has  a  drapery  thrown  around 
her,  which,  instead  of  concealing,  rather  heightens  her  charms ;  and 
also,  that  she  has,  in  the  judgment  of  many,  a  better  head  and  a 
nobler  countenance ;  but  the  limbs  and  general  form  are  in  other 
respects  inferior.  But  to  be  only  inferior  to  the  former  is  great 
merit;  and  to  be  superior  in  any  respect  is  more  meritorious 
still.  Canova  was  a  great  artist,  and  it  may  be  long  before  another 
will  rise  up  to  fill  his  place. 

In  this  same  Cabinet  of  the  Tribune  are  various  other  admi 
rable  statues  and  paintings,  such  as  Apollo,  the  Knife-whetter, 
&c.,  of  the  former ;  and  of  the  latter,  two  Venuses  by  Titian,  St. 
John  by  Andrea  del  Sarto,  another  St.  John  and  two  other  pictures 
by  Raphael,  and  several  others  by  Rubens,  Vandyck,  and  other 
celebrated  masters.  One  can  form  but  an  imperfect  conception 
of  this  gallery  of  the  arts  until  he  has  seen  it,  or  one  similar. 
Months  might  be  spent  in  it  without  exhausting  the  subjects. 

Palazzo  Pitti.  This  palace  is  so  named  after  a  noble  Floren- 
tine, who  began  to  build,  but  was  not  able  to  finish  it.  It  is  now  the 
palace  of  the  Gran-due,  who,  however,  does  not  reside  here,  but 
has  a  more  domestic  palace  near  by  for  his  family  residence. 
The  building  itself  has  been  compared,  in  its  external  aspect,  to  a 
prison  ;  but  to  me  it  has  a  grand  and  an  interesting  appearance. 
It  is  an  imposing  structure,  with  a  rusticated  basement,  and  the 
whole  finished  after  the  Florentine  style  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
It  is  connected  with  beautiful  gardens,  which  are  laid  out  on  a 
plan  very  different  from  the  public  grounds  called  gardens  which 
we  had  seen  in  France.  The  growth  was  principally  shrubbery 

U 


154  ITALY. 

of  evergreens,  and  hence,  through  the  winter,  it  is  dressed  in  beau- 
tiful foliage.  The  day  we  were  in  it  was  remarkably  warm  for 
the  season,  which,  together  with  the  verdant  appearance  of  the 
grounds,  served  to  transport  us  suddenly  from  the  severe  winter 
we  had  been  experiencing  the  preceding  days  into  the  delights  and 
verdure  of  summer.  The  grounds  are  on  a  side  hill,  from  the 
upper  part  of  which  we  had.  a  most  splendid  view,  not  only  of  the 
city,  but  of  the  environs,  the  neighbouring  villas,  the  luxuriant 
plains,  and  the  more  distant  mountains  ;  a  view  which,  in  our 
country,  would  be  perfect  enchantment,  but  which,  from  what  I 
have  seen  of  Italy,  is  here  attended  with  such  associations  as  de- 
tract greatly  from  the  charms  of  vision.  These  plains,  melhinks, 
are  rife  with  a  beggarly  population ;  and  that  dazzling  array  of 
glowing  white  walls,  throwing  back  the  rays  of  an  Italian  sun,  is 
nothing  but  coarse  stucco,  daubed  upon  coarser  stone  walls  of 
cheerless  and  dirty  edifices. 

But  let  us  go  inside  of  this  palace ;  and  why  should  I  take  the 
reader  within  ?  for  I  cannot  go  round  these  splendid  apartments 
in  my  description.  Through  a  large  suite  of  rooms  the  eye  rests 
continually  on  the  first  paintings  of  the  first  artists ;  such  as  Ra- 
phael, Rubens,  Titian,  Andrea  del  Sarto,  Carlo  Dolci,  Salvator 
Rosa,  Guido,  and  numerous  others.  The  best  of  them,  in  my 
humble  opinion,  is  Mars  escaping  from  the  arms  of  Venus,  by 
Rubens.  There  are  also  two  or  three  unrivalled  Madonas,  espe 
cially  one  by  Raphael.  One  of  these  rooms,  the  largest,  if  I  rightly 
remember,  in  the  suite,  is  the  most  splendid,  on  the  whole,  that  I 
ever  beheld.  The  ceiling  has  a  magnificent  fresco  painting  of 
Homer's  Council  of  the  Gods,  the  walls  are  entirely  covered  with 
the  most  splendid  paintings,  and  the  room  set  off  with  elegant 
marble  tables,  with  mosaic  work  of  pietra  dura.  The  mouldings 
were  gilded,  and  the  wainscoting  of  the  room  was  rich  silk  tapes- 
try, and  all  the  furniture  in  corresponding  style.  One  gazes  with 
ceaseless  wonder  at  the  triumphs  of  genius  and  of  art. 

Much  of  interest  is  lost  in  these  galleries  of  Italian  paintings 
by  the  constant  repetition  of  the  same  subject :  Christ  on  the 
Cross,  and  Christ  taken  down  from  the  Cross,  the  Madona,  the 
Holy  Family,  Mary  Magdalen,  John  the  Baptist,  &c.,  are  re- 
peated and  repeated  until  one  is  weary  of  the  sight.  Indeed,  ] 
cannot  conceive  that  the  artist  himself  is  entitled  to  so  muci 


MUSEUM    OF   NATURAL    HISTORY.  165 

credit  for  success  in  these  oft-repeated  subjects ;  for  he  has 
copies  before  him  from  which,  by  selection  and  combination,  he 
may  make  an  excellent  picture  without  any  originality  of  genius. 
There  is  also  so  much  quaintness  and  fiction  in  many  of  these 
designs,  that  one  cannot  but  be  disgusted.  The  Holy  Family,  for 
instance,  is  generally  painted  with  a  little  boy,  designed  for  John 
the  Baptist ;  but  how  he  became  a  member  of  the  family  of 
Joseph  it  is  difficult  to  determine.  The  Virgin  is  often  gorgeously 
attired ;  sometimes  represented  as  a  queen ;  and,  in  a  great  ma- 
jority of  cases,  whether  in  births,  or  crucifixions,  or  circumcisions 
(for  there  are  a  number  of  these  latter),  there  are  numerous  celes- 
tial beings,  in  the  form  of  cherubs,  peeping  through  the  clouds, 
and  bearing  wreaths  and  crowns.  In  addition  to  the  paintings  in 
these  apartments  there  are  most  costly  and  splendid  mosaic  tables, 
elegant  clocks  and  cabinets,  and,  finally,  the  Venus  of  Canova  al- 
ready mentioned. 

Adjoining  the  Pitti  palace  is  the  Museum  of  Natural  History. 
This  has  a  most  splendid  collection  of  anatomical  preparations  in 
wax.  Dr.  Johnson  says,  in  his  work  on  Change  of  Air,  &c.,  that 
although  these  preparations  are  not  "  particularly  correct,"  they 
are  sufficiently  so  for  general  scientific  purposes.  They  are  not 
so  much,  however,  a  collection  of  the  system  diseased  as  of  all 
parts  of  the  healthy  subject,  in  every  possible  aspect  of  dissection, 
and  at  every  possible  age,  before  and  after  birth.  The  spongy 
and  thick-leafed  plants  also,  that  cannot  be  preserved,  are  here  all 
formed  in  wax  ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  and  what  excels  all  the 
rest,  is  the  representation  of  the  plague,  which  is  so  perfect  and 
so  horrible,  that  the  sensation  produced  by  looking  at  it  is  exces- 
sively painful.  Here  are  dead  bodies  in  all  the  different  stages 
of  putrefaction,  with  rats,  and  bugs,  and  other  vermin  rioting  upon 
the  unburied  carcasses.  It  is  horribly  true  to  the  life,  or  rather,  I 
should  say,  to  the  death.  There  is  also  a  fine  and  extensive  col- 
lection of  stuffed  birds,  beasts,  and  reptiles,  with  an  equally  fine 
cabinet  of  minerals  and  petrifactions. 

The  Academy  of  the  Fine  Arts,  in  an  opposite  part  of  the  city, 
is  interesting,  especially  as  it  shows  the  history  of  the  art  of  paint- 
ing, from  its  rude  character  in  the  twelfth  century  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  To  this  collection  each  of  the  proteges  of  government, 
who  are  supported  at  Rome  at  the  public  expense,  are  obliged  to 


156  ITALY. 

furnish  a  picture  for  each  of  the  two  years  they  are  thus  supported. 
The  fine  arts  are  cultivated  in  Tuscany  at  the  expense  of  common 
education  and  general  comfort ;  nay,  I  may  say,  at  the  expense  of 
food  for  the  poor.  The  government  can  do  very  little  for  common 
schools  or  colleges  even,  but  it  can  send  every  promising  young 
artist  to  Rome,  to  be  educated  two  years  at  the  public  expense, 
and  it  can  build  a  royal  chapel  which  costs  millions. 

In  the  same  building  with  the  Academy  of  Arts  is  the  manufac- 
ture of  pietra  dura,  or  hard  stone.  It  is  a  mosaic,  which,  instead 
of  being  wrought  and  shaded  with  painted  glass,  like  ordinary 
mosaics,  is  wrought  in  a  tablet  of  slate  or  marble,  with  precious 
stones  of  the  natural  colour ;  the  only  manufacture  of  the  kind, 
it  is  said,  in  the  world ;  and,  like  that  of  the  Royal  Gobelin  tapes- 
try in  Paris,  it  is  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  sovereign,  and  the 
artists  are  allowed  to  work  for  no  one  else.  This  seems  a  hard 
case  too,  for  the  poor  fellows  only  receive,  we  were  informed,  a 
half  a  crown  a  day  for  labouring  at  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
arts  in  the  world,  without  the  most  distant  hope  of  promotion,  or 
even  the  slightest  public  reputation.  So  much  for  absolute  au- 
thority. This  is  state  slavery. 

The  great  difficulty  in  this  work  is  to  match  the  stones  with 
the  requisite  shades.  To  this  end  all  the  variegated  colours  of 
the  most  beautiful  stones  and  gems  are  procured  and  arranged  for 
the  use  of  the  artist.  To  give  some  idea  of  the  expense  of  this 
kind  of  manufacture ;  one  table,  which  was  pointed  out  to  us,  and 
which  was  nearly  finished  for  the  altar  of  the  royal  chapel,  had 
employed  twelve  persons  for  eight  years,  and  would  cost  twenty 
thousand  crowns.  Indeed,  a  great  portion  of  the  industry  of  this 
manufacture  is  now,  and  has  been  for  many  years,  devoted  to  this 
chapel,  generally  called  the  Chapel  of  the  Medici.  Hence,  in 
this  connexion,  it  may  be  in  place  to  speak  of  this  chapel.  It  is 
designed  not  so  much  for  a  place  of  worship  as  for  a  public  mon- 
ument. It  was  commenced  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  is  still  far  from  being  completed.  Three  hundred 
workmen  were  at  one  time  employed  upon  it.  It  is  an  octagon 
figure,  and  is  literally  encased  with  marble  and  precious  stones, 
and  much  of  the  lower  part  of  the  walls  is  covered  with  the  Flor- 
entine mosaic.  It  is  thus  that  for  mere  purposes  of  pride  and 
show  princes  empoverish  their  subjects,  and  so  exhaust  the  re- 


CHURCHES  OF  FLORENCE.  157 

sources  of  the  country,  that  they  have  no  means  of  alleviating  the 
sufferings  or  enlightening  the  ignorance  of  their  subjects. 

But  I  hasten  to  glance  at  one  or  two  other  subjects,  and  leave 
Florence,  for  I  feel  that  I  have  delayed  here  already  too  long. 
The  Cathedral,  orDwomo,  a  majestic  building,  was  finished  in  1445, 
said  to  be  four  hundred  and  twenty-six  Paris  feet  in  length.  The 
building  is  cased  externally  by  white  and  black  polished  marble, 
and  beside  it  is  a  Campinile,  or  tower  of  a  quadrangular  form,  two 
hundred  and  eighty  Paris  feet  in  height,  of  black  and  red  polished 
marble.  It  is  counted  the  finest  in  Italy,  but  to  me  both  edifices 
have  a  very  quaint  appearance ;  nevertheless,  they  are  magnifi- 
cent. The  Baptistry,  in  the  same  group,  corresponds  with  the 
Duomo  and  the  Campinile,  and  is  covered  with  a  dome.  The 
doors  are  of  bronze,  and  are  so  fine  that  Michael  Angelo  said 
"  they  deserved  to  have  been  the  gates  of  paradise." 

The  Chiesa  di  St.  Croce,  or  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross,  is  partic- 
ularly interesting  for  the  tombs  of  the  great  men  who  are  buried  in 
it.  First  and  foremost  is  that  of  Michael  Angelo  himself,  one  of 
the  sublimest  geniuses  of  his  or  any  age,  and  a  noble  champion  for 
the  independence  of  his  country.  He  died  at  Rome  in  1563,  in 
the  eighty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  but  his  body  was  removed  to 
Florence  and  buried  here.  Here  also  is  the  tomb  of  Alfieri,  the 
great  Italian  tragedian,  who  left  his  native  country,  Piedmont,  in 
disgust  at  the  .arbitrary  character  of  the  government,  and  went  to 
Florence  to  live  and  die ;  this  is  by  Canova.  Here  also  is  the 
tomb  of  Machiavelli,  whose  memory  is  honoured,  although  all 
kinds  of  opprobium  have  been  heaped  upon  him,  until  Machiavel- 
lian policy  has  come  to  be  an  epithet  of  proverbial  reproach.* 
Here,  too,  is  a  monument  of  Galileo,  the  great  astronomer,  who 
was  at  first  buried  in  unconsecrated  ground  because  a  supersti- 
tious age  thought  his  philosophical  discoveries  savoured  of  heresy ! 
And  here  is  a  monument  of  Dante,  the  father  of  Italian  poetry  and 
the  great  advocate  of  Italian  liberty.  All  these,  and  many  others 
which  I  cannot  mention,  have  splendid  monuments,  some  of  them 

*  Machiavelli  distinguished  himself  more  than  once  in  opposition  to  theMedicean  tyr- 
anny. This  brought  him  to  the  torture  in  one  instance,  and  left  him  to  live  unpatronised 
and  die  in  poverty ;  and  yet,  in  his  work  called  "  The  Prince,"  he  is  accused  of  favour- 
ing tyranny,  and  reducing  it  to  a  diabolical  science  !  Grant  it.  But  why  did  he  write  it  ? 
Was  it  not  for  reasons  and  for  purposes  that  more  properly  show  his  abhorrence  of  tyranny 
rather  than  his  approbation  of  it  ? 

14 


158  ITALY. 

designed  by  the  first  masters.  It  is  a  rich  feast  to  visit  such  a 
church  as  this ;  there  is  something  in  the  association  with  the 
mighty  dead,  whose  names  have  sounded  over  the  earth,  and 
whose  immortal  genius  has  contributed  to  elevate  the  human 
race,  that  far  excels  any  other  monuments,  however  splendid. 
It  is  but  their  ashes  that  slumber  here,  we  grant ;  but  there  is 
a  propriety  in  honouring  them,  and  treating  their  remains  with 
respect.  Who  can  gaze  upon  the  tombs  of  such  men,  whatever 
may  be  the  character  of  the  mausoleum  itself,  without  strong 
emotions  ?  It  is  this  feeling  of  our  nature  which,  carried  to  ex- 
cess, has  led  to  that  superstitious  and  idolatrous  veneration  for 
relics  and  images  so  common  in  Catholic  countries  ;  and  it  is 
the  excessive  cultivation  of  this  principle  that  makes  the  Italians 
more  tenacious  than  perhaps  any  other  people  of  the  remains  and 
ashes  of  their  great  men.  Although,  in  their  lifetime,  their  Pe- 
trarchs,  and  Dantes,  and  Boccaccios,  and  Machiavellis,  and  Gali- 
leos were  persecuted,  banished,  and  tortured,  yet  the  tyranny, 
the  caprice,  or  the  bigotry  which  led  to  this  passes  away  with  the 
age,  and  the  immortal  geniuses  that  have  shone  forth  in  their  works 
brighten  after  their  death,  until  rival  cities,  who  vied  with  each 
other  in  discarding  the  living,  are  ready  to  claim  the  honour  of 
affording  a  resting-place  for  the  dead,  and  of  enforcing  that  claim, 
as  they  have  sometimes  done,  even  at  the  expense  of  a  national 
war.  Abused,  however,  as  this  is — as  what  law  of  our  nature 
may  not  be  abused  ? — still,  to  a  certain  extent,  this  veneration  for 
whatever  has  been  associated  with  such  minds,  and  especially  for 
their  mortal  remains,  is  in  accordance  with  the  best  feelings  of 
our  nature,  and  has  a  tendency  both  to  improve  the  heart  and  to 
encourage  genius. 

During  our  stay  at  Florence  I  made  such  inquiries  as  time  and 
circumstances  would  permit  into  the  state  of  education  in  Tus- 
cany, and  I  am  sorry  to  be  able  to  make  but  a  poor  report  for  this 
important  cause  in  this  Athens  of  Italy.  Some  twelve  or  fifteen 
years  since  the  Lancasterian  mode  of  instruction  was  introduced 
here  by  some  of  the  Tuscan  nobility ;  it  has  not  advanced,  I  be- 
lieve, beyond  a  school  or  two  in  some  of  the  principal  cities.  In 
Florence  there  is  one  school  of  about  two  hundred  boys.  This  is 
particularly  patronised  by  a  young  nobleman,  the  Marquis  Tor- 
rigiani.  He  is  a  commendable  instance  of  a  young  nobleman's  de 


EDUCATION    IN    FLORENCE.  159 

voting  himself  assiduously  to  the  cause  of  education  in  a  country 
where  the  government  looks  on  with  apathy,  and  sometimes  with 
jealousy ;  where  but  comparatively  few  of  the  men  of  standing 
and  ability  are  active,  and  where  the  ignorance  and  degradation 
of  the  poor  imperiously  claim  commiseration  and  aid.  I  visited 
this  Florentine  school,  and  met  the  marquis  there,  encouraging  by 
his  presence  both  teachers  and  pupils.  The  school  is  exercised 
in  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  drawing,  and  music.  On  my  ex- 
pressing surprise  that  geography  was  not  taught,  I  was  given 
to  understand  that  it  was  feared,  by  giving  these  boys  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  world,  their  ambition  might  be  excited  to  raise 
them  above  their  station  ! !  What  an  argument !  The  very  es- 
sence of  aristocracy,  legitimate  and  hereditary •.*  I  took  it  to  be 
the  objection,  not  of  those  who  particularly  patronised  the  school, 
but  of  the  government ;  the  government,  it  is  true,  was  not  named, 
for  the  Italians  speak  with  great  caution  on  any  subject  that  re- 
lates to  government  influence,  especially  to  strangers. t 

The  boys  of  this  school  were  bright,  active-looking  children-, 
more  so,  I  think,  than  the  same  number,  promiscuously  collected, 
from  the  lowest  classes  of  our  great  cities.  One  only  leading 
physical  defect  was  noticed,  that  of  sore  eyes ;  a  very  prevailing 
disease  in  Florence. 

Yours  truly, 

W.  FISK. 

*  The  principle  of  society  here,  generally,  seems  to  be,  that  every  one  must  keep  hi* 
own  level.  An  illustration  of  this  was  noticed  in  a  tavern  between  Florence  and  Pisa, 
where  a  man  told  us  that  he  had  been  garcon  (waiter)  in  that  hotel  forty  years.  This,, 
with  us,  would  be  a'phenomenon. 

t  Their  names,  in  connexion  with  their  observations,  have  sometimes  been  published 
by  travellers,  and  these  have  been  reported  to  the  authorities  at  home,  who  have  forth- 
with put  them  under  the  espionage  of  the  police.  There  are  many  government  spies  and 
informers ;  and  many  a  man  watches  his  words  and  guards  his  breath,  lest  the  feelings 
of  the  heart  should  flow  out  at  his  lips.  It  is  said  Lady  Morgan's  work  on  Italy,  in  which 
she  has  certainly  made  very  free  use  of  names  and  personalities,  operated  most  cruelly 
against  the  interest  and  personal  liberty  of  numbers  with  whom  she  had  been  intimate. 


160  ITALY. 

To  Professor  Holdich  of  the  Wesleyan  University 

Florence,  January  10, 1836. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, 

I  am  now,  as  you  see  by  the  date,  at  the  capital  of  Tuscany, 
and  in  the  celebrated  city  of  the  fine  arts — in  Italy.  We  arrived 
here  one  week  since,  have  seen  most  that  is  worth  seeing,  and 
have  made  our  arrangements  to  leave  on  Tuesday  next,  19lh  inst., 
for  Pisa  ;  shall  probably  go  thence  to  Leghorn,  near  by  Pisa,  and 
either  embark  on  board  a  steamboat  for  Naples,  or  go  on  by  land, 
according  to  the  accommodations  we  meet  with.  The  winter  has 
been  quite  severe  for  Italy,  and  we  feel  anxious  to  get  south  as 
soon  as  we  may ;  we  can  then  take  our  course  up  the  peninsula 
leisurely,  and  as  the  season  advances.  I  begin  already  to  feel 
weary  of  my  peregrinations,  and  look  forward  to  the  time  when  I 
may  return  to  my  own  native  land.  I  have  seen  nothing  that  will 
compare  with  America  for  a  comfortable  residence.  I  see  much 
of  splendour,  much  of  superstition,  much  of  art ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  much  of  poverty  and  of  sin.  Poor,  wretched  Italy  ! 
She  may  have  a  blue  sky,  a  fruitful  soil,  elegant  paintings,  and 
unrivalled  statuary ;  but  she  has  a  feeble  heart,  a  stinted  intel- 
lect, a  despotic  government,  a  miserable  peasantry,  and  a  corrupt 
religion.  When  and  how  shall  she  arise  from  her  degradation  ? 
Some  few  streaks  appear  in  her  dark  horizon,  and  one  of  the 
brightest  is  the  commencement  of  educating  the  indigent  children. 
I  have  this  day  visited  a  school  on  the  Lancasterian  plan,  under 
the  patronage  of  a  young  Florentine  nobleman,  the  Marquis  Tor- 
rigiani,  who  has  travelled  in  America,  and  become  well  acquainted 
with  our  language  and  our  institutions,  and  has  imbibed  liberal 
and  philanthropic  views,  and  is  now  devoting  his  time  to  the  youth 
of  his  country.  He  has  also  been  active  with  others  in  getting 
up  two  infant  schools  in  Florence,  for  one  of  which  they  have 
obtained  a  grant  of  a  public  room  from  government.*  This  insti- 
tution of  infant  schools  is  a  new  thing  for  Tuscany.  It  was  com- 
menced in  Pisa  by  an  excellent  lady  from  Geneva,  whose  acquaint- 
ance I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  making.  She  commenced  a  school 

*  The  leading  patron  of  the  infant  schools  in  Florence  is  another  young  nobleman, 

Count ,  who,  it  is  said,  has  made  himself  rather  unpopular  at  court  by  his  ac» 

tivity  in  this  cause. 


EDUCATION    IN    FLORENCE.  161 

of  six  poor  children  in  Pisa,  in  January,  1833,  with  no  other  re- 
sources than  sixty  Tuscan  crowns,  the  gift  of  a  generous  foreigner, 
with  which  she  hired  a  room,  and  purchased  a  little  furniture,  and 
threw  herself  upon  the  enterprise.  With  the  aid  of  donations  from 
foreigners  mostly,  assisted  and  sustained  by  a  Mr.  Frassi,  who  was 
with  her  from  the  first,  and  who  has  done  and  sacrificed  much  in 
the  cause,  she  persevered  and  won  upon  the  prejudices  and  op- 
position of  the  people  and  of  the  government  so  far,  that,  in  the 
autumn  of  1834,  an  association  had  been  formed,  and  money 
pledged  sufficient  to  support  the  school,  and  a  commodious  build- 
ing was  obtained  from  government  for  its  accommodation.  The 
school  is  now  very  flourishing,  and  is  divided  into  three  divisions 
— one  for  children  between  two  and  four,  one  for  those  between 
four  and  six,  and  a  primary  school  for  those  above  six.  The 
grand-duke  himself  condescended  to  visit  it,  and  expressed  great 
satisfaction  at  the  progress  of  the  children,  &c. ;  but  observed 
that  it  would  be  necessary  to  watch  it  closely,  for,  said  he,  "  We 
must  not  forget  that  this  was  introduced  among  us  by  heretics  ! !" 
Only  think  of  a  sovereign  who  not  only  will  do  nothing,  or  next 
to  nothing,  to  educate  the  children  of  his  subjects,  but  looks  upon 
the  attempts  of  others  to  do  this  with  suspicion  !  Poor,  contempt- 
ible policy!  and  that,  too,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in  the 
country  of  Dante,  and  Tasso,  and  Petrarch,  and  Boccaccio,  and 
Americus  Vespucius  of  more  modern  days,  and  in  the  land 
where  the  ancient  Latin  historians  and  poets  wrote  and  sung^ 
Indeed,  this  poor  satellite  of  Austria,  who  is  herself  but  a  second- 
ary of  that  northern  autocrat  that  threatens  "  to  oppose  a  will  of 
iron  to  the  march  of  liberal  principles,"  finds  enough  to  do  to  keep 
his  subjects  in  submission,  and  watch  with  the  utmost  vigilance 
and  jealousy  all  foreigners.  I  doubt,  in  fact,  whether  foreigners 
would  be  admitted  here  at  all  if  the  Italians  could  live  well  with- 
out them.  But  if  all  foreign  expenditures  should  be  withdrawn 
from  Italy,  they  would  find  their  poverty  insupportable.  As  it  is, 
with  millions  of  foreign  money  distributed  among  them  yearly, 
they  have  wretchedness  and  pauperism  in  abundance ;  and  it  must 
all  be  owing  to  the  government  and  to  their  religion.  The  valley 
of  the  Arno  is  a  second  paradise.  Its  grapes,  and  its  citrons,  and 
its  olives,  its  corn,  and  its  wine,  and  its  oil,  are  sufficient,  one 
would  think,  to  cheer  every  heart,  and  render  a  far  more  numerous 
population  contented  and  happy.  As  it  is,  the  streets  abound  with 
H  X 


162  ITALY. 

beggars,  and  the  residences  of  thousands  are  squalid  and  miser 
able.* 

The  present  grand-duke,  who,  as  you  know,  is  of  the  house  of 
Austria,  is  said  to  be  a  very  good  sort  of  man,  although  extremely 
bigoted  and  superstitious.  An  instance  of  his  bigotry  I  have  al- 
ready given  you  in  his  suspicion  of  the  schools,  and  I  might  have 
added,  that,  at  first,  his  suspicion  was  so  operative,  that  he  sent 
his  soldiers,  in  more  than  one  instance,  and  shut  up  the  schools. 
A  case  of  his  superstition  I  will  now  give.  You  must  know  a 
new  saint  has,  within  a  few  years,  been  discovered  in  Italy.  It 
is  a  damsel  of  the  time  of  the  Emperor  Domitian,  who  was  mar- 
tyred at  about  the  age  of  fifteen,  of  whom  there  is  a  long  story 
which  I  cannot  now  repeat ;  but  which,  however,  must  be  correct, 
because,  after  the  bones  were  discovered,  the  history  was  revealed 
in  the  visions  of  the  night,  and  has  been  published  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  all  good  Catholics.  This  saint  has  done  great  marvels ; 
and,  among  the  rest,  in  answer  to  the  prayers  and  the  vows  of  the 
grand-duke,  raised  up  his  sick  child  from  a  most  dangerous  ill- 
ness ;  whereupon  the  duke  has  performed  a  procession  in  her  hon- 
our, and  made,  I  am  informed,  some  valuable  presents  to  her  shrine. 

The  only  guarantee  the  people  have  for  their  life,  liberty,  or 
property,  is  the  will  of  a  single  individual.  I  can  hardly  realize 
it  when  I  reflect  that  I  am  in  a  land  where  the  caprice,  or  igno- 
rance, or  misinformation  of  one  individual  might  put  me  beyond 
the  reach  or  knowledge  of  countrymen  or  friends ;  and  the  spies 
of  that  individual  are  continually  looking  after  us.  We  were  ex- 
amined when  we  entered  the  duchy,  we  were  examined  when  we  en- 
tered the  city,  and  the  very  gate  and  hour  of  our  entry  were  mat- 
ters of  record.  We  had  our  passports  taken  from  us,  and  tempo- 
rary ones  sent  in  their  stead ;  we  reclaimed  them,  and  the  place 
of  our  exit  must  be  specified,  and  we  can  leave  in  no  other  way. 
We  have,  since  that,  stayed  over  three  days,  and  we  must  apply  to 
the  police  again,  for  any  vise  over  three  days'  standing  will  not  an- 
swer for  a  permit  to  depart.  Thus,  when  we  corne,  while  we 
stay,  and  when  we  go,  we  are  watched  with  a  sleepless  vigilance, 
arad  kept  under  a  most  offensive  surveillance.  Nay,  in  some 
cities  where  we  have  been,  the  police-officers  or  gendarmes  have 
followed  us  from  place  to  place  when  we  have  been  visiting  the 

*  Tuscany  was  once  much  more  populous  than  at  present.  The  city  of  Pisa,  it  is 
ssaid,  once  had  a  population  of  200,000,  now  it  has  18,000. 


GREENOUGH'S  STATUE  OF  WASHINGTON.  163 

churches  or  other  public  sights.  Where  there  is  so  much  fear 
there  must  be  guilt.  And  what  security  have  this  people  that  the 
present  duke,  who,  in  his  way,  and  for  one  of  the  old  divine-le- 
gitimacy school,  is  a  very  good  sort  of  man,  will  not  be  succeeded 
by  an  unprincipled  tyrant  ?  And  if  so,  what  can  save  them  from 
oppression  ?  Nothing  but  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and,  thanks  to  an 
overruling  Providence,  that  is  secretly  working  wonders,  and 
the  more  so  from  foreign  influence.  The  thousands  from  Eng- 
land and  America  are  disseminating  sentiments  and  feelings  that 
have  already  questioned,  in  language  that  made  thrones  tremble, 
the  jure-divino  of  kings  and  tyrants,  and  the  march  of  these  sen- 
timents is  irresistible.  They  may  throw  around  their  governments 
and  territories  their  political  cordon  sanitaire  as  much  and  as 
strictly  as  they  please ;  light  is  a  subtile  fluid,  and  it  will  circulate  ; 
and  happy  will  it  be  for  these  absolutists,  great  and  small,  if  they 
foresee  the  evil,  and  hide  themselves  by  voluntarily  adopting  those 
meliorations  that  the  spirit  of  the  age  requires  before  that  spirit 
clamorously  and  violently  seizes,  in  the  whirlpool  of  a  bloody 
revolution,  what  has  been  denied  to  the  calm  remonstrances  of  en- 
lightened reason. 

Our  countryman,  Mr.  Greenough,  is  proceeding  rather  slowly 
with  the  statue  of  Washington  which  government  has  ordered  foi 
the  rotunda  of  the  capitol,  owing,  as  he  informed  me,  to  his  not  hav 
ing  had  the  preparations  necessary  to  complete  the  work  furnished 
him.  These  preparations,  however,  have  now  been  made  ;  the 
plaster  mould  is  finished,  and  the  cast  in  plaster  will  be  completed 
in  about  a  fortnight.  It  may,  however,  be  two  years  before  the 
statue  is  complete.  Doubtless  it  will  do  the  artist  and  the  nation 
honour.  Mr.  G.  is  well  spoken  of  here  as  an  artist. 

Affectionately  yours, 

W.  FISK. 


CHAPTER  X. 

WE  left  Florence  on  the  19th  of  January,  and  arrived  at  Pisa 
on  the  20th.  Our  route  was  down  the  valley  of  the  Arno,  in  which 
we  saw  nothing  worthy  of  journalizing  in  detail.  The  ancient 
relics  of  feudal  castles,  as  usual  in  Italy  and  most  of  Europe,  were 


164  ITALY. 

scattered  along  the  way.  The  valley  is  rich,  and  highly  culti- 
vated ;  indeed,  the  whole  of  Tuscany  is  like  a  garden.  The  or- 
chards and  vineyards  are  abundant  and  beautiful.  I  had  occasion 
to  remirk  that  the  vineyards  of  France  did  not  come  up  to  my 
expectations  ;  but  I  cannot  say  this  of  Italy.  The  vines  are  gen- 
erally trained  on  trees  planted  at  convenient  distances  for  the 
purpose,  and  they  run  from  tree  to  tree  in  continued  and  luxuriant 
garlands.  The  entire  country,  in  fact,  is  a  vineyard;  and  be- 
tween the  ranges  of  vines,  every  foot  of  land  is  economically 
cultivated,  and  mostly  by  the  spade.  The  plough  is  seldom  used 
(and,  in  fact,  the  Tuscan  plough  is  an  awkward  thing,  make  the 
best  of  iO  ;  even  their  extensive  wheat-crops  spring  out  of  ridges 
thrown  up  by  the  spade. 

The  only  drawback  upon  the  pleasure  of  the  ride  from  Flor- 
ence was  the  illness  of  Mrs.  F.,  which  had  been  more  or  less 
afflicting  for  several  days  before  we  left,  and  which  now  increased 
every  hour.  When  we  arrived  at  that  best  of  traveller's  homes  in 
all  Italy,  the  Hotel  de  VHussard,  kept  by  Senior  Pevarada,  she 
was  obliged  to  call  in  a  physician  and  take  to  her  bed.  We 
were  gratified,  however,  to  learn  from  the  physician  that  the 
disorder  was  only  the  chicken-pox,  enraged  and  aggravated  by  ex- 
posures in  the  cold  galleries  of  Florence  just  at  the  time  when 
nature,  in  its  regular  course,  was  making  an  effort  to  throw  the 
disease  to  the  surface.  Connected  with  this  sickness,  however, 
was  another  painful  circumstance.  Ever  since  we  left  Paris 
there  had  been  five  of  us,  all  Americans,  in  company,  by  which 
we  had  been  able  to  form  a  society  of  our  own,  and  almost  forget, 
at  times,  that  we  were  in  a  land  of  strangers  ;  now,  however,  our 
company,  unwilling  to  be  detained,  deemed  it  necessary  to  leave  us. 
Their  departure,  for  the  moment,  oppressed  me  with  an  indescri- 
bable sense  of  loneliness.  To  be  left  with  a  sick  companion  in  a 
land  of  strangers,  whose  language  I  did  not  understand,  far  from 
my  country  and  friends,  in  the  hands  of  a  strange  landlord,. a 
strange  nurse,  and  a  strange  physician;  all  these  considerations 
swept  over  me  like  the  gloom  of  the  grave ;  and  could  I  have 
foreseen  my  own  sickness  also,  the  intensity  of  the  feeling  would 
doubtless  have  been  greatly  increased  ;  for,  immediately  upon  Mrs. 
F.'s  convalescence,  I  was  taken  ill  with  a  severe,  and,  for  a  time, 
painful  attack  of  local  inflammation,  by  occasion  of  which  illness, 


PISA.  165 

in  addition  to  that  of  Mrs.  F.,  we  were  detained  four  weeks  in  Pisa, 
a  great  part  of  which  was  a  season  of  mental  solicitude  and  bod- 
ily suffering.  But  a  kind  Providence  restored  us,  and,  what  is 
more,  raised  us  up  friends  when  most  we  needed  them.  The 
reader  will  excuse  this  allusion  to  our  personal  affairs,  which  is 
made  with  a  belief  that,  if  he  has  followed  us  thus  far,  he  will  not 
object  to  sympathize  a  little  with  our  afflictions ;  and,  at  any  rate, 
this  will  give  me  an  opportunity  of  bearing  testimony,  as  becomes 
me,  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoadley,  of  New-York,  who 
were  then  in  Pisa  for  her  health,  and  of  Mr.  Laughton,  their  trav- 
elling companion,  and  an  adopted  American  citizen,  in  whose 
sympathy  and  kind  attentions  we  daily  shared  during  our  stay ; 
as  also  in  favour  of  several  English  and  Italians,  to  whom  we  had 
introductions,  and  who  were  unexpectedly  kind  and  attentive ; 
our  landlord  also,  Mr.  Pevarada,  and  his  domestics,  were  uncom- 
monly kind  and  attentive.  We  found  more  comforts  than  at  any 
other  hotel  on  the  Continent;  everything  we  needed  was  kindly 
and  speedily  furnished,  and  the  whole  account  was  closed  with  a 
very  moderate  charge.  For  eight  days'  detention  and  sickness  at 
the  Ship  Hotel  in  Dover,  England,  we  paid  nearly  as  much  as  for 
four  weeks  atrlhe  Albergo  deW  Ussero  of  Senior  Pevarada.  I 
can  recommend  all  travellers  visiting  Pisa  to  call  upon  mine  host 
of  the  Hussar.  In  addition  to  keeping,  as  almost  all  travellers 
acknowledge,  and  as  accords  with  my  own  experience,  all  things 
considered,  the  most  comfortable  hotel  in  Italy,  he  acts  as  banker 
for  all  the  banking  and  exchange  business  of  Pisa,  on  the  most 
honourable  terms. 

On  the  history  of  Pisa  I  have  said  what  may  be  necessary  in  a 
work  of  this  kind,  in  the  sketches  of  Italian  history  with  which 
this  part  of  my  journal  has  been  introduced.  Suffice  it  to  say 
now,  it  is  greatly  fallen  from  its  former  opulence,  population,  and 
strength.  It  is  an  ancient  city.  It  is  reported  to  have  been  built 
soon  after  the  siege  of  Troy,  and  was  certainly  a  place  of  some 
note  early  in  the  history  of  Rome  ;  and  although,  in  the  days  of  its 
independence  and  glory,  it  contained  two  hundred  thousand  in- 
habitants, the  number  is  now  reduced  to  eighteen  thousand ;  its 
trade  is  comparatively  nothing,  and  a  great  portion  of  the  citizens 
seem  to  have  little  employment.  Like  many  other  Italian  cities,, 
its  chief  dependance  seems  to  be  upon  foreigners  who  travel 


166  ITALY. 

through  or  transiently  reside  here,  and  especially  the  English. 
I  was  informed  by  an  intelligent  Italian  gentleman,  -who  has  trav- 
elled more  extensively  in  Italy,  and  has  a  more  extensive  personal 
acquaintance  with  its  general  business  character  than  perhaps 
almost  any  other  man  living,  that  a  great  portion  of  the  Italian 
cities,  under  the  existing  policy,  would  be  unable  to  sustain  them- 
selves but  for  the  money  spent  among  them  by  foreigners.  They 
must  otherwise  sink  into  beggary,  and  the  population  rapidly  waste 
away. 

As  a  specimen  of  what  is  spent  here  by  strangers,  take  the  fol- 
lowing fact,  given  me  by  Mr.  Pevarada,  the  banker  of  Pisa,  viz., 
that  last  year,  from  the  first  of  October  to  the  last  of  February, 
the  average  foreign  draughts  through  his  office  alone  were  four  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  crowns  per  day.  These  draughts  must  have  been 
almost  exclusively  for  money  spent  in  the  country,  since  commer- 
cial draughts  are  almost  all  executed  at  Leghorn,  the  principal  place 
of  trade  for  Tuscany,  and  even  for  all  this  part  of  Italy.  The  fact 
of  Leghorn's  being  but  fourteen  miles  from  Pisa,  and  of  its  be- 
ing the  chief  business  place  for  the  country,  will  also  make  it  the 
point  at  which  most  travellers  will  negotiate  their  draughts.  This 
consideration,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  London  and  Paris 
bankers,  from  whom  travellers  usually  take  their  bills  of  credit, 
do  not  generally  name  Pisa,  but  insert  only  the  bankers  of  Flor- 
ence, Rome,  Naples,  Venice,  Milan,  and  the  other  larger  cities, 
will  show  that  Pisa  gets  but  the  gleanings  of  the  vintage,  the  drops 
of  the  passing  bucket.  If,  then,  Pisa  draws  sixty-three  thousand 
three  hundred  and  sixty-three  crowns  during  five  months,  what 
must  be  drawn  annually  in  all  Italy  ?  I  venture  to  say,  several 
millions.  Now  when  it  is  remembered  that  most  of  this  money 
is  spent  by  the  English,  whose  liberal,  dashing  manner  of  throwing 
out  their  change  is  well  known,  connected  with  the  fact  that  every 
traveller  in  Italy  soon  learns,  that  most  of  the  Italians  will  get 
double  the  worth  of  their  articles,  if  they  can,  by  asking  it, 
something  of  an  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  portion  contributed 
by  foreign  capital  in  support  of  Italy.  The  beggars  which  throng 
her  cities  get  their  greatest  harvest  from  foreigners.  They  know 
a  foreigner  as  soon  as  they  see  him,  and,  passing  all  others,  they 
select  him  as  the  object  of  importunity  ;  they  follow  his  carriage, 
they  watch  round  the  door  of  his  hotel,  they  pursue  him  in  the 


FOREIGNERS  THE  CHIEF  SUPPORT  OF  GOVERNMENT.    167 

streets,  crying,  in  the  most  piteous  tones,  sono  miserabile,  signore  ! 
sono  multo  miserabile  !  "  I  am  miserable,  sir,  I  am  very  misera- 
ble," And  who  that  sees  them  can  doubt  it?  These  appeals  and 
importunities  the  stranger  cannot  well  resist.*  In  short,  the  trav- 
eller, and  the  country  is  full  of  them  in  ordinary  seasons,  is  con- 
stantly throwing  out  his  money,  thus  giving  direct  employment 
and  livelihood  to  tens  of  thousands,  and  indirect  aid  to  all  the  rest. 
He  supports  the  custom-house  officers,  the  passport-examiners, 
the  veturinos,  the  innkeepers  and  their  servants,  the  gate-senti- 
nels, the  police-officers,  and  furnishes  cash  and  activity  for  the 
limited  business  of  the  country. 

The  present  season,  Italy  generally,  and  Pisa  especially,  suffer 
seriously  in  consequence  of  the  nonarrival  of  the  usual  number 
of  strangers.  •  This  is  owing  to  the  cholera  the  past  autumn,  and 
the  consequent  quarantine  and  sanitary  regulations.  Almost  all 
the  English  stopped  short  of  Italy,  some  in  Belgium  and  Germa- 
ny, and  many,  very  many,  in  France.  The  whole  country,  in 
consequence,  feels  the  effect ;  and  I  have  been  informed  that  the 
government  of  Rome  has  found  it  necessary  to  double  the  num- 
ber employed  on  the  various  public  works,  to  prevent  suffering 
and  death,  or  the  increase  of  thefts  and  robberies  occasioned  by 
the  pressure  of  want.  But  the  government  could  not  sustain  itself 
long  if  this  supply  of  foreign  patronage  were  cut  off.  Thus  in- 
terest clashes  with  interest.  If  the  pope  and  the  cardinals  mean 
to  maintain  their  religious  supremacy,  they  must  not  suffer  so 
much  Protestant  and  liberal  breath  to  be  exhaled  in  their  atmo- 
sphere ;  but  if  they  exclude  these,  they  will  be  thrown  upon  the 
other  painful  alternative.  There  is  no  doubt  which  policy,  there- 
fore, will  prevail.  The  powers  that  be  think  the  poison  will  not 
work  in  their  day,  at  least  not  seriously,  much  less  fatally ;  hence 
they  will  keep  open  the  avenues  by  which  they  receive  their  daily 
bread,  and  leave  the  several  religious  and  political  results  to  be 
provided  for  by  their  descendants.  This  the  priesthood  can  do 
the  more  readily,  as  they  have  few  ties  to  bind  them  to  posterity. 
They  are  barren  and  solitary  trees,  that  fatten  on  the  soil  in  their 
generation,  and  leave  no  shoots  behind  (at  least  none  that  are  rec- 


On  one  occasion,  being  pressed  by  two  of  these  beggars,  I  directed  them  to  a  pair  of 
full-fed  priests  that  happened  to  be  passing.  "Ah  prete  !  prete  !"  they  exclaimed,  and 
immediately  turned  away. 


168  ITALY. 

ognised  by  family  ties)  to  subsist  on  the  moisture  that  may  be 
left.  They  have  every  prospect  of  an  increase  of  foreigners  in- 
stead of  a  diminution.  England  will  doubtless  continue  to  sup- 
ply her  quota,  and  America  is  increasing  her  Italian  envoys  annu- 
ally. This  year,  since  the  first  of  December,  more  than  double 
the  number  of  Americans  have  entered  their  names  in  the  stran- 
ger's book  in  the  hotel  of  the  Hussar,  in  Pisa,  to  that  of  all  oth- 
ers. Indeed,  the  landlord  said,  but  for  his  American  company,  he 
should  be  almost  destitute  of  patronage  the  present  season.  The 
Americans,  having  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  a  view  of  visiting 
Italy,  were  not  to  be  deterred  from  their  object,  although  it  was 
late  before  they  were  permitted  to  pass  ;  they  entered  the  barriers 
as  soon  as  they  were  passable,  preferring  a  winter's  journey,  either 
by  sea  from  Marseilles,  or  over  the  Alps  and  Apennines  by  land, 
to  the  relinquishment  of  their  object. 

Pisa  is  beautifully  located  on  each  side  the  Arno,  which  is 
crossed  in  the  city  by  three  fine  bridges.  The  river  sweeps  round 
through  the  city  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  from  east  to  west  near- 
ly. This  makes  the  Lung'  Arno,  or  street  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Arno,  which  is  the  principal  street  in  the  city,  a  concave  mirror, 
gathering  in  and  concentrating,  through  the  whole  day,  the  rays 
of  the  sun.  On  this  side,  therefore,  in  a  sunny  day,  you  have, 
even  in  winter,  almost  a  summer  heat,  while,  perhaps,  on  the  op- 
posite side  the  thermometer  may  be  considerably  below  the  freez- 
ing point.  This,  together  with  the  fact  of  the  city's  being  very 
much  defended  from  the  tramontane  winds  by  the  neighbouring 
mountains,  is  what  has  given  to  Pisa  the  credit  of  a  fine  winter 
residence  for  invalids.  But  the  poor  consumptive  has  to  keep  in 
the  focus,  or  at  least  within  the  perimeter  of  his  concave  lens  on 
a  winter's  day,  or  he  will  find  the  sudden  transition  from  summer 
to  winter  as  pernicious  as  the  mountain  wind  of  Florence.  On 
the  one  side  you  need  a  parasol  to  defend  off  the  sun,  and  on  the 
other  you  require  a  cloak  lined  with  flannel.  This  leads  to  the 
singular  exhibition,  frequently,  of  a  parasol  spread  over  a  thick 
winter  mantle. 

Pisa  is  of  more  cleanly  appearance  than  almost  any  other  city 
in  Italy  we  have  visited.  Its  principal  works  of  art  interesting  to 
strangers  are  all  comprised  in  a  very  small  compass,  consisting  of 
the  Duomo,  or  Cathedral,  and  its  contents,  the  Baptistry,  the  Lean 


PUBLIC    EDIFICES    OF    PISA.  169 

ing  Campanile,  and  the  Campo  Santo.  These  are  all  in  one  clus- 
ter, and  are  so  situated  as  to  be  taken  in  at  one  view.  The  Du- 
omo  was  built  principally  of  the  spoils  of  the  Saracens  of  Palermo, 
taken  in  the  expedition  of  1063.  The  columns,  of  which  there  are 
seventy-four  in  the  interior  of  the  church,  of  different  materials, 
and  different  styles,  and  unequal  lengths,  and  yet  so  arranged  by 
the  architect  that  the  inequality  is  not  noticed  as  a  deformity,  were 
all  brought  from  Palermo.  Many  elegant  marbles  adorn  the  edi- 
fice, besides  the  verde  antique,  lapis  lazuli,  bronze  gilt,  and  por 
phyry,  &c.,  which  adorn  the  twelve  altars,  all  of  which  were  built 
after  the  designs  of  Michael  Angelo.  The  church  contains  also 
some  beautiful  paintings.  The  external  walls  are  adorned  with 
various  marbles  and  columns ;  the  front,  especially,  has  six  mag- 
nificent columns  of  Grecian  marble,  oriental  granite,  and  porphyry. 
The  style  is  singular.  It  is  a  mixture  of  Grecian  and  Arabic, 
and  the  splendid  ancient  materials  are  so  mingled  m  with  each 
other,  although  differing  among  themselves  both  in  style,  mate- 
rial, and  magnitude,  and  so  contrasted  with  the  modern  materials, 
which  are  again  peculiar  from  all  the  others,  that  you  feel  amused 
as  you  gaze  upon  it ;  and  yet  the  incongruity  is  not  ludicrous,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  you  are  charmed  to  see  with  what  skill  this  vari- 
ety is  blended  and  harmonized. 

The  Baptistry  is  an  octagonal  edifice,  of  white  marble,  built  in 
the  twelfth  century,  at  which  period  it  is  said  Pisa  was  so  popu- 
lous that  one^lorin  from  each  citizen  built  it. 

The  Campanile  is  the  celebrated  leaning  tower  of  which  almost 
every  one  has  read.  This  also  was  built  in  the  twelfth  century. 
It  is  circular,  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet  high,  and  leans  thirteen 
feet  from  a  perpendicular  position.  This  is  undoubtedly  occa- 
sioned by  the  settling  of  the  foundation  on  one  side,  although  no 
record  of  the  fact  is  preserved,  and  some  have  supposed  that  it 
might  have  been  by  design.  It  is  a  beautiful  tower,  divided  into 
eight  stories,  and  adorned  on  the  outside  in  the  successive  stories 
with  two  hundred  and  seven  columns  of  granite  and  marbles, 
connected  together  by  intervening  arches.  The  ascent  on  the  in- 
terior is  not  difficult  to  a  person  in  health ;  but  to  me,  who  under- 
took it  while  yet  feeble  with  my  late  sickness,  it  was  very  tedious, 
notwithstanding  I  was  carried  by  friends  a  part  of  the  distance. 
In  this  case  I  fell  into  the  temptation  that  many  invalids  fall  into 
15  Y 


1 70  ITALY 

in  Italy,  that  of  gratifying  curiosity  at  an  expense  of  labour  that 
the  system  could  not  easily  endure.* 

The  Campo  Santo,  or  Cemetery,  is  a  most  singular  affair.  The 
Crusaders,  in  their  veneration  for  the  Holy  Land,  brought  home 
from  Jerusalem  a  quantity  of  earth  from  Mount  Calvary.  This 
was  holy  dust,  and  peculiarly  efficacious  and  appropriate  for  pur- 
poses of  sepulture.  Here,  therefore,  it  was  deposited,  and  around 
it  was  built  a  rectangular  structure,  with  sixty-two  Gothic  arcades, 
open  in  the  interior  of  the  rectangle,  and  presenting  exteriorly  a 
dead  wall.  These  arcades  are  covered  in  the  walls  with  frescoes 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  are  well  stored  with  sarcophagi,  tab- 
lets, and  various  monuments,  with  their  appropriate  inscriptions. 

In  the  other  parts  of  this  ancient  city,  although  there  are  some 
things  worth  the  traveller's  notice,  if  he  have  time  to  attend  to 
them,  yet  there  is  little  that  is  deemed  sufficiently  important  to 
detain  the  reader  at  this  time.  There  are  one  or  two  features  in 
the  edifices  generally  which  are  worth  noticing,  as  indicative 
of  the  spirit  of  the  age  in  which  these  buildings  were  erected; 
these,  however,  are  not  peculiar  to  Pisa,  but  are  common  to  most 
of  the  Italian  cities,  and  are  the  relics  of  that  period  when  "  might 
gave  right" — of  those  rough  and  troublous  times  when  every  man 
felt  the  necessity  of  self-defence,  not  only  against  robbers,  but 
personal  enemies.  One  of  these  features  is,  that  all  the  houses, 
especially  the  more  ancient,  are  strongly  barricaded  with  iron  ; 
all  the  windows  of  the  lower  story,  and  sometimes  pf  the  higher, 
are  defended  by  strong  iron  grates.  My  first  impression  on  en- 
tering these  cities  was,  that  they  were  full  of  prisons.  When  I 
saw  they  were  too  numerous  for  this  supposition,  I  then  concluded 
that  the  inhabitants  must  be  extremely  vicious,  and  that  no  dwel- 
ling was  safe  from  plunder  without  being  thus  guarded.  This, 
however,  I  find,  is  not  true.  I  doubt  whether  there  is  any  part  of 
the  world  where  there  is  less  danger  from  personal  violence,  or 
from  thefts  and  robberies,  than  the  northern  and  middle  parts  of 
Italy.  I  never  travelled  with  my  property  and  person  so  much 
exposed,  by  night  and  by  day,  as  since  I  have  been  in  this  coun- 
try ;  and  everything  I  have  seen  has  convinced  me  of  the  gen- 

*  Possibly  it  was  owing  in  part  to  this  that  my  legs  were  for  months  afterward  subject 
to  a  peculiar  numbness  and  dull  sensation  of  internal  pain,  which  complaint  was  not  a 
little  embarrassing  in  my  subsequent  sight-seeing. 


A    CAMEL   RIDE.  171 

eral  honesty  of  the  people.  In  one  sense  they  are  not  honest ; 
in  all  matters  of  trade  they  will  cheat  you  if  they  can.  This 
seems  to  be  no  violation  of  their  moral  code  ;  but  I  wish  every 
country  was  as  free  from  theft  and  robbery.  This  guarding  and 
barricading  of  the  houses,  therefore,  is  rather  the  remains  of  a 
rougher  age,  and  what  was  introduced  by  necessity  seems  to  be 
retained  by  habit  and  fashion.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
towers  which  shoot  up  all  over  the  city,  from  a  great  portion  of 
the  principal  dwellings,  some  of  them  still  remaining  entire,  but 
many  levelled  to  the  roof,  showing  only  the  foundation  of  what 
they  were. 

There  are  baths  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Pisa,  supposed  to  be 
on  the  same  site  with  baths  of  Pisa  mentioned  by  ancient  Roman 
writers.  There  is  also  a  noble  aqueduct,  conducting  on  arches  a 
supply  of  most  excellent  water  into  the  city,  from  four  miles'  dis- 
tance. The  grand-duke,  who  resides  here  two  or  three  months  in 
the  winter,  has  a  large  farm  or  plantation  in  the  neigbourhood, 
called  the  Cascina.  Here  camels  are  bred,  and  employed  in  car- 
rying burdens  ;  the  first,  it  is  said,  that  have  been  bred  in  Europe. 
Formerly,  writers  have  described  the  number  as  amounting  to 
three  hundred ;  we  saw  but  about  fifty.  That  I  might  enter  more 
fully  in  my  associations  into  the  oriental  and  patriarchal  habits,  I 
begged  the  privilege  of  one  of  the  workmen  to  permit  me  to  mount 
one  of  them.  He  ordered  the  animal  to  kneel ;  this  he  did,  not, 
however,  without  some  reluctance,  by  which  I  was  reminded  of 
Abraham's  servant,  who  made  his  camels  to  kneel  by  the  well  of 
Padanaram.  The  fact  is,  these  animals  are  so  high,  they  are  all 
taught  to  kneel  to  receive  their  burdens  ;  they  get  down  first  upon 
their  knees,  and  then  upon  their  hams.  Indeed,  they  seem  to 
have  knees  before  and  behind,  and  both  pairs  of  legs  are  doubled  up 
under  their  bodies,  and  this  is  the  position  in  which  they  always 
rest  when  they  recline  for  that  purpose.  When  I  mounted  the 
animal  I  was  directed  to  sit  close  by  the  upright  part  of  the  frame- 
work or  saddle  that  receives  the  burden,  and  hold  firm,  the 
necessity  of  which  I  soon  felt ;  for,  as  the  camel  raised  himself 
one  end  at  a  time,  and  that,  too,  by  rather  a  sudden  jerk,  I  was 
wellnigh  being  pitched  first  over  his  head,  and  then  backward 
After  a  turn  or  two,  he  kneeled  again  with  the  same  sudden  pitch, 
and  I  dismounted.  They  are  extremely  slow  and  awkward  in 


172  ITALY. 

their  movements,  and  would  never  have  been  used  for  burden- 
bearers  and  travelling  caravans,  I  think,  but  from  necessity. 
Their  feet  are  large  and  soft,  like  a  bag  of  sand ;  this  makes  them 
suited  to  travel  sandy  deserts,  where  the  hard-hoofed  animals  could 
not  travel ;  but  I  should  think  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  for 
them  to  travel  in  a  rough,  stony  country. 

I  must  not  leave  Pisa  without  noticing  its  ancient  and  celebrated 
university.  This  institution  was  among  the  earliest  of  Tuscany, 
and  long  sustained  a  high  reputation  ;  although  it  has  greatly  de- 
clined from  its  original  eminence  and  popularity,  yet  it  still  has 
about  eight  hundred  students,  and  perhaps  forty  professors.  There 
are  departments  of  theology,  law,  medicine,  literature,  and  sci- 
ence. I  was  introduced  to  one  of  the  professors,  Professor  Foggi, 
of  the  department  of  mathematics,  who  was  remarkably  courteous 
and  attentive.  He  accompanied  me  to  the  principal  university 
edifice,  which  is  built,  according  to  the  common  form  of  all  these 
institutions  in  Catholic  countries,  around  a  quadrilateral  court, 
with  the  entire  interior  surrounded  by  an  open  arcade,  forming  a 
spacious  portico  both  on  the  lower  and  upper  floor.  The  building 
is  old,  damp,  and  gloomy  ;  and,  like  all  other  public  places  in  Italy, 
destitute  of  fire.  The  professor  mourned  over  their  poor  building, 
and  lamented  that  their  funds,  diminished  as  they  had  been  by 
their  various  revolutions,  would  not  enable  them  to  rebuild.  The 
rooms,  he  said,  were  gloomy,  and,  by  their  character  and  sombre 
appearance,  served  to  depress  the  spirits  of  the  best  men.  I  sug- 
gested to  him  that  an  application  to  the  government  might  perhaps 
be  successful ;  he  shook  his  head.  I  told  him  I  thought  it  would 
be  better  to  take  some  of  the  money  that  was  being  expended  on 
the  royal  chapel  at  Florence,  and  lay  it  out  for  a  new  university 
edifice.  "  Ah,  but  that,"  he  said,  "  was  a  national  monument, 
which  it  would  be  much  to  the  honour  of  the  nation  to  complete." 
How  unfortunate  must  be  that  country,  when  princely  incomes 
are  laid  out  upon  physical  monuments,  and  the  cause  of  education 
languishes  for  the  want  of  support  !*  As  we  walked  round  the 
portico  of  the  court,  "  This  portico,"  said  the  professor,  "  was 
the  stable  for  the  French  cavalry  at  the  time  they  invaded  Italy ; 
I  have  seen  it  full  of  their  horses.  Poor  Italy  !"  continued  the 

*  The  grand-duke,  however,  pays  the  professors  mostly  out  of  the  public  chest.    Their 
salary  is  each  about  five  hundred  dollars  annually. 


UNIVERSITY    OF    PISA.  173 

professor,  and  I  never  shall  forget  the  feeling  manner  in  which  he 
expressed  himself,  "  poor  Italy  !  you  do  not  see  her  as  she  was. 
The  inhabitants  were  once  buoyant  and  happy,  full  of  joy  and 
music ;  but  they  have  been  robbed,  and  plundered,  and  trodden 
down,  until  they  are  broken  and  dispirited."  Poor  Italy  surely 
She  suffered,  doubtless,  under  the  pressure  of  the  French  despo- 
tism, and  especially  in  consequence  of  the  repeated  wars  grow- 
ing out  of  that  invasion  and  conquest ;  but  alas  !  while  there  was 
some  life  and  stirring  energy  in  the  despotism  of  France,  which 
would,  in  time,  I  doubt  not,  if  it  had  continued,  have  raised  and 
reanimated  the  country,  the  present  leaden  Gothic  despotism 
presses  upon  the  people  like  a  suffocating  incubus,  curdling  the 
blood  and  paralyzing  the  system.  But  to  return  to  the  University. 
It  has  a  library  of  about  forty  thousand  volumes  ;  and  I  was 
gratified  to  see  among  them  the  works  of  the  most  eminent  reform- 
ers, as  well  as  those  of  Catholic  authors.  They  have  also  a  very 
good  museum  of  natural  history,  both  in  the  mineral  and  animal 
kingdoms,  very  well  arranged  and  kept,  and  a  botanical  garden. 
The  library  is  free,  and  the  lectures,  like  those  of  France,  are 
open  and  free  to  all  who  may  choose  to  attend.  The  intercourse 
between  the  students  and  professors  is  of  a  familiar  and  paternal 
character,  and  such  as  is  well  calculated  to  secure  mutual  affection 
and  confidence.  The  students  go  into  the  lecture-room  with  their 
hats  on,  as  in  France ;  but  if  a  professor  goes  in  while  another 
is  lecturing  he  has  to  stand  uncovered  until  he  obtains  leave  to 
put  on  his  hat.  I  mention  this  trifling  circumstance  to  show  the 
minuteness,  inflexibility,  and  capriciousness  of  the  rules  of  these 
ancient  institutions. 

There  are  seven  preparatory  schools,  answering  very  nearly 
to  the  French  pensions,  or  our  higher  academies,  where  the  boys 
are  instructed  in  the  more  elementary  branches ;  being  obliged, 
however,  a  part  of  the  time,  to  attend  upon  the  lectures  of  the  Uni- 
versity. These  schools  are  without  funds,  and  charge,  if  I  rightly 
remember,  one  hundred  crowns  annually.  Many  of  the  scholars, 
however,  take  a  canonical  dress,  and  officiate  in  the  service  of  the 
cathedral,  for  which  they  receive  twenty  crowns  per  annum,  and 
thus  gain  so  much  assistance  towards  their  education.  Not  more 
than  perhaps  five  or  six  per  cent,  of  the  number,  however,  Professor 
Foggi  assured  me,  ever  became  priests,  it  being  perfectly  optional 
15 


174  ITALY- 

with  them  afterward  to  study  theology  or  not.  This  information 
explained  to  me  what  before  was  a  matter  of  great  surprise,  that 
so  many  young  ecclesiastics  should  throng  the  streets  of  the  city. 

I  tried  to  obtain  an  account  of  the  regulations,  &c.,  of  the  Uni- 
versity, but  was  told  they  were  out  of  print. 

A  great  portion  of  the  students  who  attend  this,  and,  in  fact,  all 
the  other  universities  of  Italy,  ar,e  pursuing  the  study  of  medicine. 
In  a  despotic  government  but  few  lawyers  are  needed.  Theology 
presents  a  more  extended  field,  but  extensive  attainments  are  not 
necessary  for  men  who  seldom  preach,  which  is  true  of  a  great 
portion  of  the  priests,  and  all  of  whose  other  duties  are  stereotyped 
for  them  in  the  Roman  ritual.  And  as  for  pursuing  an  education 
for  mere  literary  and  scientific  investigations  and  improvements, 
this,  compared  with  other  civilized  countries,  is  not  so  common  in 
Italy.  Literature  is  cramped  by  the  restrictions  upon  the  press. 
It  is  also  poorly  paid,  as  may  well  be  inferred  from  the  smallness 
of  the  professors'  salaries,  and  from  the  fact  that  the  governments 
are  so  limited  in  territory,  that  the  privileges  of  a  copyright  are 
of  little  avail.  In  a  ride  of  one  hour  in  some  cases,  and  of  a  few 
hours  at  farthest,  the  book  that  is  copyrighted  in  one  sovereignty 
may  be  published  free  of  that  encumbrance  in  another.  Add  to 
these  obstructions  the  intellectual  torpor  that  must  necessarily 
result  from  the  present  social  and  political  condition  of  the  country, 
and  the  poverty  which  oppresses  the  greater  part,  and  we  may 
readily  account  for  the  fact  that  so  few  are  giving  themselves  to 
literature  and  science. 

Our  detention  at  Pisa  disappointed  us  in  our  hope  and  design 
of  being  at  Rome  for  the  Carnival.  We  had  an  epitome  of  it, 
however,  at  Pisa,  and  quite  enough  to  satisfy  us  on  this  head. 

This  institution  of  masquerades,  feasting,  dancing,  frolic,  and 
fun,  is  one  of  the  many  papal  observances  that  have  been  trans- 
planted from  heathenism  into  the  Christian  church.  Its  principal 
object  seems  to  be  to  give  the  people  a  satiety  of  feasting  and 
amusement,  that  they  may  be  the  better  prepared  to  endure  the 
penance  of  Lent,  which  immediately  follows.  And  here  it  may 
be  proper  to  remark,  that  the  fasts  and  penances  of  the  papists  are 
admirably  contrived  for  sensual  enjoyment.  No  man  who  wished 
to  enjoy  the  most  sensual  gratification  possible  in  this  life  would, 
if  he  adapted  the  and  to  the  means,  pamper  the  senses  to  the  fill 


THE    CARNIVAL.  175 

continually.     He  would  have  his  changes  and  restraints  at  inter- 
vals, by  which  he  would  court  the  appetite,  and  keep  alive  and  in- 
vigorate his  desire  and  zest  for  pleasure.     It  is  thus  artfully  that 
Romanism  has  mingled  her  cup,  and  meted  out  her  indulgences 
and  prohibitions  ;  and  when  to  this  are  joined  her  ecclesiastical  pa- 
geantry and  splendid  ritual,  a  system  of  religion  is  formed  the 
best  possible  to  gratify  the  pleasure-seeking  man  of  the  world. 
In  short,  Romanism  is  practically — I  will  not  say  a  religion  merely 
— but  emphatically,  the  religion  of  the  natural  heart ;  for  in  this 
respect  there  is  nothing  to  be  compared  with  it.     It  is  true,  to  say 
this  we  must  presuppose,  what  is  generally  true,  that  men  have 
consciences  that  are  troubled  about  sin  and  its  consequences,  and 
that  they  wish  to  get  rid  of  those  consequences  at  the  same  time 
that  they  are  not   denied   their   earthly  pleasures.     Romanism 
promises  them  the  wished-for  relief  in  the  wished-for  way.     Its 
ceremonies  may  be  tedious  from  their  length  and  repetition,  but 
they  are  showy,  and  impose  no  great  tax  upon  the  attention  ;  and 
although  its  penances  and  fasts  may  be  frequent,  they  are   so 
mingled  with  pleasures  that,  like  the  lights  and  shades  of  a  picture, 
they  cast  a  delightful  charm  over  the  whole.     There  is  much  of 
the  cross,  but  it  is  a  physical  cross,  exhibited,  but  not  felt ;  played 
with,  but  not  endured.     There  is  something  of  penance  and  self- 
denial,  but  only  enough  to  wind  up  the  physical  machinery,  that 
it  may  be  prepared  to  start  afresh  in  the  race  of  sensual  enjoyment. 
An  important  feature  in  this  system  is  the  Carnival.     It  lasts  for 
a  number  of  days,  but  becomes  more  intense  until  the  Tuesday 
before  Ash  Wednesday,  which  last   is  the  beginning   of   Lent. 
Among  the  other  merry-makings  on  the  occasion  is  a  public  mas- 
querade.    This  takes  place  in  the  public  street  that  is  used  for 
the   course*      Here   the   carriages,  and   sidewalks,  and  public 
squares  are  filled  with  masked  personages,  representing  all  kinds 
of  characters,  and  the  costumes  of  all  nations,  together  with  a 
great  number  of  fantasticals,  who  belong  to  no   race    or  order. 
The  masks,  as  well  as  the  costumes,  have  not  only  every  variety 

*  The  Course,  or  Corse,  is  a  public  street  in  most  of  the  principal  Continental  cities  in 
Europe,  where  all  that  are  able  to  keep  their  carriage  go  at  a  given  hour  to  take  their 
fashionable  ride.  Here  extended  trains  of  carriages  move  round  in  procession,  going  to 
the  prescribed  termine,  and  then  returning,  so  that  part  of  the  procession  is  moving  ifi  one 
direction  and  part  in  the  other,  and  thus  they  continually  pass  and-repass  each  other. 
The  sidewalks  are  crowded  with  foot-passengers. 


176  ITALY. 

seemingly  of  complexion  and  features  belonging  to  our  regular 
race,  but  every  variety  also  of  deformity.  The  more  out  of  charac- 
ter they  can  appear,  the  better ;  and  hence  a  very  common  device 
is  for  the  sexes  to  change  costumes.  Here  are  very  delicate  forms, 
either  dressed  as  pages,  or  perhaps  as  sailors ;  and  female  attire 
on  large,  awkward  frames,  with  clumsy  gaits  and  enormous  feet, 
with  cigars  in  their  mouths.  There  goes  a  carriage  with  a  com- 
pany of  maskers,  taking  refreshments  of  cake  and  wine,  pledging 
the  health  of  the  company  as  they  pass  ;  the  next  carriage  has  a 
Turk  for  a  footman,  and  a  lady  for  a  postillion.  Here  is  a  learned 
doctor,  with  his  wig  and  red  coat,  giving  out  his  oracles  ;  there  is 
a  beggar,  yonder  a  prince.  A  very  common  disguise  for  the 
poorer  class,  who,  perhaps,  can  get  nothing  else,  and  especially  for 
young  females,  is  a  white  shirt  put  on  over  all  the  other  clothes. 
Anything,  in  short,  for  change  and  variety. 

The  employments,  too,  are  various ;  some  are  making  love, 
some  are  playing  tricks  upon  each  other;  and  a  very  common 
employment,  especially  for  the  higher  classes,  is  to  pelt  each  other 
as  they  pass  with  sugarplums,  and,  what  is  worse,  with  little 
missiles  in  the  form  of  sugarplums  made  of  lime  or  plaster. 
These  are  not  always  harmless ;  and  one  who  engages  in  the  sport, 
especially  if  he  be  unmasked,  must  look  out  for  his  face  and  eyes. 
This  childish  amusement  closes  with  a  grand  masquerade  ball, 
in  which  all  who  can  pay  the  fee  may  mingle. 

At  Rome,  in  addition  to  the  other  amusements,  they  have  horse- 
races without  riders.  This  takes  place  in  the  Cor  so  ;  the  horses 
are  urged  on  by  self-inflicting  spurs,  which  are  so  fitted  that  the 
faster  the  horse  goes  the  more  they  urge  him  forward.  Large 
sails  or  curtains  are  stretched  across  the  farther  end  of  the  street, 
which  bring  up  the  racers  without  injuring  them,  and  they  are 
caught  by  persons  standing  ready  for  the  purpose. 

On  Ash  Wednesday  a  dark  curtain  falls,  and  the  gayeties  and 
hilarity  of  the  comedy  are  at  an  end.  A  solemn  service  is  per- 
formed at  the  church,  with  the  ceremony  of  putting  ashes  on  the 
head  to  indicate  man's  frailty  and  mortality. 

Before  leaving  Pisa  I  will  add  that  I  have  been  particularly 
pleased  with  the  Italian  gentlemen  with  whom  I  have  become  ac- 
quainted. They  are  very  courteous  and  intelligent.  It  is  true, 
they  appear  not  to  be  in  the  habit  of  inviting  strangers  to  their 


LEGHORN.  177 

houses  to  dine  or  to  share  in  their  domestic  hospitalities.  This, 
perhaps,  in  many  instances,  they  are  not  able  to  practise  on  a  very 
extensive  scale,  but  in  other  respects  they  show  themselves  cour 
teous  to  strangers. 


CHAPTER  XL 

WE  left  Pisa  February  1 9,  and  rode  over  a  level  country  lour 
teen  miles  by  a  crooked  rdad,  which  ought  to  have  been  but  ten, 
to  Leghorn,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  Italian,  Livorno,  and  found  a 
kind  reception  and  comfortable  quarters  in  the  Hotel  St.  Marc, 
kept  by  a  Scotchman,  Mr.  D.  Thompson. 

Leghorn,  although  an  ancient  port,  was  nevertheless  an  incon- 
siderable village  until  purchased  by  Cosmo  L,  grand-duke  of  Tus- 
cany, by  exchanging  for  it  the  city  of  Sarsana,  and  by  him  made  a 
free  port.  It  is  now,  perhaps,  the  most  commercial  port  of  Italy, 
and  the  best  known  to  our  countrymen,  because  with  it  we  have 
considerable  commerce.  There  are  few  objects  here  to  attract 
the  notice  of  strangers ;  but  the  observing  traveller,  if  he  visits 
this  town  after  seeing  other  towns  in  Italy,  will  be  struck  to  see 
what  a  difference  circumstances  make  in  the  character  and  appear- 
ance of  a  community.  In  most  of  the  Italian  towns  you  see  hun 
dreds  of  idlers  moving  about  the  streets  and  principal  places  at  a 
snail's  pace,  or  lounging  as  though  life  was  a  burden.  You  begin 
to  think  man  is  not  the  same  in  Italy  as  elsewhere ;  that  the*  cli- 
mate, or  something  else,  has  rendered  him  physically  incapable  of 
spirited  exertion  and  enterprise.  But  in  Leghorn  you  find  him 
like  the  man  of  business  in  other  places  :  an  erect  figure,  a  prompt 
manner,  a  lively  gait,  make  you  almost  believe  you  are  in  New- 
York  or  Liverpool.  Such  might  all  Italy  be  if  her  rulers  "knew 
their  duty,  and  would  do  it.  It  is  true,  it  might  take  time  to  bring 
her  up  from  her  lethargy,  but  much  less  time,  probably,  than  most 
would  imagine.  The  constitution  of  man  has  an  elasticity  about 
it  that  soon  elevates  him  if  the  weights  that  press  him  down  are 
removed.  Now,  it  is  said,  the  beggars  cannot  be  induced  to 
work ;  and,  if  employment  is  furnished  to  them,  they  soon  grow 

Z 


178  ITAI/Y. 

weary  of  it,  and  think  they  can  make  more  money,  and  make  it 
easier,  by  begging.  But  this  is  the  effect  of  habit  and  of  long  deg- 
radation. Let,  however,  a  general  elevation  be  felt ;  let  an  up- 
ward impulse  be  given  to  the  public  mind  by  a  proper  stimulus, 
and  soon  there  would  be  few  that  would  not  be  ashamed  to  beg, 
and  few  that  would  not  be  able  and  willing  to  dig. 

Leghorn  is  supposed  to  contain  eighty  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  is  increasing.  They  are  enlarging  the  walls  for  the  purpose 
of  taking  in  all  the  suburbs,  principally  as  a  defence  against  smug- 
gling. The  city  is  penetrated  by  canals  in  different  directions, 
by  means  of  which  the  merchandise  is  brought  to  the  doors  of  the 
warehouses.  There  is  in  this  city  an  "  English  factory,"  or  a 
kind  of  incorporation  of  English  citizens,  of  which  there  are  sev- 
eral in  the  Mediterranean,  with  certain  priviliges  there  unto  belong- 
ing. The  English,  in  fact,  next  to  the  Jews,  however  widely 
scattered  and  distantly  removed,  are  the  most  remarkable  for  pre- 
serving their  nationalities  and  attachment  to  their  own  usages  and 
clanship.  They  are  contented  anywhere  but  at  home  ;  but,  wher- 
ever they  are,  they  are  nothing  but  Englishmen  still.  However 
long  they  may  have  resided  in  the  country,  they  never  say  we,  but 
they,  when  speaking  of  the  citizens  of  the  country  where  they  re- 
side. Here  they  clan  together  ;  worship  together ;  pray  for  their 
"most  gracious  Lord  and  Sovereign  King  William,"  and  their 
"most  gracious  Queen  Adelaide  ;"  transport  English  horses,  car- 
riages, and  dogs  ;  eat  roast-beef  and  drink  wine  a-la-mode  V An- 
glais the  world  over,*  and,  if  they  find  anything  very  good  abroad, 
they  say  it  is  almost  equal  to  Old  England.! 

Steamboats,  although  at  first  objected  to,  are  becoming  common 
on  the  Mediterranean.  They  are  specially  very  frequent  from 
Marseilles,  by  Genoa,  Leghorn,  Civita  Vecchia,  to  Naples ;  and 
thence  there  are  lines  extending  to  Sicily  and  Malta.  In  one  of 
the  steam-packets  from  Marseilles  to  Naples  we  embarked  on  the 

*  This  does  not  apply  so  fully,  however,  to  Englishmen  in  America.  Here  they  find 
the  same  language,  and,  for  the  most  part,  congenial  institutions  ;  they  mingle  with  our 
citizens,  and  soon  take  part  in  our  political  concerns.  Indeed,  our  naturalization  laws 
are  so  easy,  and  our  citizenship  so  inviting,  that  most  strangers,  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  like  the  Paddy,  when  they  get  among  us,  take  the  first  opportunity  to  become 
natives. 

t  Under  a  remark  of  this  kind,  recorded  by  a  person  of  rank  in  a  book  for  strangers 
in  an  excellent  hotel  in  Italy,  I  noticed  some  wit  had  added,  in  pencil  mark — "  This  is 
almost  English  modesty." 


179 

23d  of  February,  but  were  so  ill  from  the  rough  sea  that  we  were 
glad  to  land  at  Civita  Vecchia,  under  a  determination  to  travel  by 
sea  no  more  when  we  can  travel  by  land.  This,  of  course,  led 
us  to  Rome  first  instead  of  to  Naples,  as  we  had  proposed. 

Civita  Vecchia  is  the  seaport  of  Rome,  although  forty-eight 
miles  from  it ;  is  a  free  port,  with  an  artificial  harbour ;  and  a  dirty, 
comfortless  place  it  is.  The  inhabitants  appear  to  live  chiefly 
upon  the  plunder  of  travellers.  When  you  arrive,  you  go  ashore 
in  a  boat ;  a  set  of  hungry  cormorants  seize  your  baggage,  and 
contend  who  shall  have  it ;  having  settled  that  point  by  agreement 
or  force,  they  distribute  it  among  as  many  as  they  conveniently 
can,  and  carry  it  to  the  police,  where  you  slip  it  through  by  pay- 
ing a  fee  ;  you  then  order  your  baggage  to  the  hotel,  and  pay  each 
ragamuffin  for  his  service,  who  always  wants  more.  You  must 
then  send  it  to  the  custom-house  to  get  it  plumbed,  for  which  a 
fee  is  demanded  ;  another  for  carrying  it  there ;  another  for  taking 
it  from  the  office  to  the  coach ;  another  for  fastening  it  on  the 
coach ;  another  for  opening  the  coach-door  for  you  to  get  in ;  an- 
other for  the  man  who  tended  the  horses  that  are  to  carry  you  to 
Rome,  ever  so  long  before  you  arrived,  while  he  was  waiting  for 
you,  or  somebody  else,  to  come  and  hire  them ;  and  I  know  not 
how  many  other  demands,  besides  beggars  in  abundance.  You 
escape  from  the  wretched  place  with  empty  pockets  and  exhausted 
patience;  unless  you  have  a  good  store  of  both.- 

The  route  to  Rome  is  very  dull.  A  sight  here  and  there,  of  a 
shepherd  with  his  flock,  diversifies  the  scene,  which  is  barren,  and, 
in  a  great  part,  uncultivated.  Neither  did  I  see  any  shepherd  that 
reminded  me  of  Damon  or  Tyterus,  or  any  other  of  the  classic 
rustics  of  antiquity. 

The  horses  are  generally  small,  but  numerous.  We  saw  scores 
of  them  in  herds.  The  horned  cattle,  however,  are  very  fine. 
They  are  generally  of  a  mouse  colour  in  Tuscany,  but  in  Roma- 
nia they  are  frequently  a  light  brindle,  made  up  of  a  singular  mix- 
ture of  white  and  black,  constituting  a  colour  altogether  different 
from  anything  we  have.  Farther  south  they  are  oftener  a  beauti- 
ful pure  white.  Ancient  heathen  gods  might  well  be  appeased 
by  such  an  offering,  if  they  were  at  all  delighted  with  the  sacrifice 
of  beasts  ;  for  these,  doubtless,  are  the  regular  descendants  of  the 
Albus  Taurus  of  antiquity. 


180  ITALY. 

The  sheep  were  very  numerous ;  but  the  wool,  except  for  the 
coarsest  wear,  is  sold  out  of  the  country  to  be  manufactured,  and 
repurchased  again,  with  all  its  accumulation  of  profit,  while  thou- 
sands of  the  inhabitants  are  suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life, 
and  with  no  means  of  procuring  them. 

We  entered  Rome  on  the  side  of  the  magnificent  structure  of 
St.  Peter's.  It  was  night,  but  there  was  light  enough  to  exhibit 
the  splendid  piazza,  with  its  quadruple  rows  of  Doric  columns. 
But  I  must  forbear.  Rome  must  be  passed  for  the  present.  It 
is  true,  we  spent  a  number  of  days  in  the  "  Eternal  City,"  viewing 
its  unrivalled  antiquities,  especially  its  ancient  ruins  and  works  of 
art,  and  taking  a  general  survey  of  the  modern  city.  But,  as  all 
this  was  only  preparatory  to  a  more  thorough  and  extended  exam- 
ination, any  description  that  may  be  attempted  of  the  inspiring 
topics  of  ancient  and  modern  Rome  will  be  postponed,  and  the 
reader  will  first  be  requested  to  visit  Naples,  according  to  our 
original  purpose  ;  and  let  me  congratulate  him,  whoever  he  may 
be,  that,  however  little  he  may  be  able  to  glean  of  the  pleasures 
and  instruction  of  this  Italian  route,  he  is  happily  relieved  from 
its  embarrassments,  fatigues,  delays,  disappointments,  and  extor- 
tions. A  traveller,  if  he  pleases,  might  fill  up  a  volume  with  ac- 
counts ot  this  kind,  without  relieving  himself  or  profiting  his  reader. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  after  the  usual  routine  of  the  passport,  first 
to  the  police,  thence  to  the  American  consul,  thence  back  to  the 
police,  and  then  to  the, Neapolitan  minister;  after  some  demur 
respecting  my  prescribed  quarantine,  which  was  settled  finally  by 
showing  a  bill  of  health,  signed  by  the  consul-general  of  his  Si- 
cilian majesty  resident  at  Leghorn,  &c.,  &c.,  \ve  embarked  on 
board  a  post-coach,  for  fourteen  dollars  each  person,  leaving 
Rome  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  March  3.  Our  egress  was 
by  the  mighty  Colosseum,  whose  vast  proportions,  partially  dilap- 
idated by  eighteen  centuries,  towered  in  gloomy  grandeur  as 
it  reflected  back  the  soft  beams  of  moonlight.  We  passed  the 
Porta  San  Giovanni  to  Albano.  The  route  from  Rome  to  Na- 
ples is  part  of  the  way  the  same  as  that  of  the  old  Appian  Way, 
so  often  spoken  of  by  the  ancient  Romans,  and  that  over  which 
St.  Paul  travelled  in  his  journey  from  Puteoli  (near  Naples)  to 
Rome.  Every  mile  of  this  road,  almost,  is  connected  with  the 
history  of  ancient  Rome  and  the  biography  of  her  illustrious 


THE    PONTINE    MARSHES.  181 

men.*  But  it  will  not  comport  with  my  plan  to  enter  minutely 
into  the  historic  associations  of  the  route.  We  struck  the  Appian 
Way  just  before  we  reached  Albano,  fourteen  Roman  miles.  The 
entire  road  to  Naples  is  excellent. 

Beyond  Velletri  commence  the  Pontine  Marshes^  which  ex- 
tend back  from  the  sea  from  six  to  twelve  miles,  and  reach  to 
Terracina,  twenty-four  miles  in  length.  These  are  at  some  sea- 
sons partially  covered  with  water,  and  anciently  were  almost 
wholly  so,  at  least  a  part  of  the  year.  Great  and  successive  ef- 
forts have  been  made  to  drain  this  pestiferous  pool,  from  the  days 
of  Appius  Coecus,  by  emperors,  princes,  and  popes,  down  to  Pius 
VII.,  who,  in  addition  to  what  the  French  had  done  before  him, 
nearly  accomplished  the  object,  so  that  a  great  portion  of  it  is 
now  used  for  agricultural  purposes.  Immense  herds  of  cattle 
graze  here.  This  region,  however,  must  be  very  unhealthy  ;  and 
this  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  sallow  countenances  of  the  few  poor 
wretches  who  inhabit  it,  or  who  roam  about  these  miasmatic  fens 
watching  their  grazing  flocks.  Through  these  marshes  ran  the 
Appian  Way,  on  which,  as  a  foundation,  Pope  Pius  VI.  con- 
structed the  present  elegant  road. 

Here  were  the  Tres  Taberna,  or  the  "  Three  Taverns"  men- 
tioned by  St.  Paul.  If  the  appearance  and  condition  of  these 
taverns  were  not  better  than  those  of  the  present  day,  I  should 
almost  wonder  that  a  sight  of  them  by  St.  Paul  was  a  cause  of 
thanksgiving.  The  gratitude  of  the  apostle  could  only  be  ac- 
counted for  on  the  principle  of  his  own  gospel  maxim,  "  in  every- 
thing give  thanks." 

The  two  towns  of  Fondi  and  Itri,  which  were  the  first  we 
passed  through  after  entering  the  Neapolitan  States,  were  the 
most  filthy,  wretched,  and  poverty-struck  we  had  yet  beheld  ; 
and  it  is  sincerely  hoped  we  may  never  look  upon  the  like  again. 
At  the  former  place  we  had  to  undergo  the  "  searching  operation" 
of  the  custom-house,  during  which  time  we  were  surrounded  by 
hundreds  of  miserable -looking  objects  of  want  and  wo ;  scores 
of  hands  were  stretched  out  for  charity,  and  almost  all  looked  as 
though  they  should  be  tenants  of  the  poorhouse.  Some  of  them, 

*  The  classical  reader  will  find  the  ancient  localities  of  this  route,  as  far  as  Brundu- 
sium,  in  :he  Diary  of  Horace, 
t  They  took  their  name  from  an  ancient  town  in  the  vicinity. 

16 


182  ITALY. 

however,  made  shift  to  purchase,  or  retain,  perhaps,  as  an  inherit- 
ance from  their  ancestors,  earrings  arid  other  ornaments,  which 
hung  in  strange  discordance  over  dirty  rags,  that  scarcely  covered 
their  nakedness.     A  sallow-looking  young  woman  at  Terracina 
with  large  dangling  jewels  in  her  ears,  apparently  of  gold,  was 
urgent  in  her  importunities  for  alms.     I  took  hold  of  her  earrings, 
and  told  her  to  sell  them  for  bread  before  she  asked  charity  ;  this 
turned  the  laugh  upon  her,  and  freed  me  from  her  importunities. 
Another  ludicrous  circumstance  occurred  after  we  had  left  the 
town ;  our  horses  were  in  a  full  trot,  when  we  were  attracted  by 
a  stifled  vociferation  at  the  coach  window ;  on  looking  out  we 
saw  a  man  upon  the  full  run,  at  our  side,  vociferating  for  alms, 
holding  out  his  greasy  cap  with  one  hand,  and   cramming   the 
other  into  his  mouth,  to  indicate  his  extreme  hunger,  which,  with 
his  running,  so  stifled  his  voice  as  made  him  put  forth  "  strange 
sounds  ;"  these,  with  his  gesticulations,  diversified  by  his  haste  to 
keep  up  with  the  carriage,  formed  an  exhibition  so  ludicrous,  that 
even  the  cries  of  suffering  could  not  restrain  our  risibilities.     If 
we  sinned  by  smiling  "  in  the  venerable  presence  of  misery,"  as 
the  sentimental  Sterne  would  say,  I  hope  we  shall  be  forgiven. 
We  never  know,  in  fact,  when  these  beings  are  starving ;  for,  hun- 
gry or  not,  to  get  a  bioc  they  will  play  their  part  to  admiration ; 
they  are  starving,  they  have  dying  bambinos,  a  sick  sposa,  or  they 
are  without  father  or  mother,  and  the  like.     Our  present  appli- 
cant, from  the  strength  of  his  voice  and  his  speed  in  running, 
seemed  neither  faint  with  hunger  nor  weak  with  disease ;  Mrs 
F.,  however,  threw  him  a  piece  of  copper,  for  which  he  gave 
the  usual   "grazia"     We  went   on  at  the  same    rapid  rate,  I 
should  judge,  nearly  a  mile,  when,  having  occasion  to  stop  the 
carriage  a  moment,  who  should  arrive  but  our  beneficiary,  in  a 
foaming  agony  to  get  his  piece  of  money  changed,  for  it  was  not 
current  in  the  country  !     I  mention  this  case  to  show  the  condi- 
tion and  perseverance  of  these  beggars,  as  also  because  it  was  to 
us,  at  least,  a  scene  painfully  amusing. 

In  the  interior  of  our  coach  we  had  a  Catholic  priest  and  his 
brother,  with  whom  we  formed,  of  course,  a  stagecoach  acquaint- 
ance, to  which  they  seemed  by  no  means  averse.  We  found  them 
pleasant  and  polite,  and  the  priest  was  remarkably  strict  at  his 
devotions  twice  a  day,  viz.,  morning  and  noon.  These  consisted 


MORA.  183 

of  long  portions  read  out  of  a  devotional  book  carried  in  his  pocket, 
which  he  had  practised  upon  so  much  that  he  could  repeat  whole 
pages  out  of  the  book.  Whether  he  read  or  repeated  from  mem- 
ory, he  hurried  them  over  with  the  greatest  possible  rapidity ;  a 
rapidity  to  which  I  am  sure  one  could  not  attain  but  by  long 
practice,  crossing  himself  at  the  name  of  Christ,  and  repeating 
the  whole  in  a  loud  whisper  when  the  carriage  was  moving  very 
still,  and  a  little  above  his  breath  when  it  rumbled.  I  cannot 
judge  his  heart,  but  the  whole  seemed  like  a  mere  form.  It  re- 
minded me  of  my  childish  days,  when  every  night  I  hurried  over 
the  prayers  and  hymns  that  my  mother  had  taught  me,  merely 
because  I  dared  not  go  to  sleep  without  performing  my  task ;  the 
whole  merit  of  which  was  in  repeating  the  sum  total. 

Before  we  entered  Mora  we  passed  the  spot  where  Cicero  was 
overtaken  and  beheaded,  on  which  stands,  to  the  memory  of  the 
immortal  orator,  an  ancient  and  splendid  cenotaph.  It  consists 
of  three  stories,  and  has  inside  of  it  a  shaft  extending  from  the 
top  to  the  bottom.  But  this  monument,  stately  and  massive  as  it 
is,  has  already  suffered  from  the  corroding  tooth  of  time,  and  will 
soon  crumble  back  to  dust,  while  the  intellectual  monuments 
erected  by  himself  preserve  their  virgin  freshness,  and  will  carry 
down  the  name  of  their  illustrious  author,  loaded  with  undimin- 
ished  honours,  to  the  latest  posterity.  Mora  occupies  the  site  of 
the  ancient  Formia,  where  was  Cicero's  Formian  villa ;  and  upon 
the  seashore,  five  miles  distant,  within  sight  of  Mora,  is  Gaeta, 
which  has  been  already  mentioned  in  the  sketches  of  Italian  his- 
tory as  being  a  flourishing  republic.  This  is  the  most  northern 
of  the  three  important  republics  in  Magna  Gragcia,  that  sprung  so 
early  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  Roman  empire.  Alas  !  that  repub- 
licanism should  ever  be  supplanted  by  such  a  stupid,  tyrannical 
government  as  that  of  the  present  day.  These  three  republics 
are  on  three  successive  gulfs.  First,  Gaeta,  on  the  gulf  of  the 
same  name,  which  gulf  is  separated  from  that  of  Naples  by  the 
Island  of  Ischia  and  the  promontory  of  Misenum  ;  and  this  again 
is  separated  by  the  promontory  of  Tarento  from  the  Gulf  of  Sa- 
lerno, on  which  was  situated  Amalfi.  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark, 
that  they  are  all  situated  on  the  same  parts  relative  to  their  re- 
spective bays,  viz.,  on  the  northern  sides  or  shores.  They  rose 
up  together,  under  the  same  circumstances,  like  children  of 


184  ITALY. 

one  family ;  and  they  fell  by  the  same  ruthless  destroyer,  the 
warlike  Norman.  With  their  liberty  and  independence,  the  im- 
portance, trade,  and  population  of  the  northern  and  southern  fell 
also ;  Gaeta  having  now  but  little  trade,  and  only  about  ten  thousand 
inhabitants ;  and  Amain,  which  in  the  ninth  century  was  perhaps 
the  greatest  mercantile  community  in  the  world,  is  dwindled  down 
to  an  unimportant  village. 

The  Ameiican  citizen  feels  a  gloomy  foreboding  as  he  almost 
involuntarily  asks,  Will  some  future  traveller  have  occasion  to 
record  the  same  sad  history  of  the  lovely,  prosperous,  and  popu- 
lous cities  that  now  stud  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic  from  Maine  to 
Florida  ?  Yes,  doubtless,  unless  America  learn  wisdom  by  the 
historic  lessons  of  the  past.  If,  like  Italy,  the  states  or  sections 
of  the  Union  should  divide  themselves  into  independent  govern- 
ments, there  will  come  jealousies  and  wars,  and  ruin  will  be  in 
the  train.  If  popular  phrensy  and  illegal  assemblies  assume  the 
reins  of  government,  then  will  some  aspiring  demagogue  rise  up, 
applauded  by  the  multitude,  even  as  they  will  be  flattered  and 
pampered  by  him,  until  the  foot  of  the  conqueror  is  on  their  neck. 
America  ought  to  know  enough  of  human  nature  and  of  history  to 
avoid  the  rocks  on  which  others  have  been  wrecked ;  but  alas  ! 
how  few  consult  the  records  of  the  past  or  the  dictates  of  reason 
in  these  matters.  Would  that  the  past  history  and  present  con- 
dition of  Italy  could  be  hung  up  before  the  American  citizen  in 
all  places  of  public  resort,  and  especially  at  the  polls,  and  in  the 
capitois  of  the  states  and  of  the  nation.  This  is  the  most  I  desire 
from  Italy.  I  have  seen  her  antiquities,  her  statuary,  her  paintings, 
her  unrivalled  edifices,  her  picturesque  scenery,  her  olive  mount- 
ains, and  her  vine-covered  vales  ;  but  all  these,  in  view  of  the  im- 
portant interests  I  am  now  contemplating,  are  for  America  compar- 
atively nothing.  If  from  the  deep-stained  frescoes  of  her  historic 
page,  coloured  by  the  blood  of  her  once  free  and  intelligent  sons, 
some  vivid  and  striking  pictures  could  be  hung  up  in  view  of  the 
American  public,  methinks  it  would  be  worth  more  to  us,  ten  thou- 
sand times,  than  all  the  works  of  art  of  which  ancient  and  mod- 
ern Italy  can  boast.  And  yet  who  thinks  of  this  ?  Who,  of  the 
hundreds  of  American  travellers  that  visit  Italy,  will  even  imbue 
their  own  minds  with  these  subjects,  much  less  carry  back  these 
important  lessons  to  their  countrymen  ? 


NAPLES.  185 

But  to  return  to  our  journal.  At  Capua  we  were  reminded  of 
the  siege  and  capture,  by  Hannibal,  of  Casilinum,  which  stood 
on  the  site  of  this  more  modern  city.  From  this  city  to  Naples 
the  road  was  remarkably  level,  and  led  through  a  rich  and  highly- 
cultivated  country.  The  vineyards  seemed  to  have  added  magnifi- 
cence to  beauty.  The  trees  on  which  the  vines  hung,  and  which 
were  planted  in  regular  ranges,  had  grown  to  the  size  and  height 
of  forest-trees,  and  the  vines  that  hung  upon  them,  some  of  which 
were  stretched  from  tree  to  tree,  were  themselves  as  large  as 
small  trees.  Between  the  rows  the  soil,  was  cultivated  like  a 
garden,  and,  though  it  was  but  the  beginning  of  March,  the  surface 
was  covered  with  a  green  and  flourishing  vegetation.  Not  only 
were  the  wheat-fields  luxuriant,  but  fields  of  flax,  which  had  at- 
tained to  half  its  growth,  and  various  articles  of  horticulture 
in  surprising  forwardness,  some  of  which,  indeed,  seemed  to  have 
been  vegetating  during  the  whole  winter,  interspersed  and  varied 
the  scene.  At  length  we  arrived  at  the  gate  of  Naples ;  here, 
although,  on  entering  the  Neapolitan  domains,  our  baggage  was 
examined  and  receipted,  yet  we  were  required  to  pay  a  piastre 
at  the  Dogana  (custom-house)  to  prevent  a  second  examination. 
In  this  matter  of  custom  they  are  more  jealous  of  Italians  than  of 
foreigners.  Our  priest's  baggage  was  again  rummaged,  although 
it  had  been  thoroughly  turned  up  and  taxed  once  before. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

r* 

THERE  is  something  peculiarly  lively  and  gay  in  the  appearance 
of  Naples.  Its  location  is  fine.  The  bay  itself  is  a  beautiful 
sheet  of  water,  of  about  thirty  miles  diameter,  protected  at  its  en- 
trance by  the  Island  of  Capri,  which  rises  up,  like  a  mighty  break- 
water, to  resist  the  force  of  the  waves.  The  town  is  like  an  am- 
phitheatre around  the  bay ;  at  one  end  it  has  some  picturesque  em- 
inences, on  one  of  which  is  the  king's  palace  and  the  royal  ob- 
servatory, and  on  the  other  the  Castle  of  St.  Elmo.  These  are 
ascended  by  zigzag  roads,  to  make  the  ascent  gradual  and  pleas- 
16  A  A 


186  ITALY. 

ant,  presenting  at  every  turn  new  aspects  of  the  beautiful  scenery 
around;  and,  when  you  arrive  at  the  top,  the  entire  panorama 
is  like  an  enchantment. 

From  the  Royal  Observatory  you  look  down  upon  the  city,  the 
bay,  the  harbour,  and  thence  the  eye  glances  speedily  over  the 
vale  spread  out  beyond  the  opposite  side  of  the  town  ;  a  vale  that 
can  scarcely  be  described.  It  is  spotted  all  over  with  cottages, 
appearing  in  the  distance  like  so  many  little  bird-cages,  almost 
thick  enough  to  be  called  a  continual  village.  To  the  right,  nearer 
the  bay,  is  Portici,  under  which  lies  the  buried  city  of  Hercula- 
neum.  Beyond  is  Vesuvius,  covered  perpetually  with  his  wreath 
of  smoke  or  flame.  The  associations  of  this  exhibition  add  greatly 
to  the  interest  of  the  scene.  The  very  mountain  you  stand  upon 
is  a  volcanic  formation ;  so  is  the  entire  foundation  of  the  city  of 
Naples,  and,  in  fact,  all  the  surrounding  country ;  while  at  the 
base  of  Vesuvius,  a  few  miles  distant,  are  cities  buried,  with  their 
inhabitants,  sixty  and  eighty  feet  below  the  present  surface  of  the 
earth  by  successive  floods  of  molten  minerals  and  showers  of 
cinders  and  earth.  To  the  like  fate  the  population  of  the  modern 
cities  are  continually  exposed ;  nay,  it  would  be  no  new  thing  in 
this  neighbourhood  if  the  troubled  elements  of  the  earth  should 
burst  forth  in  the  very  centre  of  the  city  of  Naples,  and  bury  its  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  under  a  huge  mausoleum  of  a  Monte  Nuovo, 
such  as  was  thrown  up  in  1538  but  a  few  miles  distant  from  the 
city.  Yet  the  inhabitants  live  without  the  least  apparent  appre- 
hension, fully  believing,  if  fatal  eruptions  of  this  kind  should  ever 
happen,  it  will  not  be  in  their  day ;  just  as  we  travellers  believe 
it  will  not  be  while  we  visit  the  city  and  its  environs,  and  even 
the  very  crater  of  Vesuvius  itself.  One  cannot  but  feel  peculiar 
sensations  when  seriously  contemplating  the  scene  around  him, 
viewed  in  connexion  with  past  history.  This  whole  region,  in- 
cluding, perhaps,  the  entire  peninsula  of  Italy,  is  volcanic,  and  vol- 
canoes have  been  active  here  from  time  immemorial.  The  sub- 
terranean fires  which  some  suppose  are  entombed  and  rage  con- 
tinually in  the  centre  of  the  earth,  seem  here  to  have  found  vent, 
and  the  craters  of  Etna  on  a  neighbouring  island,  and  of  Vesuvius 
have  for  many  centuries  been  natural  safety-valves  ;  and  though 
in  some  instances  destructive  to  the  insects  that  sport  around 
them,  may  be  instrumental  of  saving  extensive  portions  of  the 


STATE    OF    SOCIETY    IN    NAPLES.  187 

earth  from  destructive  earthquakes  and  ruinous  convulsions 
But  although  the  subterranean  fires  seem  to  concentrate  in  this 
neighbourhood,  it  does  not  follow  as  certain,  or  most  probable, 
that  the  crater  of  Vesuvius  will  always  be  the  outlet.  Naples 
itself  is  as  likely,  in  process  of  time,  according  to  all  human  ap- 
pearances, to  be  the  crater  of  a  volcano  as  Vesuvius  once  was. 
It  seems,  in  the  time  of  Diodorus  Siculus,  about  half  a  century  be- 
fore Christ,  and  in  that  of  Strabo,  who  flourished  about  the  period 
of  the  Christian  era,  that  there  was  no  appearance  in  Vesuvius 
of  an  active  volcano  ;  but,  from  the  appearance  of  the  mountain,  it 
was  judged  it  had  once  been  subject  to  irruptions,  in  an  age  so  re- 
mote that  the  period  was  to  them  unknown.  In  the  seventy-ninth 
year  of  the  Christian  era,  however,  the  great  irruption  took  place 
which  buried  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii.  Since  that  time,  on  the 
other  side  of  Naples,  Monte  Nuovo  has  been  formed  in  a  few 
hours,  and  the  earth  in  the  neighbourhood  still  burns  beneath, 
sending  up  streams  of  heated  sulphureous  gas,  and  throwing  out 
rivulets  of  hot  water;  an  evidence  that  not  in  Vesuvius  only, 
but  all  under  these  green  hills  and  verdant  vales,  the  fabled  forges 
of  Vulcan  are  in  active  operation,  and  where  next  they  may  burst 
forth  in  torrents  of  fire  and  showers  of  molten  cinders  is  altogether 
unknown . 

But  I  wander,  perhaps,  from  my  purpose,  which  was  to  give 
some  general  view  of  Naples.  It  is  in  population  the  third  city 
in  Europe,  containing,  as  the  most  rational  estimate,  from  three 
hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  Some  Ne- 
apolitans say  half  a  million  ;  but  this  is  evidently  erroneous.  The 
size  of  the  city,  which  is  only  nine  or  ten  miles  in  circumference, 
hardly  admits  of  such  an  estimate.  It  is  true,  Naples,  from  the 
great  portion  of  the  inhabitants  who  constantly  throng  the  streets, 
appears  to  be  immensely  populous.  In  no  city,  I  think  (even 
London  is  not  an  exception),  have  I  seen  greater  throngs  in  the 
streets ;  but  nowhere  besides  do  the  inhabitants  live  in  the  streets, 
as  in  Naples.  To  say  nothing  of  the  lazaroni,  many  of  whom,  it 
is  said,  have  no  home,  but  sleep  at  night  in  the  open  air,  or  under 
the  public  courts,  in  the  doors  of  the  churches,  and  wherever  they 
can  find  a  resting-place,  there  are  very  many  who  do  a  great  por- 
tion of  their  business  in  the  streets ;  here  is  cooking,  spinning, 
tshoemaking,  blacksmithing,  carpentering,  and  trading  of  all  kinds 
. 


188  ITALY. 

in  the  streets.  It  is  this  doing  everything  out  of  doors  which 
adds  much,  doubtless,  to  the  apparent  populousness  of  Naples. 
But  it  is,  in  fact,  full  of  people ;  many  of  them  busily  occupied, 
but  many  others  miserably  idle,  and  very  many  wretchedly  poor. 
The  lazaroni  (the  ragged  ones)  seem  to  be  a  distinct  class,  and 
the  lowest  we  could  well  conceive  of  in  the  bosom  of  a  civilized 
community.  It  has  already  been  stated  that  many  of  them  are 
without  any  regular  lodgings  ;  they  live  upon  a  trifle  ;  the  mildness 
of  the  climate  and  their  habits  enable  them  to  subsist  without  fire 
and  with  but  little  clothing.  When  they  can  obtain  employment 
they  work  (for  they  appear  more  active  than  the  poorest  classes  in 
other  parts  of  Italy);  they  act  as  porters,  or  fachinos,  as  they  are 
called  in  Italian,  whenever  they  can  find  employment,  for  which 
purpose  they  have  a  basket  that  serves  them  in  their  labours  by 
day  and  as  a  bed  by  night.  They  sing  and  sport,  play  the  harle- 
quin, or  attend  upon  those  who  do  so,  listen  to  the  public  street- 
readers  of  Orlando  Furioso,  in  which  they  seem  greatly  instructed, 
or  attend  to  the  harangues  of  the  street  declaimers,  play  at  cards 
on  a  stone  or  a  stool  on  the  side  of  the  street,  stretch  themselves 
out  upon  the  pavements  in  the  sun,  gather  the  quids  of  tobacco 
and  the  ends  of  cigars  that  have  been  thrown  away,  and  expose 
them  for  sale,  beg  when  necessity  requires,  and  attend  to  whatever 
else  inclination  prompts  to,  and  circumstances  allow  of,  or  nature 
requires,  without  embarrassment  or  shame.  But  the  most  impor- 
tant business  is  hunting  heads,  which  seems  with  them  not  only 
to  be  a  matter  of  necessity,  but  also  of  luxury,  and  hence  you  will 
pass  scores  of  them  in  the  streets  performing  this  kind  office  for 
each  other ;  an  employment,  by-the-way,  which  is  not  to  be  sneered 
at,  since  it  is  consecrated  by  genius,  and  identified  with  the  fine 
arts  in  Italy.  One  of  the  standard  paintings  of  the  Pitti  Palace, 
in  Florence,  was  a  Cupid  having  his  head  looked  by,  if  I  rightly 
remember,  Psyche.  But  in  Naples  tl^ey  attend  to  it  in  a  way  that 
saves  time  and  blesses  the  blesser ;  for  while  one  is  serving  another, 
he  or  she  is,  at  the  same  time,  served  by  a  third,  and  so  on  in  an 
indefinite  series.  In  many  instances,  too,  you  may  see  the  colo- 
nists or  emigrants  from  the  head  picked  off  from  other  parts  of 
the  body.  In  short  (for  this  is  not  a  subject  to  be  dwelt  upon 
further  than  is  necessary  to  give  some  just  description  of  the 
state  of  society  here  ,  these  lazaroni  are  a  dirty,  squalid,  poverty- 


POVERTY  OF  THE  INHABITANTS.  189 

smitten  race,  amounting,  according  to  some,  to  thirty  or  forty 
thousand.  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  there  are  so  many. 
Indeed,  it  is  generally  said,  their  number  is  diminished  of  late 
years.  Happy  would  it  be  for  the  city  if  they  could  be  entirely 
removed  by  putting  them  into  workhouses,  or  employing  them 
in  some  way  to  improve  their  condition  and  elevate  their  char- 
acter. It  is  said  they  are  willing  to  work  when  they  can  find 
it;  but  they  have  been  so  long  degraded  that  their  condition  is  not 
very  irksome  to  themselves.  They  are,  in  general,  a  merry  race, 
living  on  macaroni  and  vegetables,  and  in  their  habits  but  little 
removed  above  bestiality. 

The  beggars  in  Naples  are  numerous  and  annoying,  but  less  so 
in  the  city  than  in  the  country  and  provincial  towns  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. The  other  two  unproductive  classes  of  society  here- 
tofore alluded  to  in  other  cities  are  also  very  numerous  here,  viz., 
the  ecclesiastics  and  soldiers.  Of  the  former  it  is  difficult  to  as- 
certain the  precise  number,  but  they  are  abundant,  and  well  dressed 
and  well  fed.  They  have  "  fulness  of  bread  and  abundance  of 
idleness,"  both  of  which  are  indicated  by  their  fresh  visage  and 
portly  appearance.  Indeed,  what  have  they  to  do  ?  They  have 
no  families  to  provide  for,  they  seldom  preach,  most  of  them  never, 
and  their  pastoral  duties,  masses  and  confessions,  are  an  easy 
task,  divided  among  from  ten  to  twenty,  perhaps,  in  each  church. 
In  addition  to  these,  there  are  the  monastic  orders  hanging  like 
leeches  upon  the  social  body,  devouring  much  and  producing 
nothing. 

It  is  said  the  King  of  Naples  has  an  army  in  actual  service  in 
and  about  Naples  amounting  to  about  thirty  or  forty  thousand. 
These,  too,  appear  well  dressed  and  well  fed.  Some  thousands 
of  them  are  hirelings  from  Switzerland  and  Austria.  With  all 
these  unproductive  consumers  living  on  her  limited  commerce  and 
her  slender  revenues,  what  can  be  expected  but  that  depression 
and  poverty  should  pervade  the  whole  nation?  The  wonder  is 
that  Naples  sustains  herself  as  well  as  she  does ;  nor  could  she, 
in  fact,  survive  long,  but  that  she  is  surrounded  by  a  country  rich 
and  productive  almost  beyond  conception,  which,  if  nothing  more, 
yields  at  least  the  necessaries  of  life,  bread-stuffs  and  common 
vegetables,  in  great  abundance,  as  well  as  great  quantities  of  fruit 
for  exportation. 


190  ITALY. 

Naples  is  unrivalled  in  the  beauty  of  its  location  and  surround- 
ing scenery.  The  Quarters  of  Chiajah,  St.  Lucia,  and  Chiatamone, 
on  the  bay,  are  delightful ;  stretching  along  by  the  first  of  these 
streets  are  the  public  gardens,  extending,  I  should  judge,  a  mile, 
from  the  Victoria  almost  to  the  Grotto  of  Posilipo,  ornamented 
with  trees,  shrubbery,  plants,  statuary,  and  fountains,  with  the  bay 
on  the  one  side  and  a  splendid  street  on  the  other.  This  is  a 
favourite  and  fashionable  resort.  Another  important  street  is  the 
Toledo,  running  through  the  heart  of  the  city.  At  the  north,  with- 
out the  city,  is  the  Campus  Martius,  an  extensive  and  fine  military 
parade-ground,  surrounded  by  trees.  For  this  last,  as  well  as  for 
the  gardens,  and  for  additions  to  the  palace,  and  great  improve- 
ments to  the  grounds  about  Capo  di  Monti,  and  various  other 
things  useful  and  ornamental  to  the  city,  Naples  is  indebted  to 
Murat  and  the  French. 

The  architecture  of  Naples  is  not  much  admired.  The  churches 
are  numerous,  amounting  to  from  three  to  four  hundred,  and  a  few 
of  them  have  some  interest  within,  for  the  costly  finish,  paintings, 
&c. ;  but,  in  general,  they  are  indifferent.  The  Church  of  St. 
Martin,  near  the  Castle  of  St.  Elmo,  has  a  lofty  location,  over- 
looking the  town  and  the  bay,  and  is  attached  to  what  used  to  be 
the  Certosini  convent.  The  church  is  splendid,  and  contains  some 
good  pictures.  The  convent  was  converted  by  the  French  into  a 
hospital  for  military  invalids ;  but  it  is  now,  I  am  sorry  to  say, 
undergoing  repairs,  in  view  of  being  restored  to  its  original  use. 
It  is  thus  that  the  present  reigning  family  are  endeavouring  to 
bring  everything  back  to  the  superstitions  of  former  days.  The 
present  king  often  makes  superstitious  vows,  as  did  also  his  father 
before  him.  The  former,  it  is  said,  recentlymade  vows  of  various 
religious  performances,  charities,  &c.,  provided  he  could  be  fa- 
voured with  the  birth  of  a  son,  but  forgot  to  stipulate,  it  would 
seem,  for  the  safety  of  the  queen ;  the  result  is,  the  son  is  born, 
but  it  cost  the  queen  her  life.  The  present  king's  father  made  a 
vow,  when  he  was  last  driven  from  his  kingdom  by  Murat,  that 
he  would  build  a  magnificent  church  if  he  could  be  again  restored 
;to  his  throne.  To  fulfil  his  vow  a  church  is  nearly  completed 
in  the  grand  square  opposite  to  the  palace,  which,  in  its  circular 
colonnades,  its  rotunda,  and  its  location  in  a  circular  piazza,  has 
some  little  resemblance  to  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.  This  will  be  a 


A    MARVELLOUS    SAINT.  191 

fine  church  when  finished  ;  but,  doubtless,  a  vow  to  give  his  sub- 
jects a  constitution  that  would  guard  them  from  the  encroachments 
and  oppressions  of  despotism  would  have  been  much  more  ac- 
ceptable to  God,  and  beneficial  to  his  people,  and,  I  may  add, 
much  more  honourable  to  himself,  and  more  conservative  of  his 
family  dynasty,  than  the  building  of  an  additional  church  in  a  city 
where  churches  and  priests  were  already  multiplied  far  beyond 
the  wants  of  the  people. 

The  Cathedral,  which  is  called  the  church  of  St.  Januarius,  is 
noted  for  being  incrusted  with  white  marble  externally,  for  being 
supported  internally  by  something  more  than  one  hundred  columns 
of  Egyptian  granite,  African   marble,   &c.,  taken  from  ancient 
heathen  temples,  for  containing  the  body  of  St.  Januarius,  and 
two  vessels  of  his  blood,  which  is  in  a  solid  state,  but  is  liquefied 
miraculously  three  times  a  year.     We  were  shown  the  silver  tab- 
ernacle where  the  head  of  this  saint,  together  with  these  vessels 
of  blood,  are  deposited,  but  were  not  permitted  to  see  the  blood. 
The  tabernacle  is  locked  by  four  keys,  two  of  which  are  with  the 
king  and  two  with  the  cardinal,  and  it  cannot  be  opened  but  by 
the  joint  action  of  these  two  personages,  which  only  takes  place 
on  occasion  of  the  ceremony  of  liquefying  the  blood.     It  is  seri- 
ously believed  by  the  Neapolitans  that  the  ready  liquefaction  of 
the  substance  in  these  vials,  which,  no  doubt,  is  a  chymical  com- 
pound, that  either  liquefies  by  the  warmth  of  the  priest's  hands  or 
by  some  other  common  chymical  process,  is  indicative  of  prosper- 
ity, and,  if  it  fails  readily  to  become  a  liquid,  it  is  accounted  ominous 
of  some  approaching  calamity.     The  last  time  the  ceremony  was 
performed  there  was  some  delay  and  difficulty,  it  is  said,  and  the 
result  has  been  the  death  of  the  queen  !  !     Another  marvel  con- 
nected with  this  affair  is,  that  the  stone  on  which  the  saint  was 
beheaded,  and  which  is  kept  some  miles  distant,  sweats  fresh  blood 
at  the  very  moment  that  in  the  vial  becomes  a  liquid.     So  the 
priests  teach,  and  so  the  people  believe  !     This  saint  has  several 
times  protected  the  city  from  the  irruptions  of  Mount  Vesuvius, 
hence  it  is  not  wonderful  that  he  should  be  in  such  high  estimation. 
His  chapel  cost  one  hundred  thousand  ducats.*     This  cathedral 
also  contains  the  body  of  Januarius  in  a  subterranean  chapel,  which 
is  supposed  to  be  the  remains  of  a  temple  of  Apollo,  and  has  an  ele- 

*  A  ducat  is  worth  about  eighty  cents. 


192  ITALY. 

gant  altar  and  shrine  in  an  adjoining  chapel,  on  which  is  a  splendid 
bassrelief  in  massive  silver,  representing  the  entrance  of  the  saint 
into  Naples  in  1526,  at  a  time  when  the  plague  was  raging  there, 
and  which  was  stayed  by  his  miraculous  interposition.  This,  of 
course,  has  secured  to  him  the  honour  of  being  the  tutelar  saint 
of  Naples.  Here  also  are  thirty-six  splendid  silver  busts,  which 
are  exhibited  on  festal  days,  but  at  other  times  kept  stored  in 
closets  in  a  private  room,  and  shown  to  strangers  by  the  custode 
for  a  fee. 

The  Chapel  of  St.  Severus,  erected  in  1590,  has  been  almost 
ruined  by  an  earthquake,  and  is  in  some  parts  only  kept  from 
falling  by  walling  up  the  arches  with  strong  masonry.  It  is  no 
longer  used  for  worship,  and  is  only  remarkable  as  a  repository 
of  sepulchral  monuments  of  the  Sangro  family.  The  monuments 
are  fine,  and  have  additional  interest  from  the  fact  that  the  tomb 
and  monument  of  each  nobleman  or  prince  of  the  family  is  also  ac- 
companied by  a  monument  for  his  wife,  which  is  a  rare  occurrence. 
The  monument  for  the  wife  is  generally  a  symbolical  figure,  per- 
sonating some  virtue  of  the  deceased.  One  is  a  female  figure  of 
modesty,  by  Corradini ;  she  is  clothed  with  a  transparent  veil  from 
head  to  foot,  exhibiting  through  it  the  entire  form.  It  is  a  most 
extraordinary  piece  of  art,  in  a  form  entirely  unknown  to  the  an- 
cients, and  rarely  attempted  by  the  moderns.  The  lady  was  the 
wife  of  Prince  Don  Raymond.  There  are  two  other  similar  works 
of  art  in  this  chapel :  one  is  a  symbolic  representation  of  vice  un- 
deceived, and  is  designed  to  designate  the  change  in  Don  Raymond 
himself,  who,  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  renounced  his  secular 
pursuits  and  became  a  priest.  The  symbol  is  a  man  escaping 
from  a  net,  assisted  by  another  figure  beside  him,  called  the  Ge- 
nius of  Common  Sense.  The  net  is  already  partly  thrown  ofF,  and 
although  it  is  sculptured  from  the  same  piece  of  marble  with  the 
statue  itself,  seems  scarcely  to  touch  the  body.  It  is  inconceiva- 
bly fine,  but  not  more  so  than  the  other,  which  is  a  dead  Christ, 
veiled,  by  Joseph  San  Martino.  The  form  and  the  very  muscles 
are  seen  through  the  veil,  and  the  whole  looks  as  if  moistened  by 
the  clammy  sweat  of  death,  while  the  sublime  resignation  of  our 
Saviour's  last  hour  seems  lingering  still  upon  the  lifeless  counte- 
nance. This  is  a  sublime  triumph  of  genius.  In  my  opinion, 
sculpture  is  nowhere  so  perfectly  at  home  as  in  the  representa- 


THE    ROYAL    OBSERVATORY.  193 

tion  of  death.  The  colour  of  animation,  from  the  necessity  of  the 
case,  is  always  wanting  to  the  sculptured  representation  of  the  liv- 
ing figure ;  a  defect  which,  however  it  may  be  with  others,  I  can 
never  lose  sight  of  when  looking  at  the  finest  statuary  ;  hence  I  al- 
ways feel  that  something  is  wanting,  and  this  feeling  detracts  so 
much  from  the  pleasure,  and  mars  the  whole  exhibition.  But 
death  has  no  animation  ;  it  has  no  colour ;  its  very  expression,  its 
very  associations  are  marble,  cold  marble  !  Here,  therefore,  the 
works  of  the  chisel  are  perfect,  and  its  triumphs  are  complete. 
Let  no  one  who  visits  Naples  fail  of  visiting  the  Chapel  of  the 
Veiled  Statuary. 

I  cannot  dwell  upon  the  other  churches  and  public  edifices  of 
Naples.  We  visited  one  of  the  two  royal  palaces  of  Naples,  viz., 
that  by  the  grand  or  royal  piazza.  It  is  a  large  building,  finely  sit- 
uated, and  containing  a  suite  of  spacious  staterooms,  in  which  are 
some  fine  paintings  and  rich  furniture.*  The  palace  at  Capo  di 
Monte  we  were  not  permitted  to  see,  because  the  king  was  at  that 
time  staying  there.  The  situation  of  this  palace  is  very  fine,  as  has 
already  been  stated.  The  Royal  Observatory  near  by  was  not 
closed  like  the  palace ;  this,  therefore,  we  entered,  and  examined 
every  part.  The  observatory  building,  fixtures,  and  instruments 
are  certainly  very  creditable  to  the  government  of  Naples  ;  all  the 
necessary  instruments  were  there,  and  well  mounted  and  arranged ; 
and  the  only  mortification  that  I  had  in  examining  it  was  the  re- 
flection which  here,  as  in  other  places  in  Europe,  I  was  constrained 
to  make  upon  the  deficiency  of  our  own  country  in  this  and  simi- 
lar institutions,  and  the  stinted  economy,  or  local  and  state  jeal- 
ousy, which  keeps  the  boasted  republic  of  America  from  affording 
that  patronage  to  science  which  is  so  liberally  extended  by  not  only 
the  constitutional  monarchies,  but  even  the  unrestricted  despotisms 
of  Europe.  This  consideration  is  extremely  mortifying,  and  the 
more  so  because  many  of  our  citizens  imagine,  and  this  feeling  is 
increased  by  those  ephemeral  politicians  and  demagogues  who 
pander  to  the  notions  of  the  ignorant  for  the  sake  of  temporary 
popularity  and  office,  that  these  high  institutions  are  not  necessary  ; 
that  they  savour  of  aristocracy,  and  have  no  relation  to  the  general 

*  While  I  am  reviewing  this  part  of  my  journal  (March,  1837),  I  learn  by  the  public 
papers  that  all  that  was  combustible  of  this  edifice,  together  with  the  rich  gallery  of 
pictures  and  the  furniture,  has  been  consumed  by  fire. 

17  BB 


194 


ITALY. 


interests  of  the  community  and  of  the  labouring  classes ;  where- 
as, if  they  were  only  able  or  willing  to  trace  the  relation  between 
science  and  the  most  useful  arts,  they  would  see  that  the  former, 
in  her  highest  flights  and  widest  range,  was  only  gathering  golden 
treasures  for  an  entire  people;  and  nowhere  is  the  distribution 
so  complete  as  in  a  republic.  Although,  in  a  monarchy  or  an 
aristocracy*  there  may  be  a  monopoly  of  these  advantages,  as  there 
is,  more  or  less,  of  everything  else,  yet  nothing  is  more  diffusive 
in  its  tendencies  than  knowledge,  and,  where  there  are  no  artificial 
obstructions  to  interfere,  it  is  sure  to  spread  out  over  the  whole 
land ;  and  the  larger  and  better  supplied  the  grand  reservoirs,  the 
more  abundant  and  extended  will  be  the  diffusive  and  refreshing 
streams.  When  will  all  our  citizens  be  undeceived  on  this  impor- 
tant point  ? 

The  burial-place  of  the  Neapolitans  is  the  very  opposite  of  those 
of  Paris.  It  is  a  large  square,  enclosed  on  every  side  by  a  high 
wall,  of  sufficient  extent  to  contain  as  many  separate  pits  as  there 
are  days  in  the  year.  These  pits  are  twelve  feet  square  and 
eighteen  deep,  and  are  walled  up  and  permanently  covered  over, 
except  one  square  opening  in  the  centre,  of  perhaps  fourteen  or 
eighteen  inches,  into  which  a  stone  is  fitted  and  plastered  air  tight. 
This  stone  has  a  staple  and  a  ring,  by  which  a  machine,  kept  for 
the  purpose,  on  the  principle  of  the  lever,  can  break  it  up  and 
open  the  pit.  One  of  these  is  opened  in  this  manner  every  day, 
and  the  dead  are  thrown  in  without  coffin  or  clothing ;  quick  lime 
is  then  thrown  in,  and  the  pit  is  sealed  up,  and  the  next  receptacle 
in  order  is  broken  up,  so  that  there  is  a  year  for  the  decomposi- 
tion of  the  bodies  before  the  pit  is  again  disturbed.  We  looked 
into  the  one  which  was  open  the  day  we  visited  it,  and  saw  some 
half  dozen  of  infants  just  thrown  in,  perfectly  naked.  But  this  is 
the  charnel-house  of  the  poor.  These  recent  deposit.es  were  sink- 
ing down  into  the  putrefied  mass  of  former  years.  The  spectacle 
may  be  conceived  of  by  the  reader,  but  it  is  too  repulsive  to  be  de- 
scribed. If  any  man  wishes  to  take  a  deep  lesson  in  the  frailty 
and  loathsome  corruptibility  of  these  pampered  and  idolized  bodies, 
let  him  go  to  the  Campo  Santo  of  Naples.  These  pits  for  the 
burial  of  the  poor  are  also  common  at  Rome  and  other  cities  of 
Italy  ;  and,  not  unfrequently,  rats  and  other  vermin  are  seen  rioting 
on  the  putrid  mass. 


FUNERAL    CEREMONIES    OF   THE    NEAPOLITANS.  195 

Those  who  can  afford  the  expense  of  a  funeral  are  generally 
buried  by  fraternities,  who  are  associated  together  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  different  societies  are  dressed  in  long  loose  robes 
of  various  colours,  according  to  their  respective  regulations,  and 
all  of  them  wear  masks,  or,  rather,  a  sort  of  close  hood,  with 
openings  for  the  eyes.  These  bodies  walk  in  procession,  bearing 
lighted  wax  candles,  and  are  frequently  followed  by  a  number  of 
Franciscan  and  Capuchin  monks,  who  are  dressed  in  black  or 
brown  mantles,  with  cowls  hanging  back  upon  their  shoulders,  ex- 
posing their  naked  heads  sometimes  half  shaven ;  and  whose  feet 
are  shod  with  a  kind  of  sandal,  or  a  shoe  having  only  a  sole  and 
straps  to  bind  and  fasten  it  to  the  foot.  We  followed  a  procession 
of  this  kind  one  evening,  just  as  the  shadows  of  approaching  night 
were  beginning  to  cast  a  gloom  upon  the  city,  which  is  the  usual 
hour  for  their  sepulchral  ceremonies.  They  led  us  into  an  upper 
room,  where  the  corpse  was  lying  in  state,  in  full  dress  and  with 
painted  face  ;  after  a  little  ceremony  and  religious  service,  the  body 
was  taken  and  borne  off  to  the  church  in  solemn  procession.  The 
scene  was  heightened  by  the  hour,  by  the  long  ranges  of  lights 
streaming  upon  the  darkness,  and  the  deep  chant  of  the  monks, 
"Requiem  ceternam  dona  eis,  Domine,  et  lux  perpetua  luceat  eis  ."* 
When  we  arrived  at  the  church  another  more  extended  service 
was  performed,  and  the  coffin,  in  an  unaccountable  manner,  disap- 
peared. I  suppose  it  must  have  been  lowered  down  through  the 
floor  of  the  church  ;  for  we  went  down  into  the  vault  below,  and 
found  they  had  just  been  engaged  in  the  burial. 

My  stay  at  Naples  was  not  long  enough  to  enable  me  to  become 
much  acquainted  with  the  schools  and  colleges.  Of  course  there 
is  no  general  system  of  primary  education.  This  would  be  rais- 
ing the  people  too  much  for  the  purposes  of  such  a  government. 
There  are,  however,  several  schools  for  the  gratuitous  education 
of  poor  children  of  both  sexes,  and  there  are  also  several  colleges  ; 
one  is  appropriated  exclusively  to  the  education  of  the  nobility. 
1  could  not  learn  that  literature  or  science  was  advancing  at  all 
in  Naples,  although  this  city  once  took  a  high  stand  in  the  lit- 
erary world.  The  great  rage  now  here,  as  in  other  parts  of  It- 
aly, is  for  the  belle  arte.  I  tried  to  get  access  to  one  of  the  col- 

*  "  Give  them  eternal  rest,  O  Lord,  and  let  perpetual  light  shine  upon  them." 


196  ITALY. 

leges  without  a  formal  introduction,  and  the  custode  or  porter  not 
conceiving  that  I  could  wish  to  see  anything  but  pictures  and  stat- 
uary, took  me  into  a  back  hall,  where  were  piles  of  rubbish  in  the 
form  of  old  paintings,  which  he  began  to  elevate  and  arrange  for 
my  inspection  and  gratification  !  !  After  informing  him  that  I  had 
not  come  to  see  pictures,  but  the  libraries,  apparatus,  and  differ- 
ent accommodations  of  the  college,  he  gave  me  to  understand  I 
could  not  be  admitted,  on  account  of  its  being  the  hour  when  the 
professors  were  hearing  their  classes.  I  left  disappointed,  but  not 
a  little  amused  at  the  mistake  of  the  porter.  It  appeared  to  me 
to  be  a  characteristic  indication,  if  not  of  what  the  Neapolitans 
most  thought  of,  at  least  of  what  they  supposed  foreigners  most 
thought  of  who  visited  them. 

Having  made  several  allusions  to  the  Neapolitan  government, 
it  may  not  be  amiss  here  to  say  a  few  words  on  that  subject.  It 
is  absolute  ;  that  is,  the  king  is  restrained  by  no  constitutional 
laws  and  by  no  legislative  authority.  The  property,  lives,  and 
liberties  of  his  people  are  all  at  his  disposal,  checked  and  con- 
trolled, however,  as  he  must  be,  more  or  leSs,  at  this  age,  by 
public  opinion.  Hence  this  idea  of  public  opinion  and  fear  of  dis- 
affection is  constantly  haunting  the  Neapolitan  government ;  and 
the  principal  dependance  to  restrain  any  secret  disaffection  is 
placed  upon  the  military.  The  king  keeps  a  large  standing  army, 
amounting,  it  is  said,  to  thirty  or  forty  thousand.  Every  part  of 
the  city  is  guarded  by  sentinels,  and  companies  of  foot,  and  squad- 
rons of  horse.  Cannons  are  kept  constantly  mounted,  and  pointed 
into  the  public  squares  and  other  places  where  any  numbers  might 
be  rallied  to  oppose  the  powers  that  be ;  all  indicating  that  the 
army  is  kept,  not  for  foreign  enemies,  but  for  the  king's  own  sub- 
jects. From  abroad  he  has  nothing  to  fear,  but  at  home  every- 
thing ;  nor  dare  he  trust  his  own  subjects  for  his  guards,  but 
keeps  foreigners  in  his  pay,  principally  Swiss,  and  some  Germans 
as  his  more  immediate  body-guard,  who  have  no  other  interest  in 
die  government  than  to  accomplish,  like  a  hireling,  their  task,  get 
their  pay,  and  go  home.  Their  interest,  of  course,  will  be  wholly 
on  the  side  of  the  government ;  and,  therefore,  they  are  thought 
to  be  the  safest  guards.  How  miserably  must  that  government 
estimate  its  own  authority  which  cannot  rely  upon  its  own  sub- 
jects for  defence  !  Certainly  such  a  government  must  act  contin- 


SUSPICION    OF    THE    GOVERNMENT.  197 

ually  under  the  conviction  of  its  own  weakness  ;  and  such,  evident- 
ly, is  the  conviction  of  the  present  king  and  ministers  of  Naples. 
They  are  afraid  of  every  breath.  This  is  illustrated  by  a  recent 
occurrence.  A  young  Frenchman  at  Rome,  having  occasion  to 
visit  Naples,  and  finding  it  difficult,  for  some  reason,  to  get  a  pass- 
port, took  a  passport  of  another,  and  travelled  all  through  the 
kingdom,  and  spent  some  time  at  Naples  under  a  fictitious  name. 
The  joke  took  so  well,  it  was  too  good  for  the  Frenchman  to 
keep.  He  boasted  of  his  exploit,  and  it  was  soon  reported  to  the 
government.  This  threw,  them  into  a  great  fever.  They  feared 
some  terrible  Carbonari  plot,  or  something  else,  was  ready  to 
produce  an  explosion ;  and  every  foreigner,  and  especially  every 
Frenchman  (for  the  French  are  the  most  suspected),  fell  under 
suspicion.  Their  consular  and  ministerial  agents  abroad  were  di- 
rected to  examine  foreigners  very  closely  as  to  their  standing  and 
object  in  visiting  Naples  before  giving  an  official  sanction  to 
their  passports.  It  was  requested,  when  I  was  in  Leghorn,  that 
I  should  appear  before  the  consul-general,  and  answer  to  an  ex- 
amination on  the  subject  of  my  character,  object  in  visiting  Na- 
ples, &c, ;  but,  on  being  informed  that  I  should  not  choose  to 
subject  myself  to  such  a  catechism,  and  that  he  must  learn  my 
character  from  my  passport,  the  subject  was  waived.  We  were 
informed,  however,  from  an  official  source  while  in  Naples,  that 
it  was  in  contemplation  to  pass  an  edict  speedily  by  which  all 
foreigners  would  be  obliged  to  give  security  for  their  good  be- 
haviour, especially  that  they  would  engage  in  no  political  object 
on  visiting  Naples.  Be  it  so.  For  my  part,  although  I  admire 
the  scenery  of  Southern  Italy,  yet  I  never  shall  desire  to  enter  the 
kingdom  of  Naples  again  until  the  capricious  tyranny  that  now 
sways  its  destinies  shall  be  broken  or  restrained. 

The  weakness  and  meanness  of  this  government  are  also  seen 
in  another  fact,  and  that  is,  that  they  frequently  break  open  letters 
sent  or  received  through  the  medium  of  the  postoffice.  This  is 
done,  doubtless,  to  detect  any  lurking  conspiracy  which  their 
guilt  and  their  fears  lead  them  always  to  think  is  on  the  eve  of 
breaking  out. 

Little  or  no  encouragement  is  given  to  manufactures  or  to  ag- 
ricultural enterprise ;  and  as  for  commerce  it  seems  to  be  the 
17 


198  ITALY. 

policy  of  the  government  to  embarrass  it  as  much  as  possible. 
Their  quarantine  laws,  founded  in  ignorance  and  executed  in  ca- 
price, are  of  themselves  sufficient  to  paralyze  their  commercial 
operations.  Take  this,  which  occurred  while  I  was  at  Naples,  as 
a  specimen.  A  steamer  arrived  from  Marseilles  ;  previous  to  its 
arrival,  report  had  reached  the  government  that  a  vessel  from 
New-Orleans,  United  States,  had  been  admitted  into  Marseilles 
after  only  five  days'  quarantine  ;  and  this  was  sufficient  to  order 
the  steamer  back  upon  the  quarantine-ground,  with  all  her  freight 
and  passengers  !  and  it  was  seriously  proposed  to  subject  her  to 
a  quarantine  of  twenty  days.  They,  however,  thought  better  of 
it,  and  permitted  her,  after  thirty-six  or  forty-eight  hours,  to  come 
into  the  harbour.  The  letters  which  are  brought  by  steamers  and 
ships  are  received  into  sacks  at  the  end  of  long  poles,  and  are 
thoroughly  steamed  and  perfumed  before  they  can  be  touched  ; 
after  they  are  made  tangible  on  the  outside,  they  are  pierced 
through  with  a  knife,  so  that  the  perfume  may  have  an  opportu- 
nity to  circulate  in  the  interior,  and  then  they  undergo  another 
fumigation.  A  letter  that  I  received  while  there  was  pierced 
with  a  slit  of  about  an  inch  in  length  in  some  twelve  or  sixteen 
places. 

After  all,  perhaps,  Naples  is  doing  as  well  as  it  has  done  for 
many  centuries,  with  the  exception  of  the  reign  of  Don  Carlos 
and  that  of  Murat.  For  two  centuries  after  the  government  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  royal  family  of  Spain,  Naples  was  governed 
by  viceroys,  whose  principal  object  was  to  plunder  the  people  as 
much  as  they  could  while  they  were  in  office.  These  exactions 
were  so  intolerable  in  some  cases  that  the  people  revolted,  and  by 
popular  violence  claimed  redress  of  their  grievances.  Such  was 
the  famous  insurrection  under  the  fisherman  Thomas  Anniello, 
which  was  excited  in  1647  on  account  of  the  tax  on  fruit. 

In  1736,  by  the  treaty  of  Vienna,  the  contention  which  had  ex- 
isted for  several  preceding  years  respecting  the  sovereignty  of 
Naples  and  Sicily  was  adjusted  by  confirming  Don  Carlos,  Duke 
of  Parma  and  son  of  the  King  of  Spain,  on  the  throne  of  Naples 
and  Sicily.  He  was  a  wise  and  a  liberal  monarch,  but  was  called 
to  the  throne  of  Spain,  in  1759,  on  the  death  of  his  eldest  brother, 
Ferdinand  VI.  He  left  Naples  to  his  third  son,  who  took  the 


EXECUTION    OF    MURAT.  199 

throne  under  the  name  of  Ferdinand  I.  This  monarch  was  a  man 
of  a  very  weak  mind  ;  indeed,  the  intellect  of  the  entire  family 
was  none  of  the  best.  The  eldest  son  of  Don  Carlos  was  non 
compos  mentis,  and,  therefore,  incapable  of  being  his  father's  heir 
to  the  throne  of  Spain,  on  which  account  the  second  son  was  re- 
served to  succeed  his  father,  and  the  third  left  at  Naples.  Ferdi- 
nand's wife,  Queen  Caroline,  of  the  house  of  Austria,  ruled  her 
husband  and  the  court.  She  was  a  cruel  tyrant ;  and,  while  she 
kept  the  king  himself  under  her  sway,  she  made  him  the  tool  of 
her  cruelty  and  tyranny.  This  hastened  the  revolution  which 
was  commenced  by  the  Neapolitans  for  the  sake  of  liberty,  but 
which,  like  all  the  other  revolutions  in  the  Italian  States,  ended 
in  the  domination  of  the  French.  In  1806  Joseph  Bonaparte  was 
made  king.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  brother-in-law,  Joachim 
Murat,  who  held  the  crown  until,  in  1814,  he  was  compelled  to 
yield  it  to  the  Austrian  power,  when  it  was  bestowed  again  by 
the  Emperor  of  Austria,  Francis  II.,  upon  the  old  King  Ferdinand 
I.*  Again  the  feeble  old  king  was  driven  from  his  capital  and 
kingdom  by  Murat  in  1815,  but  was  restored  by  the  failure  of 
Murat's  effort  to  recover  his  government.  This  effort  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  second,  in  which  the  restless  and  ambitious  spirit  of 
this  brother-in-law  of  Napoleon  drove  him  upon  the  rash  enterprise 
of  sailing  from  Toulon  with  six  barks,  with  the  expectation  of 
being  joined  by  his  partisans  in  sufficient  strength  to  recover  his 
crown.  His  fleet  was  dispersed  in  a  gale,  and  he  was  driven  on 
shore  at  San  Lucida,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  afterward 
tried  by  a  court-martial  and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  This  sentence 
was  executed  October  13,  1815.  Ferdinand  was  so  excited  by 
his  fears  of  Murat,  that  he  could  not  rest  until  the  sentence  of 
death  was  executed  upon  him.  The  old  king  himself  died  in  1825, 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Francis  I.  This  monarch  has 
more  intellect  than  his  father,  but  possesses  a  share  of  his  illiber- 
ality  and  bigotry.  If  this  part  of  Italy  ever  rises  from  its  present 
condition,  it  must  be  by  a  gradual  melioration  ;  there  is  little  hope 
from  revolution  ;  any  change  from  this  source  will  only  be  a 

*  Fortunately  for  Naples  and  for  the  world,  the  queen  in  the  mean  time  had  died  at 
Vienna,  where  she  had  been  sent  by  the  English  to  prevent  her  intrignes  against  the 
constitutional  government  which  they  had  established  at  Sicily. 


200  ITALY. 

change  of  masters.  A  great  portion  of  the  people  in  Calabria  are 
but  half  civilized  ;  and  these,  with  the  lazaroni  of  Naples,  always 
join  the  nobility  in  favour  of  monarchy.  To  this  they  are  led 
by  their  ignorance,  their  superstition,  and  the  influence  of  their 
priests. 

If  a  monarch  should  arise  who,  understanding  his  own  interests 
as  well  as  the  interests  of  the  people,  would  establish  a  constitu- 
tional government,  and  provide  the  means  of  instruction  for  the 
people,  they  might,  in  time,  be  elevated;  but,  as  there  is  little 
hope  of  this,  so  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  Magna  Gra> 
cia  will  be  the  last  corner  of  Italy  that  will  be  enlightened  and 
refined. 

The  principal  object  of  interest  to  the  stranger  in  Naples  still 
remains  to  be  noticed.  I  allude  to  the  public  museum  called 
the  Museo  Borbonico  ;  a  name,  by-the-way,  which  has  more  of 
pride  in  it  than  appropriateness  ;  but  this  is  of  no  consequence. 
The  museum  itself  is  equalled  by  none  in  the  world  for  interest, 
chiefly  because  it  contains  the  spoils  of  those  buried  cities  which 
have  been  preserved  for  seventeen  centuries  in  all  the  freshness 
and  perfection  of  their  original  character.  As  soon  as  any  new 
object  of  interest  is  uncovered  in  the  excavations  which  are  made 
in  the  subterranean  cities  of  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  it  is  re- 
moved to  this  museum.  You  are  here  introduced,  therefore,  to 
historical  records,  more  expressive  than  description,  of  what  these 
cities  were  at  the  moment  they  were  inhumed.  I  do  not  now 
speak  of  the  fine  arts ;  for,  although  some  very  good  frescoes*  have 
been  excavated,  with  all  the  freshness  of  their  original  colouring^ 
as  well  as  a  great  many  indifferent  ones  ;  and  although  some  very 
beautiful  mosaics  of  a  coarser  kind,  such  as  are  found  in  the  pave- 
ments of  courts  and  floors  of  rooms,  have  been  exhumed  ;  and  even 
although  some  most  splendid  sculpture  has  been  found,  such,  for 
example,  as  the  equestrian  statues  of  the  Balbi  and  the  statue  of 
Arislides,  both  found  at  Herculaneum,  yet  these  have  their 
equals,  perhaps,  in  the  specimens  of  ancient  statuary  found  else- 
where. But  to  enter  into  a  museum  containing  all  the  kitchen 
utensils,  the  toys  of  the  toilet,  the  instruments  of  agriculture, 

*  Perhaps  I  ought  to  say,  for  the  information  of  some  of  my  youthful  readers,  that, 
properly  speaking,  a  fresco  is  a  painting  upon  a  damp  plastered  wall. 


THE    MUSEO    BORBONICO.  201 

the  contents  of  the  shop,  the  furniture  of  the  private  and  public 
apartments,  the  sacred  implements  and  vessels  of  the  altars  and 
the  temples,  all,  in  short,  that  relates  to  war  or  peace,  to  public 
or  private  life,  to  business  or  pleasure,  to  arts  or  literature,  to 
the  licentiousness  or  the  religion  of  a  refined,  licentious,  luxu- 
rious, and  superstitious  people,  existing  two  thousand  years  ago ; 
this  is  to  see  one  of  the  most  surprising  exhibitions  the  world 
has  ever  beheld,  and  is  owing  to  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
occurrences  that  has  marked  the  history  of  the  earth  since  the 
flood. 

I  cannot  describe  these  articles  minutely,  but  must  glance  at 
the  most  general  division  of  the  objects. 

1 .  A  hall  devoted  to  ancient  paintings,  consisting  principally  of 
pieces  of  the  plastered  walls,  with  frescoes  on  them,  containing  pic- 
torial representations  of  almost  every  important  event  in  ancient 
history  and  mythology  ;  the  paintings  themselves,  independent  of 
their  story,  are  generally  indifferent. 

2.  Gallery  of  Ancient  Sculpture.     Of  this  there  are  something 
like  twelve  divisions,  or  different  halls  and  cabinets,  containing  five 
or  six  hundred  specimens  of  ancient  sculpture.     These  are  not  all, 
however,  from  the  two  cities  mentioned,  but  all  antiques  from 
every  quarter  are  deposited  here.     Among  these,  the  finest  I  ever 
saw  for  a  single  figure  is  the  statue  of  Aristides,  already  alluded 
to.     The  philosopher  stands  with  his  arms  folded  in  his  cloak,  in 
all  the  dignity  and  integrity  of  his  character.     It  is  a  work  as  near 
perfection,  I  think,  as  human  art  can  ever  achieve.     This  is  the 
kind  of  statuary  I  covet  for  my  country.     I  had  much  ado  to  re- 
frain from  a  violation  of  the  command,  "  Thou  shalt  not  covet" 
when  looking  at  this  matchless  figure.     Could  I  have  it,  thought  I, 
to  exhibit  to  the  youth  of  America,  to  the  young  men  of  our  uni- 
versities, such  a  dignified  personification  of  integrity,  in  the  person 
of  Aristides  the  Just,  might  greatly  aid  in  elevating  their  charac- 
ters and  strengthening  their  principles ;  although  I  might  well  be  re- 
minded that  they  have  not  only  Moses  and  the  prophets,  but  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  apostles,  whom,  if  they  hear  not,  neither  would 
they  believe,  although  Aristides  should  rise  from  the  dead.     And 
yet  I  think  it  would  be  no  disadvantage  to  see  the  old  philosopher 
even  in  marble  ;  I  should  like  to  look  at  him  two  or  three  times  a 
day  as  long  as  I  live.     But  why  do  I  dwell  so  long  upon  one  figure 

C  o 


202  ITALY. 

among  so  many  ?  Because  I  would  give  more  for  him  than  for 
a  score  of  naked  Venuses  whom  I  saw  in  an  adjoining  hall,  al- 
though one  of  them,  at  least,  is  thought  to  rival  the  famous  Venus 
de  Medicis. 

3.  The  Egyptian  and  Etruscan  Gallery.     This  contains  Egyp- 
tian hieroglyphics,   the   instruments  for  the  Egyptian  worship, 
statues  of  their  gods,  vases,  &c.,  besides  many  Etruscan  vases 
and  antiquities.     The  Romans  and  other  Italians  were  accustomed 
to  adopt  all  the  respectable  deities  they  could-  meet  with  ;  for  in 
this  way  heathenism  endeavours  to  satisfy  itself,  and  make  up  for 
the  defect  of  its  individual  divinities  by  worshipping  multitudes. 
The  Egyptian  deities,  especially,  seem  to  have  been  in  high  re- 
pute.    All  the  ancient  cities  of  any  importance  appear,  as  far  as 
can  be  traced  by  history  or  remaining  ruins,  to  have  one  Egyptian 
temple  or  more.     Many  of  the  images,  vessels,  and  implements 
of  these  temples  show  the  licentiousness  and  impurity  of  their 
worship. 

4.  The   Gallery  of  Ancient  Bronzes.     A  splendid  collection, 
mostly  from  Herculaneum,  some  from  Pompeii,  and  other  places, 
to  the  number  of  between  one  and  two  hundred. 

5.  A  suite  of   apartments  containing  kitchen  furniture,  glass 
lamps,  weights  and  measures,  agricultural  implements,  gems,  and 
ladies'  ornaments,  &c.,  &c. 

In  these  relics  of  a  former  age  we  are  surprised  to  see,  in  a 
great  many  instances,  the  very  implements  over  again  with  which 
we  are  conversant  at  the  present  day ;  the  same  pans,  the  pots 
and  kettles,  the  gridirons,  the  ladles,  the  steelyards,  the  stoves, 
stamps  for  printing  letters  on  bread,  nay,  some  of  the  bread  itself 
stamped,  inkstands  with  remains  of  ink  in  them,  pens  or  styli, 
opera  tickets,  door  trimmings,  bits  for  bridles,  musical  instruments, 
dice,  spinning-wheels,  distaffs,  locks  and  keys,  surgical  instru- 
ments almost  equal  to  the  modern,  moulds  for  pastry,  skimmers, 
grates,  stocks  for  the  feet  of  prisoners,*  andirons,  mirrors,  rouge, 
and  other  paints  for  the  face — for  ladies,  it  seems,  improved  upon 
nature  in  those  days  as  well  as  now — combs,  curling-tongs,  and 
other  requisites  for  ladies'  toilets.  In  short,  you  seem  here  to  be 

*  The  skeleton  of  a  man  was  found  in  a  pair  of  these  stocks  which  we  saw  in  the  mu- 
seum, showing  that  the  prisoner  in  his  cell  and  the  lady  at  the  toilet  shared  a  common 
Lot  in  this  dire  catastrophe. 


THE    MUSBjO    BORBONICO.  203 

translated  back  two  thousand  years  and  led  into  all  the  familiar 
scenes  of  domestic  life.  And  worse  than  this  ;  there  is  a  reserve 
room,  which  none  are  allowed  to  enter  without  a  special  permit 
from  the  director.  As  the  contents  of  this  room  are  not  decent  to 
be  publicly  exposed,  even  in  an  Italian  museum,  of  course  they 
are  not  proper  to  be  described,  even  if  one  could  make  up  his 
mind  to  describe  them.  They  are  only  mentioned  here  as  proof 
of  the  extreme  licentiousness  of  those  cities.  If  one  of  our  great 
cities,  New-York  for  example,  were  to  be  buried  suddenly,  with 
all  concerns  just  as  they  now  are,  and  should  be  excavated  two 
thousand  years  hence,  there  would  be  found,  undoubtedly,  in  some 
parts  of  the  city,  the  unequivocal  memorials  of  a  gross  licentious- 
ness ;  but  to  judge  of  the  general  character  of  the  city  by  these  in- 
dications would  be  incorrect.  But  the  great  evidence  of  universal, 
or,  at  least,  general  corruption  in  Pompeii,  is  the  fact  that  some 
of  these  impure  indications  were  taken  from  the  houses  of  the 
first  citizens,  and  from  the  toilets  of  the  ladies  of  those  families. 
Diomedes,  whose  suburban  villa  just  out  of  the  gates  of  Pompeii 
will  be  noticed  hereafter,  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  consular 
dignity  ;  and  yet  his  ladies,  his  daughter,  as  is  supposed,  had  such 
forms  of  jewelry  and  toys  of  her  toilet  as  may  not  be  described, 
and  as  no  virtuous  lady  could  expose  on  her  person.  No  wonder 
these  cities  were  overwhelmed  .by  the  visitation  of  Divine  provi- 
dence. It  is  but  the  providential  exemplification  of  the  Divine 
abhorrence  of  sin,  and  an  early  and  unequivocal  intimation  of  that 
coming  day  when  this  entire  polluted  earth  shall  be  destroyed  by 
the  agency  of  the  same  element. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of  the  ancient  pottery  ;  the  lamps, 
almpst  innumerable  ;  and  of  the  glassware,  tolerably  clear,  con- 
sisting of  vases,  cinerary  urns,  &c.,  together  with  some  speci- 
mens of  window  glass  from  Diomedes's  villa,  the  only  house  where, 
as  yet,  glass  windows  have  been  discovered. 

But  I  must  not  neglect  to  notice  the  papyri,  or  ancient  written 
parchments,  dug  principally  from  Herculaneum,  and  found  in  one 
library  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  amounting  to  1730 
scrolls.  When  discovered  they  looked  like  black  cinders  ;  but 
there  were  so  many  of  them,  and  in  such  regular  order,  that  they 
attracted  attention  ;  and  it  was^iscovered,  on  close  examination, 
that  these  were  no  other  than  scrolls  of  papyrus,  rolled  up  in  the 

Mi 


204  ITALY. 

manner  of  the  ancient  works,  and  containing  treatises,  poems, 
music,  &c.,  in  Latin  and  Greek.  An  Italian,  Antonio  Piaggio,  has 
invented  a  machine  for  unrolling  them  ;  and,  although  they  are 
perfectly  charred  through,  still,  by  the  process  adopted  and  the 
preparation  applied,  they  are  unrolled,  and  so  far  kept  from  falling 
to  pieces  that  most  of  the  contents  of  these  ancient  books  are  de- 
ciphered. The  process  is  slow,  but  the  work  is  still  going  on. 
Several  volumes  of  the  above  works  have  been  published  ;  but,  as 
yet,  little  has  been  found  that  will  add  to  our  knowledge  of  ancient 
literature. 

In  the  Gallery  of  the  Toro  Farnese  are  two  very  extraordinary 
specimens  of  statuary.  The  one  gives  name  to  the  gallery,  and 
is  a  group  of  a  female  tied  to  the  horns  of  a  raging  bull,  which  is 
held  by  two  young  men,  and  another  matronal  lady  standing  by. 
It  is  supposed  to  be  a  representation  of  Dirce  fastened  by  her 
hair  to  the  horns  of  the  bull  by  the  two  sons  of  Lycus,  king  of 
Thebes,  Amphion  and  Zethus,  and  that  the  other  female  is  their 
mother,  commanding  them  to  release  her.  There  is  a  youth  also, 
supposed  to  be  Bacchus,  seated  in  the  same  group,  together  with 
a  dog,  and  various  figures  of  snakes,  and  other  reptiles,  and 
smaller  quadrupeds.  The  whole,  it  is  supposed,  is  cut  out  of  one 
block  of  marble,  executed  in  Greece  before  the  Christian  era. 
It  was  carried  from  Rhodes  to  Rome,  and  found  there  in  the  baths 
of  Caracalla,  much  mutilated,  but  now  beautifully  restored.  In 
the  same  room,  and  found  also  in  the  baths  of  Caracalla,  is  a  co- 
lossal statue  of  Hercules,  judged  by  most  to  be  one  of  the  finest 
achievements  of  the  chisel.  It  is  a  representation  of  Hercules 
resting  on  his  club  after  he  had  accomplished  his  labours,  and 
just  before  his  apotheosis.  It  is,  as  an  inscription  on  it  indicates, 
the  workmanship  of  Glicon  the  Athenian.  Both  this  and  the 
Toro  are  very  magnificent  productions  of  the  artist;  the  latter, 
especially,  is  indescribably  sublime. 

In  addition  to  the  galleries  already  mentioned,  there  are,  in  this 
museum,  two  galleries  of  pictures  which  I  cannot  dwell  upon. 
In  taking  leave  of  this  interesting  museum,  however,  I  must  say, 
in  behalf  of  the  custodes  in  the. different  apartments,  that  they 
are  as  gentlemnnly  and  accommodating  men  as  I  have  ever  met 
with  in  a  similar  condition  and  office. 

38 


ENVIRONS   OP    NAPLES.  206 


cor 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

SOME  of  the  greatest,  perhaps  I  may  say  the  greatest,  objects 
of  interest  to  the  traveller  in  Southern  Italy  are  in  the  environs 
of  Naples.  I  shall  give  a  sketch  of  three  excursions,  which  will 
embrace  the  principal  objects  of  interest  among  these  environs. 

The  first  was  to  Paestum,  fifty-four  miles  in  a  southerly  direc- 
tion from  Naples.  We  started  in  a  carriage  in  the  morning,  with 
two  young  Englishmen  and  an  American  in  company.  Beyond 
Pompeii,  for  we  passed  this  ancient  town,  we  followed  up  a  very 
fruitful  valley,  with  magnificent  vines  climbing  up  lofty  trees, 
and  the  soil  teeming  with  verdure.  It  was  like  a  summer's  day, 
although  it  was  still  March. 

Near  the  old  town  of  Nuceria  we  stopped  to  visit  an  ancient 
and  singular  church,  said  to  be  built  in  the  time  of  Constan- 
tine ;  beyond  this  we  crossed  a  most  romantic  country  by  the 
town  of  La  Cava,  built  with  porticoes  on  each  side  of  the  street, 
and  by  Vietri  to  Salerno.  This  magnificent  scenery  was  worth 
the  time  and  trouble  of  the  excursion,  if  we  had  seen  nothing  else. 
It  was  the  first  I  had  seen  which  came  fully  up  to  my  beau  ideal 
of  Italian  scenery.  We  slept  at  Salerno,  which  is  beautifully 
situated  on  one  of  those  delightful  bays  that  indent  this  coast,  and 
is  environed  with  hills.  The  next  day  we  proceeded  through  a 
country  much  of  the  way  as  dreary  and  desolate  as  the  former 
part  had  been  delightful.  It  was  a  new  road,  cut  through  a  low 
swampy  country,  which  was  only  peopled  by  immense  herds  of 
buffaloes.  Occasionally  we  passed  some  wretched-looking  beings 
in  human  shape,  who  were  tending  their  flocks  or  wandering  over 
the  marshes  ;  nor  could  we  fully  forget  that  we  were  in  that  land 
of  semi-barbarians  which,  but  a  few  years  ago,  was  filled  with 
robbers.  Of  this  we  were  more  especially  reminded  in  passing 
the  spot  where,  but  a  few  years  since,  an  Englishman  and  his 
wife  were  shot  in  their  own  carriage  by  some  banditti  who  had 
concealed  themselves  in  a  little  thicket,  still  standing,  near  the 
18 


206  ITALY. 

road.  The  object  was  plunder.  The  gentleman  and  his  lady  haa 
been  to  Paestum,  where,  in  taking  their  refreshment,  they  injudi- 
ciously made  an  ostentatious  display  of  considerable  silver  plate 
which  they  had  taken  with  them.  But  these  days  of  robbery 
have  passed  away.  The  rigorous  measures  adopted  by  govern- 
ment, and  the  stationing  of  soldiers  on  the  highways,  have  broken 
up  and  scattered  the  organized  bands  that  used  to  infest  the 
country. 

We  passed  the  river  Silarus,  and  at  length  came  in  sight  of  the 
objects  of  our  pursuit. 

Paestum  is  no  longer  a  town.  Its  site  is  discovered  by  the 
ruins  of  its  walls,  in  the  midst  of  a  desolate  and  unhealthy  plain ; 
desert  almost  it  may  now  be  called.  It  was  anciently  called  Pos- 
idonia,  and  its  history  runs  back  to  an  age  too  remote  to  be  defi- 
nitely described  by  the  historian.  It  was  among  the  most  splen- 
did towns  of  a  remote  antiquity.  Here  Ulysses  landed  when  he 
was  sailing  in  the  Posidonian  Gulf;  Jason,  with  his  Argonauts, 
it  is  said,  landed  here,  and  Hercules  himself  was  here  ;  and,  per- 
haps, all  three  worshipped  in  the  temples  now  standing,  for  these 
temples,  we  are  told,  were  looked  upon  as  antiquities  in  the  days 
of  Augustus.  Posidonia  was  subdued  by  the  Romans,  and  be- 
came a  Roman  colony ;  and  finally,  in  the  ninth  century,  it  was 
taken  by  the  Saracens  and  levelled  with  the  ground,  all  except 
these  massy  Doric  temples,  which  fire  could  not  destroy  nor  great 
strength  readily  demolish,  and  on  which  time  with  his  corroding 
tooth  has  been  gnawing  for  perhaps  three  thousand  years  with 
but  little  success.  These  are  the  objects  of  our  curiosity  ;  objects 
which  stand  in  melancholy  grandeur,  in  desolate  sublimity,  in  the 
desert  marshes  of  Calabria.  Let  him  who  can, conceive  of  our 
feelings  as  we  stood  in  these  monuments  of  remote  antiquity,  and 
thought  of  those  who,  three  thousand  years  ago,  worshipped  at 
these  altars  and  thronged  these  temples. 

The  cause  of  their  long  endurance  is,  first,  the  massiveness  of 
the  masonry  and  of  the  architecture,  but  especially  and  chiefly, 
the  character  of  the  material.  It  is  the  hardest  kind  of  Travertina 
marble,  which  is  a  peculiar  formation  from  water.  It  is  harder 
than  flint,  although  as  porous  as  a  buhr-millstone.  There  were 
holes  in  the  pillars  into  which  I  could  insert  a  stick  to  the  depth 
of  twelve  inches,  but  still  the  sides  of  the  orifice  were  hard  al- 


RUINS    OF    PJ3STUM.  207 

most  as  the  adamant.*  These  columns  are  formed  of  separate 
blocks  of  marble,  put  together  without  any  cement.  The  largest 
of  them  are  in  the  centre  edifice,  and  are  six  feet  nine  inches  in 
diameter,  and  the  height,  including  the  capitols,  twenty-eight  feet 
eleven  inches.  They  are  fluted,  each  pillar  having  twenty  chan- 
nellings,  and  the  dimensions  of  this  edifice  are  one  hundred  and 
ninety-four  by  seventy-nine  feet.  The  centre,  or  nave,  is  divided 
into  three  parts  by  two  ranges  of  central  columns,  each  range  hav- 
ing seven  in  number,  crowned  with  an  architrave,  above  which 
are  orders  of  smaller  columns,  which  are-supposed  to  have  been 
the  support  of  the  roof.  Some  of  these  small  columns,  also,  are 
still  standing.  The  number  of  external  columns  forming  the  en- 
tire peristile  is  thirty-six ;  that  is,  six  on  each  front  and  twelve  on 
each  side.  The  other  two  edifices  have,  the  one  fifty  columns, 
the  other  thirty-four.  The  smaller  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
temple  of  Ceres  ;  but  the  other  has  no  indications  of  a  place  of 
heathen  worship,  such  as  altars,  cella,  &c.,  and  has  therefore 
been  supposed  to  be  a  basilica,  or  hall  for  the  civil  and  judicial 
administration  of  the  city.  These,  considered  as  mere  architec- 
tural ruins,  are  the  grandest,  and,  for  their  age,  the  most  perfect 
of  anything,  perhaps,  now  in  existence.  It  would  be  in  vain  if  I 
should  attempt  to  describe  them  with  a  view  of  conveying  an  ad- 
equate conception  of  them.  Their  proportions,  their  situation, 
their  age,  the  firmness  with  which  even  now  they  brave  the  as- 
saults of  time,  their  historic  associations,  their  lonely  grandeur ! 
But  why  should  I  mention  these  things  ?  I  cannot  carry  the 
reader  with  me  in  the  tide  of  feeling  that  rushes  in  upon  the  ac 
tual  spectator.  Could  he  be  led  to  the  spot  itself,  and  there  call  up 
all  the  historic  associations  of  the  place,  then,  ^as  he  gazed,  im- 
agination would  be  quickened  into  action,  and  would  fill  these 
temples  with  the  sweet-mouthed  Greeks,  rehearsing  and  listening 
to  the  numbers  of  Homer ;  he  would  see  the  priests  officiating  at 
these  altars  a  thousand  years  before  the  coming  of  the  Great  High- 
priest  of  the  Christian  church ;  these  pillars  would  be  hung  round 
with  garlands,  and  the  open  courts  would  be  filled  with  the  heroes 
and  sages  of  olden  time ;  among  them  is  the  adventurous  Jason, 

*  The  appearance  of  the  stone  is  very  much  like  cork.  There  are  models  of  these 
temples  in  the  museum  made  of  cork,  which  are  a  very  good  resemblance  both  of  the 
form  and  of  the  material 


ITALY. 

with  his  followers  ;  the  wandering  Ulysses  ;  and,  above  all,  the  di- 
vine Hercules,  of  whom  no  one  can  form  an  adequate  conception 
until  he  has  seen  him  in  the  hall  of  the  Toro  Farnese.  See,  he 
enters  with  his  lion-skin  upon  his  arm,  his  club  in  his  hand,  fol- 
lowed by  the  admiring  populace,  while  the  divine  hero  himself 
looks  round  upon  the  temples  and  the  people,  admiring,  in  his  turn, 
that  enterprise  and  skill  which  could  rear  edifices  of  such  strength 
and  durability  as  would  lose  nothing  in  a  comparison  with  some 
of  his  own  mighty  achievements.  This,  you  say,  is  rhapsody. 
Well,  then,  let  us  return  to  reality.  We  must  acknowledge  these 
to  be  splendid  ruins,  but  their  situation  is  most  uninviting.  A  few 
wretched  inhabitants  lodge  here,  in  poor  dirty  dwellings,  living 
upon  the  liberality  of  strangers.  Your  cicerone  is  a  ragged  beg- 
gar ;  you  are  surrounded  by  beggars  on  every  side,  who  seem  ready 
to  devour  you,  from  whose  annoyance  you  get  no  relief  but  by 
buying  them  off  at  as  good  a  bargain  as  you  can.  It  is  the  re- 
gion of  death ;  the  malaria  holds  its  court  here,  and  its  realm  is 
desolation.  We  carried  our  own  refreshment  and  our  own  water 
even ;  for  here  you  may  not  drink,  and  here  you  can  find  little  to 
eat  except  from  your  own  stores.  Well  may  the  traveller  shun 
the  waters  of  this  neighbourhood ;  they  turn  everything  to  stone. 
We  brought  away,  among  other  petrifications,  a  bunch  of  petrified 
macaroni,  which,  by  a  six  months'  submersion  in  the  waters  of 
the  Silarus,  had  been  transformed  into  travertina,  as  hard  almost 
as  the  pillars  of  the  temples  themselves.  The  material  of  these 
temples  is  undoubtedly  the  production  of  these  waters.  We  re- 
turned to  Salerno  to  lodge,  and  early  next  morning  started  back 
as  far  as  Pompeii,  where  we  spent  the  day. 

Where  there  is  so  much  to  be  described  as  is  found  in  the  ruins 
of  Pompeii,  it  is  difficult  to  know  where  to  begin  or  what  order  to 
pursue.  I  have  determined  to  relieve  myself  of  this  embarrass- 
ment, however,  by  not  entering  into  the  details  of  a  systematic 
description,  and  shall  content  myself  with  such  general  and  par- 
ticular remarks  as  will  give  the  reader  some  tolerable  idea  of  this 
partially-excavated  city. 

Pompeii  was  not  buried  by  lava,  but  by  a  shower  of  cinders, 
ashes,  and  stones,  which  were  thrown  from  Vesuvius  for  four  suc- 
cessive days  and  nights.  In  this  time  the  inhabitants  had  time 
to  escape ;  and,  from  the  fewness  of  the  skeletons  found,  it  has 


EXCAVATION    OF    POMPEII.  209 

been  presumed  that  most  of  them  did  escape,  carrying  with  them, 
or  recovering  afterward  by  excavation,  a  large  portion  of  their 
most  valuable  property.*  The  roofs  of  their  houses,  being  flat, 
fell  in  under  the  accumulated  weight,  and  the  whole  was  so  com- 
pletely buried  that  its  exact  position  was  not  known  until  acci- 
dentally discovered  by  some  peasants  in  the  middle  of  the  last 
century.  A  little  more  than  one  third  of  the  city  has  been  exca- 
vated, and  these  excavations  have  been  prosecuted  by  following 
the  direction  of  the  streets,  of  which  the  Appian  Way  seems  to 
have  been  the  principal  thoroughfare.  This,  as  well  as  the  other 
streets,  is  paved  with  lava,  and  the  channels  worn  by  the  wheels 
are  seen  in  the  pavement,  showing  that  the  wheels  of  the  ancient 
Roman  vehicles  were  about  four  feet  apart.  The  public  buildings 
which  have  been  excavated  bear  an  unequal  proportion  to  the  oth- 
ers, which  shows  that  the  excavations  have  been  through  the  most 
public  parts  of  the  city.  The  ruins  of  their  temples,  theatres,  and 
basilicas  are  splendid;  many  of  them  bear  marks,  however,  of 
being  injured  by  the  destructive  earthquake  which  took  place  six- 
teen years  previous  to  the  great  eruption  that  buried  the  city.  In 
one  of  the  temples,  the  Temple  of  Isis,  several  skeletons  were 
found  of  priests,  who  appear  to  have  been  at  their  dinner  when 
the  suffocating  tempest  buried  them  alive.  Another  skeleton  of 
a  priest  was  found,  with  two  or  three  hundred  pieces  of  silver 
money  in  his  hand.  In  this  temple,  too,  you  may  see  the  secret 
staircase,  and  the  passage  through  which,  and  the  position  to  which, 
the  priests  ascended  when  they  gave  the  oracles  that  were  sup- 
posed to  come  from  the  god.  Italy,  it  seems,  commenced  and 
has  grown  old  in  holy  frauds. 

One  street  is  occupied  by  shops,  the  contents  of  which  were  in 
so  good  a  state  of  preservation  that  the  business  of  each  could  be 
readily  designated.  Most  of  the  private  buildings  were  one  story, 
although  some  of  the  best  houses  were  two  or  three  stories.  The 
stories  themselves,  however,  are  low,  the  lodging  chambers  small, 
and  generally  without  lights,  except  at  the  doors.  The  construc- 
tion of  the  houses  shows  how  little  comfort  was  found  in  the  do- 
mestic domicil.  The  ancient  Romans  lived  mostly  at  the  forum 

*  Money  and  plate,  however,  have  been  found,  as  well  as  gems  and  jewelry.  Since  I 
was  at  Naples  I  learn  that  the  excavaters  have  discovered  a  dining  set  of  silver  plate, 
embracing,  among  other  things,  forty-four  dining  plates  in  a  good  state  of  preservation, 

18  D  D 


210  ITALY. 

and  in  the  public  places.  The  best  houses  were  built  round 
quadrangular  courts,  which  are  paved  with  mosaic  work  of  small 
pebbles,  surrounded  with  alcoves,  dining  and  drawing  rooms,  cham- 
bers, &c.,  and  generally  furnished  with  a  cistern  and  a  fountain. 
The  kitchen  and  the  dining-room  seem  to  have  been  the  apart- 
ments most  regarded  and  best  furnished.  Here  is  a  hotel,  a  coffee- 
house also,  as  it  is  called,  containing  a  marble  counter  or  dresser, 
in  which  little  circular  impressions  are  visible,  evidently  occasioned 
by  the  cup  or  glass,  and  probably  from  medicated  liquids,  which 
were  used  in  those  days  instead  of  the  toddy  of  the  moderns,  the 
corrosive  qualities  of  which  affected  the  marble. 

For  some  distance  before  the  Appian  Way  enters  the  city,  it  is 
lined  by  double  rows  of  tombs  on  each  side,  in  which  were  found 
urns  containing  ashes  and  bones.  These  tombs  also  contained 
tablets  and  inscriptions.  Just  before  you  enter  the  gate  is  the  villa 
of  Diomedes,  already  alluded  to.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  fine 
three-story  edifice,  and  elegantly  furnished.  This  house  has  nu- 
merous apartments,  and,  among  others,  a  court,  around  which  is  a 
subterranean  corridor,  which  seems  to  have  been  a  wine-cellar, 
To  this  place,  it  appears,  the  family  had  retreated  for  protection,  as 
seventeen  skeletons  were  found  here,  one  of  them  richly  orna- 
mented, and  supposed  to  have  been  the  wife  of  Diomedes  ;  near 
the  back  door  were  found  two  skeletons,  one  with  keys,  and  wear- 
ing a  gold  ring,  supposed  to  be  Diomedes  himself;  and  near  the 
other  were  silver  vases,  and  a  wrapper  containing  eighty  pieces 
of  silver  money,  ten  of  gold,  and  some  of  bronze ;  probably  this 
was  the  servant  bearing  away  these  treasures  after  his  master ;  both 
of  whom,  however,  were  arrested  and  buried  alive. 

But,  as  I  hope  enough  has  been  said  to  give  some  idea  of  this 
ancient  city  as  it  was,  and  of  the  awful  calamity  that  overwhelmed 
it,  I  will  refrain  from  further  details.  The  site  is  now  a  mile 
from  the  sea,  although,  formerly,  the  water  of  the  harbour  washed 
the  walls. 

Curiosity  grows  impatient  under  the  slow  operations  of  the 
present  excavations.  We  are  anxious  to  know  what  new  disclo- 
sures remain  to  be  made  in  the  buried  records  of  this  ill-omened  city. 
The  greatest  part  of  the  excavations  were  made  under  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Bonapartists.  Something  is  still  doing,  however, 
and,  as  fast  as  any  new  discovery  is  made,  the  object  is  not  allowed 


HERCULANEUM.  211 

to  be  removed  until  visited  by  one  of  the  royal  family,  and,  if  ad- 
judged worthy,  it  is  transferred  to  the  museum. 

We  took  some  refreshment  in  one  of  the  ancient  temples,  and, 
after  nearly  exhausting  the  day,  which  we  found  quite  too  short 
for  our  curiosity,  we  started  for  Naples,  passing  over  in  our  way 
the  site  of  Torre  del  Greco,  a  town  of  about  eighteen  thousand  in- 
habitants, which  was  buried  by  an  irruption  in  1794.  This  ir- 
ruption burst  out  from  the  western  side  of  Vesuvius,  and  about  the 
middle  of  the  mountain.  From  this  orifice,  which  was  only  five 
miles  from  Torre  del  Greco,  the  molten  contents  of  this  immense 
caldron  were  poured  out  in  an  overwhelming  torrent,  which  buried 
the  town,  and  invaded  the  territories  of  the  sea,  driving  it  back  and 
taking  its  place  for  the  space  of  one  third  of  a  square  mile. 

We  stopped,  as  we  passed,  to  visit  what  could  be  seen  of  Her- 
culaneum.  This  city,  although  buried  at  the  same  time  with  Pom- 
peii, was  covered  by  a  different  material ;  by  the  lava  instead  of 
the  cinders.  When  the  molten  lava  becomes  cooled,  it  is  extremely 
hard,  and  becomes  more  indurated  by  time ;  hence  the  excava- 
tion of  Herculaneum  is  extremely  difficult  and  expensive.  There 
is  also  another  obstruction;  the  more  modern  towns  of  Resina 
and  Portici  are  built  immediately  over  it;  this  latter,  especially, 
is  a  town  of  some  importance,  and  has  a  royal  palace ;  and  ex- 
tensive excavations  cannot  be  made  without  undermining  these 
towns.  The  first  discovery  of  Herculaneum  was  at  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century,  by  sinking  a  well ;  subsequently  different  parts 
of  the  city  were  laid  open,  the  buried  channel  of  a  river  discovered, 
the  temple  of  Jupiter,  a  forum,  various  specimens  of  statuary,  &c., 
and  especially  a  splendid  theatre,  which  latter  is  the  only  part 
of  the  excavations  now  shown,  all  the  others  having  been  filled  up 
We  descended  to  this  with  torches,  and  examined  the  corridors, 
stage,  &c.  Here  were  found  the  two  equestrian  statues  of  the 
Balbi  in  the  Museo  Borbonico.  The  depositions  upon  the  top 
of  this  buried  city  are  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  feet  deep. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  houses,  walls,  pavements,  &c., 
of  both  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  are  of  lava,  so  that  this  must 
have  been  a  volcanic  region  from  remote  antiquity ;  and  how  many 
cities  have  been  built  upon  the  top  of  cities  through  successive 
periods  of  our  world's  existence,  none  can  tell ;  nor  shall  we 
know  until  these  buried  generations  shall  burst  from  their  sub- 


212 


ITALY. 


terranean  prison-houses,  to  meet  the  collected  millions  at  the  great 
day. 

Highly  gratified  with  our  excursion,  but  wearied  with  our  la- 
bour, we  returned  to  our  lodgings. 

The  second  excursion  was  westerly,  through  the  Grotto  of  Po- 
silipo  to  BaiaB,  Cuma,  &c.  This  is  the  most  celebrated  region 
of  the  ancients.  It  is  the  land  of  enchantment,  the  region  of  fable 
and  of  song,  the  ancient  seat  of  luxury  and  licentiousness. 

The  first  object  in  this  direction  of  special  interest  is  Virgil's 
tomb.  The  situation  is  a  most  romantic  one,  quite  elevated,  and 
yet  in  a  sequestered  dell,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Grotto  of  Posi- 
lipo.  It  is  just  such  a  spot  as  I  should  suppose  the  poet  would 
have  chosen  for  his  resting-place.  The  place  itself  is  most  charm- 
ing, and  it  is  near  the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  interesting  events 
of  the  ^Eneid. 

The  Grotto  of  Posilipo  is  cut  through  a  hill,  above  two  thousand 
three  hundred  feet  in  length,  twenty-two  feet  wide,  and  in  some 
places  eighty-nine  feet  high  ;  oblique  apertures  are  cut  in  the  cen- 
tre to  let  in  light ;  lamps  are  also  suspended  for  the  same  purpose. 
It  is,  however,  a  gloomy  pass.  By  whom  this  magnificent  work 
was  accomplished  is  not  known.  It  seems,  from  the  early  ac- 
counts we  have  of  it,  however,  to  have  been  very  ancient.  Its 
object  was,  undoubtedly,  to  facilitate  the  intercourse  between  an- 
cient Puteoli  and  Neapolis,  or  Naples.  Passing  through  this 
grotto  you  next  come  to  Pozzuoli,  or,  as  it  was  anciently  called, 
Puteoli.*  This  was  St.  Paul's  first  landing-place  in  Italy,  and 
where,  as  he  says,  he  found  brethren,  and  tarried  seven  days,  and 
then  proceeded  to  Rome  by  land,  Acts  xxviii.,  14.  It  was  formerly 
a  city  of  note,  with  one  of  the  finest  harbours  on  the  Italian  coast. 
Here  some  of  the  wealthiest  Romans  had  villas ;  for,  in  addition  to 
its  pleasant  site  and  interesting  surrounding  scenery,  it  was  fa- 
voured with  celebrated  mineral  waters,  which  rendered  it  a  desi- 
rable watering-place.  These  mineral  waters  still  have  a  reputa- 
tion for  their  healing  properties.  The  place,  however,  has  suffered 
by  the  hand  of  pillage  and  violence,  and  by  earthquakes  and  vol- 
canoes, until  it  is  reduced  to  a  miserable  village.  Some  of  its  mag- 

*  Another  magnificent  way  from  Naples  to  Pozzuoli  has  been  constructed  within  a 
few  years,  at  a  great  expense,  around  the  abrupt  point  of  this  promontory  next  to  the  sea ; 
but,  when  we  were  in  Naples,  it  was  out  of  repair  and  impassable. 


80LFATARA.  213 

nificent  ruins  have  been  disinterred,  and  show,  by  what  remains, 
some  mournful  proofs  of  its  former  glory  ;  among  others,  the  temple 
of  Serapis.  This  was  discovered  in  1750,  and  excavated.  It 
then  had  all  its  furniture  in  it,  and  the  edifice  itself  was  entire ; 
but  it  has  been  despoiled,  not  only  of  its  ornaments  and  furniture, 
but  of  its  material.  The  foundation  is  there  still,  and  the  lower 
floor,  with  three  of  its  noble  columns  of  Cipollino  marble.  Its  di- 
mensions were  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  by  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  feet.  There  are  other  ruins  of  interest  in  the  place. 

We  obtained  donkeys  here,  and  proceeded  to  Solfatara.  This 
donkey-riding,  by-the-way,  is  rather  a  small  business.  The  little 
animals  are  quite  lazy  and  obstinate,  but  you  are  assisted  in  this 
matter  by  the  drivers  (for  each  animal  has  an  attendant),  who 
guides,  and  drives,  and  beats.  The  uncomfortableness  of  the 
conveyance  is  increased  by  the  sympathy  for  the  animals.  Of  all 
domestic  beasts,  the  ass  is  most  abused ;  and  the  race  must  cer- 
tainly be  made  of  different  materials  from  other  animals,  or  they 
never  could  endure  their  labour  and  pounding ;  but,  with  all  his 
beating,  his  obstinacy,  and  stupidity,  and  inertness  will  not  depart 
from  him.  In  this,  however,  he  differs  not  materially  from  the 
biped  that  beats  him,  of  whom  a  wise  man  has  said,  "  Although 
you  bray  a  fool  with  a  pestle  in  a  mortar,  yet  will  not  his  foolish- 
ness depart  from  him."  The  wise  conclusion  in  both  cases,  there- 
fore, is,  that  it  is  useless  both  to  bray  the  fool  and  beat  the  don- 
key ;  acting  upon  this  principle,  I  generally  take  the  staff  or  club 
from  the  fool,  and  let  the  little  quadruped  crawl  along  in  his  own 
instinctive  way,  which,  on  the  whole,  is  as  safe,  nearly  as  expedi- 
tious, and  far  more  pleasant  than  any  other. 

Solfatara  is  a  singular  spot,  evidently  the  crater  of  an  extinct 
volcano,*  and  yet  not  so  extinct  but  the  internal  fires  are  still  send- 
ing up  their  smoke,  and  steam,  and  flames  of  sulphur,  which  lat- 
ter are  precipitated  in  some  places  in  a  pure  state.  Pits  are  dug 
in  different  directions  for  the  purpose  of  using  the  materials,  to 
obtain  from  them  sal  ammoniac,  alum,  and  sulphuric  acid,  or  vitriol, 
as  it  is  commonly  called.  These  materials  are  leached,  and  then 
evaporated  in  kettles  bedded  in  the  bottom  of  this  basin,  which 
has  sufficient  heat  to  carry  on  the  operation.  The  plain  of  the 


*  There  was  an  irruption  here  A.  D.  1198. 


214  ITALY. 

basin  is  about  eight  hundred  and  ninety  feet  long  by  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five  broad,  and  is  surrounded  by  hills.  The  an- 
cients called  it  Forum  Vulcani,  or  Vulcan's  shop.  Our  guide 
raised  a  large  stone  and  let  it  fall  upon  the  ground ;  and,  from  the 
report,  it  appeared  that  the  earth  here  is  hollow,  and  that  some 
reservoir  below,  of  fire  or  water,  is  crusted  over  with  a  ceiling  of 
no  great  thickness.  It  is  one  of  Nature's  laboratories,  where  she 
is  compounding  and  analyzing  in  her  own  original  way. 

We  next  passed  the  villa  of  Cicero,  which  he  called  Academia, 
because  here  he  composed  his  famous  academic  questions.  No- 
thing, however,  now  remains  but  his  wine  cellar. 

Thence  we  passed  to  the  Lake  cTAgnano.  This  is  a  body  of 
water  about  three  miles  in  circumference,  imbosomed  in  the  midst 
of  volcanic  hills,  having  fresh  water  at  the  top,  but  salt  water,  it 
is  said,  at  the  bottom.  This  is  not  at  all -improbable,  inasmuch 
as  salts  abound  in  these  regions ;  and  the  lower  strata,  becoming 
impregnated  with  them,  would  not  rise  on  account  of  its  increased 
specific  gravity.  The  water  also  sometimes  boils,  by  reason, 
doubtless,  of  the  passage  of  gas  from  the  bottom.  Here,  also, 
are  vapour-baths,  which  are  warmed  from  hot  vapours  that  issue 
from  the  ground.  In  a  very  few  moments  after  entering  them 
you  feel  the  perspiration  starting  out  all  over  you;  indeed,  the 
heat  is  almost  insupportable. 

The  Grotto  del  Cane  is  also  by  the  side  of  this  lake.  This  is 
so  called — the  grotto  of  the  dog — because  a  dog  is  generally  used 
for  exhibiting  to  spectators  the  effect  upon  animal  life  of  the  me- 
phitic  air  which  escapes  here.  From  a  kind  of  cave  under  the  hill, 
on  the  bank  of  the  lake,  a  stream  of  warm  water  issues,  together 
with  vapour  and  smoke.  On  the  surface  of  the  water  rolls  out 
a  stratum  of  sulphuric  acid  gas  ;  this,  being  specifically  heavier 
than  the  atmospheric  air,  does  not  rise,  and,  therefore,  a  man  may 
walk  into  the  cave  and  experience  no  inconvenience ;  but  for  a  dog 
to  go  in  is  speedy  death.  Hence  the  original  idea  seems  to  have 
been  that  the  air  of  the  cave  was  fatal  to  dogs,  but  harmless  to 
men.  Many  philosophical  theories  have  been  formed  on  premises 
equally  fallacious.  I  felt  inclined  to  spare  the  poor  dog  the  pro- 
cess of  suffocation,  as  he  stood  trembling  by,  expecting  his  des- 
tiny, held  by  a  string  in  the  hand  of  the  cicerone.  Some  of  our 
company,  however,  desired  it,  and  the  poor  fellow  was  forced  in. 


THE    RIVER    STYX.  215 


He  soon  fell  with  a  convulsion  or  two,  and  then  appeared  to  be 
dead.  He  was  taken  out,  however,  before  life  was  extinct ;  and, 
after  lying  a  few  moments  on  the  bank,  he  came  to,  but  with 
much  apparent  agony,  together  with  a  good  deal  of  ill-nature; 
his  master  rewarded  him  with  a  crust.  This  man  farms  the  priv- 
ilege of  showing  this  cave  from  government,  for  which  he  pays  a 
high  price;  to  meet  which,  and  for  his  own  support,  he  taxes 
every  visiter.  It  is  curious  to  measure  the  depth  of  this  stratum 
of  invisible  gas  by  the  volume  of  smoke  that  rolls  out  upon  the 
top  of  it,  marking  so  exac.tly  the  surface,  that,  wherever  any  ine- 
quality of  the  ground  produces  an  undulation  in  the  stratum  of  gas, 
the  smoke  above  it  also  undulates  as  distinctly  as  if  it  were  floating 
upon  the  top  of  undulating  water. 

Our  next  object  was  the  Lake  Avernus,  and  the  interesting 
scenes  around  it.  In  passing  thither  we  left  at  our  right  a  mount- 
ain called  Monte  Nuovo,  or  the  New  Mountain,  four  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  high,  and  one  and  a  half  miles  in  diameter,  formed  in 
thirty-six  hours  by  a  volcanic  eruption  in  1538.  We  first  came  to 
the  Lucrine  lake,  which  Agrippa  connected,  by  means  of  a  canal, 
with  the  Lake  Avernus.  This  latter  is  the  same  as  that  described 
by  Virgil,  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  ^Eneid,  under  the  name  of  Tar- 
tarus, and  the  waters  of  which  were  said,  in  ancient  times,  to  be 
deadly,  so  that  fish  would  not  live  in  it  nor  birds  fly  over  it.  All  this, 
however,  is  changed.  There  are  now  fish  in  it,  and  birds  over  it 
and  on  it.  Probably  the  deleterious  vapours  that  here  found  vent 
are  either  no  longer  generated,  or  have  been  changed  into  other 
channels.  Here  are  also  the  ruins  of  a  temple  to  Pluto,  and  a 
little  farther  is  the  fabled  descent  to  old  Pluto's  realm,  down 
which,  according  to  Virgil,  ^Eneas  descended  when  he  visited  his 

§~ither  Anchises  in  the  shades  below.     Thither,  being  supplied 
ith  torches  by  our  guide,  we  followed  him  about  one  hundred 
nd  fifty  paces,  when  we  came  to  the  river  Styx :  farther  than 
this  our  ladies  chose  not  to  go ;  having  found  a  ferryman,  how- 
ever, or  rather  several,  for,  whether  the  business  is  increased 
now,  or  what  may  be  the  cause,  I  know  not,  there  certainly  ap- 
pears to  be  much  more  competition  than  formerly,  we  made  our 
arrangements   for   the   passage.      In  Virgil's   days    old    Charon 
had  the  monopoly  of  this  ferry,  and,  like  all  other  monopolists, 

tas  captious  and  unaccommodating.     These  modern   Cha- 


216  ITALY. 

rons,  however,  only  desired  to  get  the  job  and  the  fee,  which  lat- 
ter was  fixed  beforehand  in  order  to  avoid  imposition.  When  all 
was  settled,  we  embarked,  riot  in  a  boat,  but  on  the  ferrymen's 
backs.  It  was  dark  as  midnight,  and  the  water  was  so  deep  as  to 
make  the  passage  slow  and  rather  dangerous ;  not  to  life,  but  the 
danger  was,  that  a  misstep  might  submerge  us  into  the  water ; 
and  if  we  might  thereby,  like  the  renowned  Achilles,  have  been 
made  invulnerable,  we  would  readily  have  forgone  the  inconve 
nience  ;  but,  as  the  modern  Avernus  has  lost  its  power  to  kill 
birds,  so  this  modern  Styx  has  lost  its  power  to  immortalize  men. 
We  were  conducted  safe,  however,  and  landed  on  the  other  side, 
where  we  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  the  sibyl's  bath  and  her 
bed-chambers,  and  this  was  the  end  of  our  voyage.  The  Descen 
sus  Averni  having  been  closed  up,  we  returned  again  to  the  light 
of  the  day.  Hie  labor  est. 

There  have  been  recorded  two  Cumean  sibyls.  One  was 
named  Cumea,  and  the  other  Amalthea.  The  former  flourished 
about  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  Troy.  She  was  born  in  Eu- 
boea,  but  came  afterward  and  settled  in  Cuma.  The  fable  is, 
that  Apollo,  who  was  enamoured  of  her,  promised  her  whatever 
she  desired ;  whereupon  she  requested  she  might  live  as  many 
years  as  she  had  grains  of  sand  in  her  hand.  It  was  granted,  and 
she  found  the  grains  to  be  one  thousand.  When  .flEneas  consulted 
her  near  this  place,  she  had  lived  seven  hundred  years,  but  she 
had  become  withered  and  skinny  !  for,  although  her  life  was  se- 
cured, she  showed  all  the  effects  of  decrepitude  and  age.  This 
was  about  eleven  hundred  and  seventy-five  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era.  This  was  the  sibyl,  probably,  that  used  to  sleep  in  these 
dreary  chambers  and  bathe  in  these  subterranean  waters.  It  is 
said  that  there  was  formerly  a  subterranean  passage  extending 
from  this  to  the  town  of  Cuma  and  the  temple  of  Apollo.  The 
other  sibyl  appeared  five  hundred  and  fifty  years  later,  and  is  said 
also  to  have  dwelt  here.  She  it  was  that  sold  the  sibylline  books 
1.0  Tarquin  the  Proud. 

Around  this  lake  also  were  those  dark  grottoes,  and  forests  im- 
pregnable to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  where  dwelt  the  Cimmerians, 
.hose  famous  soothsayers  of  antiquity.  This  has  given  rise  to  the 
poetical  expression,  "  Cimmerian  darkness"  The  darkness  of 
these  forests,  the  mephitic  and  poisonous  character  of  the  waters 


THE    BATHS    OF    NERO.  217 

the  numerous  caverns  and  grottoes,  and  the  wild  unearthly  char- 
acter and  profession  of  the  inhabitants,  are  the  origin,  doubtless, 
of  all  the  fables  that  are  referable  to  these  localities.  Virgil,  like 
what  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  done  in  our  own  day  with  Scotland,  vis 
ited  these  places,  made  himself  acquainted  with  all  their  fabulous 
and  historical  associations,  and  then  made  them  the  basis  of  some 
of  the  most  inimitable  scenes  of  his  unrivalled  poem,  Octavius 
Augustus  cut  down  these  forests,  and  the  terror  and  superstition 
of  the  places  are  no  more. 

We  next  visited  the  baths  of  Nero.  There  are  in  the  sides  of 
a  hill  various  outward  apartments  and  accommodations  such  as 
appertained  to  the  ancient  baths,  and  from  these,  leading  into  a  sub- 
terranean hot  spring,  is  a  corridor  through  which  they  pass  to  get 
the  water.  The  water  is  hot  enough  to  boil  eggs,  of  which  we 
had  proof,  although,  it  must  be  owned,  ours  were  rather  "  under 
done."  Having  made  our  bargain  with  the  water-bearer  (for  you 
must  always  bargain  with  these  fellows  beforehand  if  you  do  not 
wish  to  be  cheated),  we  sent  him  in  to  boil  the  eggs  and  bring  the 
water.  I  also  undertook  to  accompany  him,  but  could  proceed 
only  a  few  paces ;  the  hot  steam  met  me  with  such  force  as  al- 
most took  my  breath  away.  After  waiting  a  few  minutes,  until 
we  began  to  feel  anxious  for  the  poor  fellow  who  had  gone  in, 
we  heard  him  coming,  panting  like  a  race-horse  at  the  end  of  his 
course.  He  was  stripped  to  all  but.  a  pair  of  thin  pantaloons,  and 
completely  bathed  in  sweat,  and  apparently  all  but  exhausted. 
Although  it  must  be  a  serious  adventure  to  go  down  the  steam 
orifice  of  this  boiling  caldron,  still  we  could  not  but  think  there 
was  some  acting  in  all  this  panting  and  exhaustion,  for  the  sake 
of  getting  an  additional  fee,  for  which  he  did  not  fail  to  apply, 
with  most  piteous  importunity.  The  same  trick  was  tried  upon 
us  at  the  river  Styx,  where  our  guides  shuddered  and  chattered 
with  the  cold  as  though  they  had  been  immersed  in  a  Greenland 
bath,  chattering  out,  at  the  same  time,  their  request  for  buono 
mano* 

From  Pozzuoli  to  Avernus  is  about  three  miles,  thence  to  the 
baths  of  Nero  one,  and  now,  in  another  mile,  we  come  to  Baiae. 

*  Buono  mano  is  a  gratuity  over  and  above  the  regular  or  stipulated  price.  Every- 
body in  Italy,  almost,  expects  buono  mano.  Nay  if  you  agree  with  them  at  a  price 
which  shall  cover  buono  mono  and  atf,  they  will,  s.t  the  close,  want  a  little  buono  mano  ! 

19  E  E 


SI 8  ITALY. 

This  town  was  so  named,  because  Baius,  the  companion  of  Ulys- 
ses, was  buried  here.  It  was  the  great  seat  of  luxury  and  volup- 
tuousness among  the  Romans,  and  served  more  than  anything  else 
to  corrupt  and  destroy  them.  Seneca  was  of  opinion  that  no  man 
ought  to  dwelt  here  who  meant  to  control  his  passions.  Juvenal 
and  Horace  both  moralize  on  the  corruptions  and  luxuries  of  the 
place ;  and  a  modern  poet,  in  apostrophizing  Baiae,  has  truly  said — 

"  Thy  conquests  all  before  thee  lie, 
Man's  courage — woman's  modesty." 

Could  these  ruins  speak  and  tell  the  story  of  their  past  associa 
tions,  what  a  revolting  delineation  of  luxury,  impurity,  perfidy,  and 
cruelty  would  be  disclosed.  It  is  well  for  the  credit  of  human 
nature,  and,  perhaps,  for  the  morals  of  the  present  and  all  coming 
ages,  that  a  great  portion  of  this  history  is  buried  by  the  same  ru< 
inous  and  oblivious  waves  that  have  swept  over  the  edifices  and 
arts  of  that  licentious  age.  The  God  of  Providence,  in  a  retribu 
tive  justice,  has  visited  these  haunts  of  ancient  luxury;  earthquakes 
volcanoes,  and  pestilences  have  all  united  to  devastate  this  spot 
So  eager  were  the  principal  men  of  Rome  to  have  their  villas  upon 
the  seashore,  that  they  built  moles  into  the  sea  for  their  dwellings 
(see  Odes  of  Horace) ;  but  their  moles  and  their  palaces  are  swept 
away,  and  the  ruins  may  be  seen  under  the  water,  as  well  as  down 
to  the  very  edge  of  the  water,  all  around  on  this  side  of  the  bay. 
Lucullus,  and  Julius  Cassar,  and  Horace,  and  Piso,  and  Domitia, 
and  I  know  not  how  many  more,  had  their  splendid  palaces  here. 
The  coast  was  fine,  the  soil  fruitful,  the  mineral  and  hot  springs 
abundant,  the  climate  delightful,  and  the  seas  abounded  with 
fish  ;*  all  these  considerations  made  Baiae  a  kind  of  earthly  para- 
dise, which  attracted  the  rich  and  luxurious  from  every  direction, 
and  all,  or  almost  all,  when  they  came,  did  not  hesitate  to  take  of 
the  forbidden  fruit  of  sensuality  and  criminal  pleasure ;  whereupon 
God,  in  his  displeasure,  drove  them  from  the  garden,  and  cursed 
the  earth  here  for  their  sake. 

We  passed  the  ruins  of  three  beautiful  temples,  viz.,  of  Venus, 
Mercury,  and  Diana.  That  of  Mercury  is  a  rotunda  one  hundred 
and  forty-six  feet  in  diameter,  and  is  still  entire.  We  visited 
also  what  is  supposed  to  be  the  tomb  of  Agrippina,  the  wicked 

*  Fish  seem  to  have  been  counted  a  great  luxury  by  the  ancient  Romans.  One  rich 
citizen,  Vidius  Pollio,  had  here  large  reservoirs  for  fish,  which  he  used  to  feed  with  hu« 
man  flesh ! 


USES    OF   A   LAKE.  219 

mother  of  the  wicked  Nero,  and  who  was  sacrificed  here  by  the 
command  of  that  same  wicked  and  unnatural  son.  Not  far  off  is 
the  Cape  of  Miseno,  so  named,  according  to  Virgil,  because  Mise- 
nus,  ^Eneas's  companion,  was  buried  there.*  We  entered  the 
Piscina  Mirabile,  a  splendid  reservoir,  constructed  by  Lucullus, 
and  designed  to  contain  a  supply  of  fresh  water.  It  is  a  massy 
structure  of  bricks,  covered  with  a  plaster  as  hard  as  marble,  and 
supported  by  huge  pillars.  The  reservoir  is  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  feet  long,  by  seventy-six  in  breadth  and  twenty  in 
height.  Although  it  has  stood  near  two  thousand  years,  it  bids  fair 
to  stand  as  much  longer,  if  the  world  should  continue.  But  I  must 
not  stay  to  mention,  much  less  describe,  all  these  ruins.  A  mile 
farther  on  we  came  to  the  modern  lake  of  Fusaro,  which  is  the 
ancient  Acherusia  Palus,  called  by  Virgil  Palus  Tenebrosa.  This, 
it  was  supposed  by  the  ancients,  was  connected  with  Avernus  by 
the  grotto  already  mentioned,  and  was  the  place  of  torment  for  the 
reprobates ;  while  at  a  little  distance  is  the  spot  which  was  fabled 
also  to  be  the  Elysian  Fields,  to  which  the  souls  of  the  just  passed 
after  crossing  the  Acheron,  or  Palus  Tenebrosa.  This  lake  is 
now  only  celebrated  for  oysters,  and  for  being  a  locality  for  steep- 
ing flax  and  hemp,  hence  its  name  ;  and  the  Elysian  Fields,  I 
believe,  are  now  chiefly  a  vineyard.  What  a  utilitarian  age  is  this 
in  which  we  live !  How  are  the  mystery  and  glory  of  these 
scenes  of  song  and  fable  turned  into  the  most  unpoetic  and  vulgar 
haunts  of  oysters  and  pools  for  steeping  hemp  !  Well  may  it  be 
said,  the  age  of  poetry  is  gone  ! 

We  returned  by  the  way  of  the  ancient  Via  Domitiana ;  had  a 
distant  view  of  Linterno,  the  city  to  which  Scipio  Africanus  retired 
from  the  persecutions  of  his  ungrateful  countrymen,  and  where  he 
died.  This  town,  too,  as  well  as  the  more  populous  one  of  Cuma^ 
the  site  of  which  we  passed,  is  now  in  utter  desolation.  We 
passed  under  an  arch,  however,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  gate 
of  the  ancient  town  of  Cuma,  and  it  is  a  magnificent  indication  of 
what  the  city  was.  It  is  called  Arco  Felice.  The  wall  is  sixty-- 
one feet  high,  and  the  arch  is  nineteen  feet  wide ;  the  top  served 
also  as  an  aqueduct. 

*  It  was  in  the  harbour  of  Misenus  that  Pliny  the  Elder  had  command  of  the  Roman 
fleet  at  the  time  of  the  fatal  irruption  of  Vesuvius  in  '79.  Thence  he  crossed  over  the 
bay  to  have  a  nearer  view,  an,d  feljl  a.  victim  to  his  curiosity  in  Stabia. 


220  ITALY. 

After  accomplishing  this  entire  circuit  in  one  day,  we  returned 
home  through  Pozzuoli  and  the  Grotto  of  Posilipo,  wearied  with 
the  labours  of  the  day.  Indeed,  this  sight-seeing,  as  a  business^ 
followed  up  day  after  day,  and  pressed,  too,  as  in  our  case,  for  the 
want  of  time,  to  the  very  end  of  our  strength,  is  a  most  laborious 
exercise.  But  the  retrospect  is  delightful.  When  the  fatigue  isr 
gone,  and  the  facts,  with  all  their  historical  and  poetical  associa- 
tions, remain,  then  comes  the  enjoyment.  Happy  for  us,  in  our 
present  situation,  that  man  is  a  ruminatiag  animal ;  that  he  can 
crop  and  devour,  as  it  were,  his  intellectual  food  at  one  time,  and 
masticate  and  digest  it  at  another. 

Our  third  excursion,  and  the  last  which  I  shall  describe,  was 
up  Vesuvius.  This  mountain  is  about  eight  miles  from  Naples. 
To  visit  it  we  took  carriages  to  Resina,  five  miles,  and  there,  ac- 
cording to  custom,  we  made  a  bargain  with  one  man  to  furnish 
the  guides,  the  mules  and  donkeys,  the  chaises  a  porteurs,  and 
whatever  else  was  necessary  for  the  undertaking.  Thence  we 
proceeded  on  mules  to  the  bottom  of  the  cone,  three  miles,  which, 
exclusive  of  a  stop  made  at  the  Hermitage,  so  called,  a  sort  of 
Hospice,  not  far  from-  the  base  of  the  cone,  took  about  two  hours 
and  a  half. 

The  country  around  the  base  of  this  mountain,  except  where 
the  lava  has  covered  the  soil,  is  very  fertile,  and  covered  with  vine- 
yards, which  produce  grapes  of  an  excellent  quality,  from  which  is 
made  the  celebrated  wine  called  Lacrynxz  Christi*  The  cin- 
ders and  ashes  are,  after  a  while,  very  favourable  to  vegetation, 
producing  a  rich  and  vigorous  growth ;  but,  wherever  the  lava 
comes,  the  land  is  cursed  with  perpetual  barrenness,  at  least  until, 
by  the  accumulations  of  time,  a  soil  shall  have  been  formed  upon 
the  steril  rock.  The  surface  over  which  the  lava  has  rolled  is 
left  rough,  like  the  convolutions  of  a  molten  mass  in  a  semi-liquid 
state.  Down  the  sides  of  the  lower  mountain,  or  base  of  the  cone> 
as  well  as  around  a  portion  of  the  foot  of  the  base  itself,  this  once 
molten  but  now  petrified  mass  is  spread  out  in  a  dark  dreary 
waste,  sublime  in  its  desolation.  It  indicates  to  you,  in  its  silent 
but  impressive  eloquence,  the  intensity  of  those  internal  fires  that 
could  melt  down  and  simmer  together,  into  one  homogeneous  sea, 

*  The  tears  of  Christ  1 


ASCENT    OF    VESUVIUS.  221 

the  crude  and  heterogeneous  materials  of  this  earth;  and  the 
mighty  energies  which  could  force  this  sea  of  molten  fire  from 
the  depths  below  through  the  crust  of  the  earth,  and  spread  it  out 
to  cool  upon  its  surface.  It  is  in  contemplating  such  operations 
as  these  that  man  feels  his  impotency  and  nothingness. 

The  general  colour  of  the  lava  is  a  dark  brown ;  almost  all  the 
varieties  of  colour,  however,  are  found.  The  compounded  mate- 
rial becomes  extremely  compact,  insomuch  that  it  is  susce'ptible 
of  a  very  high  polish,  and  is  wrought  into  boxes  and  toys,  and 
even  into  necklaces,  bracelets,  and  other  ornaments.. 

To  understand  the  course  of  ascent,  the  reader  should  be  in- 
formed that  there  are  three  mountains  having  a  common  base, 
namely,  Somma,  Ottajano,  and  Vesuvius.  The  entire  circuit  of 
this  base  is  about  thirty  miles,  and  the  height  of  the  base,,  to  the 
bottom  of  the  cone  of  Vesuvius,  is  about  twenty-five  hundred  feet 
perpendicular,  while  the  length  of  the  plain  of  elevation  is  about 
three  miles.  Up  this  distance  we  ride  on  mules  or  donkeys. 
The  way  is  rough,  and,  at  intervals,  rather  steep ;  but,  on  the  whole, 
not  very  uncomfortable.  Most  of  the  way  is  somewhat  elevated 
above  the  adjacent  regions,  by  reason  of  which  the  lava  in  the  va^ 
rious  irruptions  which  take  place  is  turned  from  it  to  the  right  or 
left,  and  leaves  it  unobstructed,  and  covered  more  or  less  with  veg- 
etation. It  is  on  this  ridge  that  the  hermitage  before  alluded  to 
is  situated.  This  house  has  been  often  threatened,  but  the  cir- 
cumstance just  mentioned  has,  as  yet,  been  its  protection. 

We  had  made  up  quite  a  company  for  this  excursion,  and  if 
we  could  have  been  exhibited,  at  the  time  of  our  ascent,  to  our 
friends  at  home,  the  sight  would  have  amused  them.  There  we 
were,  male  and  female,  gentlemen,  lackeys,  and  guides,  mounted, 
some  on  mules,  some  on  asses ;  and  our  ladies  faced,  in  their  high- 
armed  side-saddles,  some  to  the  right  and  some  to  the  left,  just  as 
caprice  or  accident  had  fashioned  the  saddle  ;  one  guide  would  be 
pulling  the  donkey  by  the  halter  or  bridle  before,  another  was 
whipping  up  behind,  and  another  walking  by  the  side  to  hold 
the  saddle  from  turning  or  slipping  off;  and  others,  again,  hold- 
ing on  by  the  tail,  for  the  double  purpose  of  guiding  the  ani- 
mal and  supporting  themselves  !  In  this  way  we  worked  our 
passage  up  the  mountain  side,  Indian  file,  with  tolerable  facility. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  cone  we  had  to  dismount 
19 


ITALY. 

ind  commence  our  labour.  This  cone  is  of  different  heights  at 
different  times ;  its  general  estimate,  however,  has  been  put,  I  be«- 
lieve,  at  from  ten  to  twelve  hundred  feet.  Its  angle  of  ascent  is 
very  great ;.  it  looks,  indeed,  almost  perpendicular  and  inaccessible. 
However,  we  had  ocular  evidence,  before  we  commenced  the  as- 
cent, that  it  was  accessible,  for  several  parties  were  in  advance 
of  us,  and  were  seen  at  different  distances,  hanging,  like  moving 
mites  in  an  anthill,  and  crawling  their  way  up  to  the  summit.  I  had 
engaged  one  chaise-a-porteurs  for  myself  and  Mis.  F.  Ambitious 
of  the  achievement,  however,  she  started  in  advance,  but  with  too 
much  haste  for  endurance,  so  that  she  soon  found  it  necessary  to 
stop  for  respiration  and  rest.  By  alternating,  however,  between 
the  chair  and  our  feet,  we  both  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the 
ascent  in  about  one  hour,  and  with  less  fatigue  than  we  had  feared. 
The  ascent  is  made  more  wearisome  from  the  fact  that  the  foot 
at  every  step  sinks  into  the  ashes  and  cinders  up  to  the  ancles-, 
and  these  ashes  continue  to  give  way  under  your  tread  as  you 
raise  your  advancing  foot  to  take  the  next  step,  so  that,  by  the  time 
you  set  it  down  again,  you  find  yourself  nearly  as  far  back  as  be- 
fore you  raised  it.  To  aid  you,  one  end  of  a  strap  is  fastened 
round  the  body,  and  a  strong  guide  goes  forward  with  the  other 
end,  and  pulls  you  up.  It  is  no  small  assistance  both  to  him  and 
yourself  that  occasionally  there  are  scoria  and  blocks  of  lava 
bedded  in  the  cinders,  which  serve  as  steps  and  supports  for  the 
feet.  The  chairs  are  nothing  more  than  a  common  chair  lashed 
between  two  poles,  and  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  four  or  six 
men.  These  reel  and  stagger  under  their  burden  ;  and,  as  one  or 
the  other  mounts  a  block  of  lava,  they  turn  you  in  different  di 
rections,  and  sometimes  appear  ready  to  fall  backward  under 
their  load.  We  all  arrived,  however,  in  safety,  and  soon  forgot 
our  fatigue  in  the  grand  scenes  around  us.  Below  us,  spread  out 
in  picturesque  beauty  at  some  points,  and  in  grandeur  and  mag- 
nificence in  others,  we  had  Naples  and  the  surrounding  villages,, 
the  beautiful  bay  and  its  neighbouring  islands,  the  far-off  mount- 
ains and  the  nearer  hills,  the  surrounding  plains  and  more  distant 
ocean. 

But  the  beautiful  and  extended  prospects  without  do  not  so 
much  interest  the  spectator,  for  the  reason  that  somewhat  similar 
prospects  may  be  frequently  obtained  from  other  elevations,  aa 


CRATER    OF   VESUVIUS.  223 

the  novel  and  terrible  scene  within.  I  say  novel,  because,  unless 
he  has  seen  a  volcanic  crater  before,  he  has  never  seen  anything 
like  it,  He  finds  himself  on  a  rim  or  edge,  which  extends  around 
the  top  of  the  cone,  in  circumference  above  three  miles.  This 
forms  the  edge  of  the  crater ;  and,  although  the  general  descent  in- 
teriorly is  not  as  rapid  as  that  of  the  exterior  part  of  the  cone, 
still  you  look  down  from  a  narrow  rim  into  a  yawning  and  horrid 
gulf;  horrid  from  its  black,  rugged,  and  occasionally  precipitous 
surface;  from  the  streams  of  smoke  and  sulphuretted  gas  that 
issue  from  ten  thousand  crevices  and  fissures  in  the  concave  sur- 
face of  the  crater ;  horrid  also  from  the  heat  that  scorches  your 
shoes  and  burns  your  feet ;  from  the  sulphur  that  not  only  im- 
pregnates the  air,  but  gathers  upon  the  prominent  points  of  the 
broken  surface,  in  a  coating  of  varied  colour,  from  the  pale  yellow 
and  white  to  the  orange  and  red ;  and  especially  horrible,  because 
below,  far  below,  in  the  centre  of  the  crater,  a  yawning  mouth  is 
disgorging  columns  of  fire  and  smoke.  Following  our  guides,  we 
took  a  sweep  round  to  the  south,  in  order  to  obtain  a  point  to  the 
windward,  by  which  we  could,  with  more  comfort  and  safety,  ap- 
proach the  centre.  In  this  way  we  succeeded  in  going  down  to 
the  inner  crater,  as  it  is  called.  This  is  an  orifice  of  perpendicular 
sides  and  of  uncertain  depth.  It  was  so  full  of  smoke  we  could  not 
see  far  down  it ;  but  we  could  stand  on  its  very  brink,  and  drop  in  a 
stone,  and,  after  some  seconds,  hear  the  report  of  its  fall  below ;  oc- 
casionally, too,  we  could  hear  the  boiling  of  the  molten  mass 
within  this  gigantic  caldron. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  ever-varying  accounts  of  differ- 
ent travellers  and  naturalists  who  have  examined  and  described 
this  crater ;  for  the  reason,  doubtless,  that  it  so  frequently  changes 
its  form.  Most  of  them,  however,  agree  in  saying  the  crater  is 
from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  feet  deep;  and  many  of 
them  speak  of  the  possibility  of  approaching  to  the  bottom.  All 
this,  to  a  visiter  of  the  mountain  in  its  present  form,  would  seem 
utterly  at  variance  with  the  truth.  You  go  down,  perhaps,  for 
half  a  mile,  a  pretty  rapid  descent,  over  cliffs  and  yawning  chasms, 
and  through  smoke  and  heated  gas.  Here  you  arrive  at  the 
inner  crater;  at  the  hole,  for  such  it  seems,  which  has  been 
made  through  the  bottom  of  this  gigantic  vase,  and  into  which 
is  inserted  the  cylindrical  tube,  that  seems  to  extend  quite  dawn 


224  ITALY. 

to  the  lambent  flames  and  fiery  pool  of  Tartarus.  Of  the  depth 
of  this  cylinder  you  have  very  imperfect  means  of  judging ;  and 
whenever,  by  a  favourable  action  of  the  wind  or  a  temporary  sus- 
pension of  the  smoke,  you  approach  a  little  nearer,  and  attempt  a 
more  satisfactory  examination,  a  heated  puff  of  sulphureous  gas 
and  smoke  drives  you  back,  all  but  suffocated,  to  get  a  breath  of 
purer  air. 

We  had  travelled  over  this  rough  way  until  we  were  quite 
weary,  and  resolved  to  run  the  hazard  of  a  more  direct  route  back 
to  the  ridge  of  the  crater.  This  was  a  rash  decision,  and  was 
wellnigh  followed  by  serious  consequences.  We  tied  up  our 
mouths  to  keep  out  the  smoke,  but  that  did  not  give  the  necessary 
respirative  qualities  to  the  sulphureous  gas  that  issued  from  below. 
The  wind  took  this  directly  upon  us,  until  we  were  almost  breath- 
less. The  ascent  was  steep  and  difficult;  the  longer  we  were 
in  ascending,  the  more  we  were  exposed  to  the  suffocating  effects 
of  the  mephitic  vapour ;  and  the  more  we  hastened,  by  quicken- 
ing respiration  and  shortening  the  breath,  we  increased  the  diffi- 
culty. Those  of  our  company  who  had  weak  lungs  and  shortness 
of  breath  suffered  the  most ;  this  was  my  own  situation.  But, 
bad  as  I  felt  my  own  condition  to  be,  I  was  roused  from  solicitude 
for  myself  by  the  crying  out  of  another  of  our  company,  our  friend 
Mr.  L.,  who  found  himself  unable  to  proceed,  and  was  seriously 
alarmed,  as  he  could  not  get  breath  ;  a  little  rest,  however,  and  a 
more  favourable  turn  of  the  wind,  gave  the  necessary  relief,  and 
we  at  length  reached  the  top. 

How  unlike  its  present  form  this  crater  must  have  been  previ- 
ous to  the  great  irruption  of  1631!  It  had  then  been  quiescent 
for  centuries.  The  crater  was  one  deep  valley,  thickly  wooded, 
and  abounding  in  game.  It  might  then  be  descended  by  a  cir- 
cuitous route  of  three  miles  to  the  depth  of  one  thousand  paces, 
and  at  the  bottom  were  one  or  two  small  lakes.  But  at  the  time  al- 
luded to  it  burst  out  anew,  and  carried  desolation  before  it,  destroy- 
ing four  thousand  lives,  devastating  the  country,  and  ruining  sev- 
eral villages.  In  1755  the  crater  is  described  in  another  form. 
The  plane  of  the  top  of  the  cone  is  said  to  have  been  but  twenty- 
three  feet  deep,  forming  a  kind  of  rim  or  staging,  in  the  centre  of 
which  rose  up  another  cone  eighty  or  ninety  feet  high^  having  its 
own  interior  crater. 


RIDING    POST.  225 

In  the  great  irruption  of  1 822,  eight  hundred  feet  of  the  top  of 
the  cone  was  removed,  so  that  it  is  now  much  lower  than  for- 
merly. The  immense  mass  of  lava  then  thrown  out  is  still  seen, 
and  pointed  out  by  the  guides.  Indeed,  the  lavas  of  different  ir- 
ruptions are  distinguished  from  each  other  by  their  different  shades 
of  colour,  and  other  characteristics. 

Having  satisfied  our  curiosity  as  far  as  time  and  strength  would 
permit,  we  prepared  to  descend ;  and,  in  five  or  six  minutes  from 
the  time  of  my  leaving  the  top,  I  found  myself  at  the  foot  of  the 
cone,  although  it  had  taken  me  an  hour  to  ascend  the  same  dis- 
tance. We  then  mounted  our  donkeys  and  returned. 

It  is  always  a  serious  business  in  Italy,  unless  one  rides  post, 
to  make  arrangements  for  moving  from  one  city  to  another ;  for 
the  reason  that  you  have  to  negotiate  a  special  bargain  with  a  set 
of  men  who  have  no  other  settled  principle  of  business  but  to 
cheat  you  if  they  can.  There  may  be  exceptions,  but  we  had 
not  the  good  luck  to  meet  with  them.  There  are,  in  all  middle 
and  southern  Italy,  few  or  no  regular  diligences.*  The  mal-post 
or  mailcoach  takes  but  two  or  three  passengers,  and  travels  night 
and  day.  This,  therefore,  is  not  convenient,  especially  for  inva- 
lids or  ladies. 

To  drive  post,  as  it  is  called,  you  must  have  your  own  carriage, 
and  depend  upon  the  postmasters  to  furnish  you  with  the  neces- 
sary relays  of  horses.  This  is  by  far  the  pleasantest  way  of 
travelling  ;  you  can  stop  when  and  where  you  please,  and  as  long 
as  you  please,  without  any  additional  expense  of  horses.  The 
prices  are  all  established  and  regulated  by  government,  and  the 
entire  system  is  arranged  with  as  much  regularity  as  the  carrying 
of  the  government  mail.  And  this  system  exists  throughout  all 
the  governments  in  which  we  travelled,  not  only  on  the  Continent, 
but  in  the  British  Isles  ;  with  this  advantage  in  the  latter,  that 
you  can  always  get  post-coaches  as  well  as  post-horses.  On  the 
Continent  you  cannot  always  hire  a  coach ;  or,  if  you  can,  it  is  not 
on  any  regular  principle,  as  it  is  no  part  of  the  posting  system  to 
furnish  coaches,  and  it  is  done,  therefore,  at  an  extravagant  price. 

The  disadvantages  of  posting  are  the  expense,  and  the  difficulty 
of  the  traveller's  furnishing  himself  always  with  a  coach.  The 

*  The  only  exception  which  came  to  my  knowledge  south  of  the  Apennines  was  a 
diligence  from  Bologna  to  Rome, 


226  ITALY. 

expense  is  much  greater,  more  than  double,  besides  the  use  of  the 
coach ;  and,  in  addition,  all  who  ride  post  are  charged  much 
higher  at  the  post-houses  for  their  food  and  lodgings  than  other 
travellers. 

The  cheapest  way  is  to  hire  a  veturino  to  take  you  through  in 
his  carriage  at  a  given  price  and  in  a  given  time,  he  furnishing 
you  on  the  road  with  food  and  lodgings.  The  whole  agreement 
is  to  be  reduced  to  writing,  the  stopping-places  and  lodging-places 
specified,  the  fare  and  the  treatment  all  delineated,  and  everything, 
in  short,  put  down  in  black  and  white,  and  then  a  condition  made 
to  allow  him  buono  mano  if  he  gives  satisfaction.  When  a  party 
of  five  or  six  are  travelling  together,  they  may  in  this  way  travel 
and  bear  all  their  own  expenses  cheaper  than  they  can  live  at  the 
hotels  in  the  principal  cities. 

In  making  our  arrangements  to  leave  Naples  we  had  a  com- 
pany of  six  Americans.  Our  friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hoadley,  and 
Mr.  Lawton,  already  mentioned,  had  joined  us  from  Pisa,  and  we 
also  most  unexpectedly  met,  in  Naples,  with  our  nearest  neigh- 
bour when  at  home,  William  Webb,  Esq.,  who  had  visited  Italy, 
in  a  ship  direct  to  Naples,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  a  warmer 
climate  as  a  winter  residence,  to  restore  him  from  a  serious  attack 
upon  the  chest,  from  which  he  supposed  himself  already  conva- 
lescent. But  he  had  fallen  into  bad  hands,  and  perhaps,  I  ought 
to  say,  upon  a  bad  climate.  On  arriving  at  Naples  he  was  put 
into  the  lazaretto  for  eleven  days,  in  a  cold  stone  room,  with  a 
stone  floor,  like  all  the  floors  of  Italy,  without  any  fire.  After  he 
got  on  shore  the  winter  proved  exceedingly  bad,  and  his  complaint, 
from  which  he  had  supposed  himself  rapidly  recovering,  seemed 
to  have  returned  upon  him  with  a  deathly  grasp.  Refreshed,  how 
ever,  with  the  cheering  warmth  of  the  spring,  and  buoyant  with 
hope  that  travelling  would  restore  him,  he  joined  our  company. 
With  a  melancholy  pleasure  at  being  able  to  afford  him  what  as- 
sistance we  might  in  his  wearisome  and  hitherto  disastrous  pur- 
suit of  the  greatest  of  earthly  blessings,  we  took  him,  to  some  ex- 
tent we  may  say,  under  our  friendly  charge. 

With  this  company  we  chartered  a  berlin,  with  a  long,  lank, 
green-looking  veturino,  with  tight  buckskin  unmentionables,  and 
laige  stiff-legged  boots,  the  foreparts  of  which  came  considerably 
above  his  knees,  so  that  when  he  sat  they  stood  up  in  front  above 


PALACE  OF  THE  KINO  AT  CASERTA.          227 

ike  horizontal  plane  of  his  lap  some  six  or  eight  inches.  Although 
he  had  expressly  agreed  to  take  no  other  passengers,  yet  he  con- 
trived, before  he  got  out  of  the  city,  to  get  one  on  forward  with 
him,  and  one  behind  upon  our  trunks,  by  which  the  tops  were 
broken  in.  We  could  not  readily  get  rid  of  them,  because  one, 
he  said,  was  his  brother,  and  the  other  was  along  to  feed  and  clean 
his  horses,  and  they  positively  were  not  going  but  twenty  miles ; 
all  of  which  we  found  to  be  falsehoods.  They  continued  with 
us  to  Rome ;  and,  as  we  had  no  other  method  of  indemnifying  our- 
selves or  teaching  him  better  manners,  we  refused  him  his  buono 
mano  at  the  end  of  the  journey. 

For  the  first  day  we  turned  aside  to  visit  the  magnificent  pal- 
ace of  the  king  at  Caserta,  thirteen  miles  from  Naples.  This 
palace,  as  Well  as  that  at  Portici  and  at  Capo  di  Monte,  was  built 
by  Don  Carlos,  commonly  called  Charles  III.  The  architect  was 
the  Chevalier  Louis  Vanvitelli,  of  Rome.  The  palace  itself  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  magnificent  in  Italy.  It  is  a  rectangle,  eight 
hundred  and  three  feet  in  length,  and  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  in  breadth,  and  one  hundred  and  thirteen  in  height.  It  is  a 
noble  pile ;  but  what  journalists  in  Italy  can  afford  to  write,  or 
who  will  have  patience  to  read,  a  detailed  description  of 
palaces  ?  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  it  possesses  one  of  the  finest  stair- 
cases I  ever  saw  ;*  that  it  is  still  unfinished,  though  commenced 
in  1752;  that  it  is  meanly  furnished,  or  rather,  to  a  considerable 
extent,  unfurnished  ;  and  that  we  saw  them  finishing  off  one  room, 
which  is  to  cost  two  millions  of  dollars  ;  and  that,  as  a  contrast  to 
this  royal  prodigality,  as  we  went  down  to  enter  our  carriage,  we 
found  it  surrounded  by  seventeen  miserable  beggars.  And  here  I 
take  leave  of  the  kingdom  of  Naples.  Beggars  saluted  us  when 
we  entered  it,  surrounded  us  while  we  were  in  it,  and  impor 
tuned  us  till  we  left  it. 


*  On  reflection,  and  after  all  the  edifices  I  have  since  seen,  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
this  staircase  not  only  among  the  first,  but  the  first  in  magnificence  and  general  beauty 
in  materials  and  architecture,  that  1  ever  saw  or  expect  to  see. 


228  ITALY. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

NEAR  the  close  of  the  last  chapter  I  noticed  some  difficulty 
with  our  veturino,  as  a  specimen  of  the  troubles  travellers  have 
to  encounter,  and  of  the  faithlessness  of  this  people,     I  must  com- 
mence this  chapter  with  another  instance  still  more  vexatious. 
We  had  lodged,  when  in  Rome  before,  at  the  Hotel  Spilman,  in 
the  Via  della  Croce ;  and  as  Rome  is  generally  crowded  during 
Passion  Week,  I  engaged  lodgings  at  the  same  place  for  myself 
and  lady  when  I  should  return  ;  and  conditionally  for  our  friends, 
whom  we  expected  from  Pisa.     From  Naples  I  wrote  to  secure 
all  the  apartments ;  and  at  the  gates  of  Rome  I  met  a  letter,  sta- 
ting that  all  things  were  arranged  as  I  desired ;   but,  when  we 
arrived  at  the  hotel,  my  Lord  Grosvenor  (from  Eaton  Hall,  Eng.) 
had  arrived  in  Rome,  and  taken  all  my  apartments,  and  we  were 
provided  for,  miserably  enough,  in  another  house  near  by.     We 
stayed  over  the  Sabbath,  for  it  was  late  on  Saturday  when  we  ar- 
rived.   We  then  engaged  other  lodgings  ;  upon  which  the  landlord 
brought  in  his  bill  for  five  weeks  (the  time  which  we  had  pro- 
posed for  the  apartments  first  engaged),  and  refused  to  settle  with 
us  on  any  other  principle  than  that  we  should  pay  the  bill.    We 
called  in  our  consul,  Mr.  Cicognani,  who  gave  Spilman  a  thorough 
lecture,  whereupon  he  altered  his  bill  to  the  just  demand  for  the 
time  we  had  been  there ;  and,  when  we  left,  very  courteously  re- 
quested us  to  have  the  kindness  to  recommend  his  hotel.     I  can 
only,  however,  recommend  Carlo  Spilman,  of  the  Via  della  Croce 
in  Rome,  as  a  man  who  will  consult  his  own  interest  at  the  ex- 
pense of  his  word,  and  then  endeavour,  if  possible,  to  make  you 
pay  for  being  deceived  by  him.     It  is  a  matter  that  strikes  every 
stranger,  I  believe,  with  surprise,  that  these  Italians  will  wrangle 
with  the  greatest  vociferation,  so  that  you  would  think  they  were 
right  mad,  and  all  but  ready  to  fight ;  and  yet,  when  they  see  it 
will  avail  nothing,  they  yield  the  point,  and  are  as  submissive 
as  you  could  desire.     Often  have  I  seen  individuals  scolding 
each  other  with  such  vehemence  as  in  our  country  or  in  England 
would  be  immediately  followed  by  blows ;  but  here  it  all  ends  in 


CHEAPNESS    OP    LIVING    AT    ROME.  229 

smoke.  So  much  the  better,  certainly,  that  they  do  not  fight,  but 
it  is  not  so  much  the  better  that  they  fall  to  wrangling  so  readily. 
It  gives  a  harshness  and  a  most  unlovely  aspect  to  much  of  the 
intercourse  of  the  lower  classes  with  each  other,  and  is  a  source 
of  much  that  is  disagreeable  to  a  stranger. 

Before  dismissing  this  subject,  it  becomes  me  to  say  we  were 
much  indebted  to  our  consul,  both  on  this  and  on  other  occasions, 
for  his  politeness  and  professional  services  to  us,  for  all  of  which 
he  refused  to  take  any  fee  except  the  two  dollars  for  the  vise  to 
our  passports,  which  is  his  perquisite.  Mr.  C.  is  an  Italian,  but 
he  is  a  gentleman,  and  a  kind  friend  to  the  Americans. 

We  were  now  to  live  in  an  independent  manner.  We  had  hired 
lodgings  all  furnished  with  everything  necessary  for  housekeeping ; 
had  our  breakfast  and  tea  prepared  in  the  house,  but  our  dinner  was 
brought  in  hot  and  ready  prepared  from  the  traiteur's.*  A  din- 
ner for  six,  consisting  of  three  kinds  of  meat,  soup,  vegetables, 
macaroni,  and  a  pudding,  and  enough  to  spare  for  the  servants, 
was  about  two  dollars.  Strangers  in  Rome  are  obliged  also  to 
keep  a  carriage,  if  they  would  visit  the  city  to  any  advantage,  es- 
pecially if  they  are  not  in  robust  health  or  have  ladies  in  their 
company.  The  whole  expense  for  our  establishment,  including 
the  cost  of  the  public  places  visited,  and  the  coach  hire,  cicerone, 
lodgings,  &c.,  was  about  two  dollars  a  piece  per  day.  .  This  will 
give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  cheapness  of  living  in  Rome,  which 
is  one  cause  why  so  many  strangers,  and  especially  English,  resort 
here.  Many  an  impaired  English  fortune  has  been  restored  and 
disencumbered  by  the  removal  of  their  domestic  establishment  to 
Italy,  when  a  respectable  residence  at  home  would  have  involved 
them  deeper  in  debt.  At  Naples,  living  is  still  cheaper  than  at 
Rome,  as  also  in  many  of  the  provincial  towns  of  central  Italy. 
But  Rome  is  the  principal  centre  of  attraction,  because  of  its  an- 
tiquities, and  its  concentration  of  so  much  that  is  interesting  in 
modern  art,  and  literature,  and  religion ;  and  so  accustomed  is 
Rome  to  a  great  influx  of  strangers  and  residence  of  foreigners,  that 
there  is  not  another  city  in  Italy  where  strangers  attract  so  little 
attention,  and  pursue  their  own  course  so  perfectly  unmolested  and 
unobserved.  The  government  is  mild  and  paternal,  the  people 


*  The  traiteur  is  one  who  keeps  an  eating-house,  and  furnishes  meals  in  his  own; 
place  or  at  his  customers'  lodgings,  as  they  prefer. 

20 


230  ITALY. 

courteous,  and  the  city  itself  of  that  grave  and  quiet  cast  which 
cannot  fail  to  be  congenial  with  the  feelings  of  a  man  of  thought 
and  sobriety.  The  stiletto  and  assassination,  which  were  once  so 
common,  are  now  scarcely  known.  The  French  did  much  to  re 
form  this  and  other  cities  of  Italy  in  this  respect.  They  prohib- 
ited the  carrying  of  instruments  of  death ;  they  lighted  the  dark 
lanes  of  the  city,  where  the  nightly  stiletto  used  to  pierce  its  unsus- 
pecting victim.  Now  one  may  feel  as  safe,  I  think,  in  the  streets 
of  Rome  in  the  night  as  in  any  other  large  city  in  Europe.  Indeed, 
it  might  be  well  if  some  parts  of  our  own  country  would  adopt  the 
course  enforced  by  the  French  police,  and  prohibit  sword-caries, 
Bowie-knives,  pistols,  and  dirks.  Whe,n  these  instruments  are 
worn  or  carried,  they  will  be  used ;  and  every  paroxysm  of  anger 
and  every  trifling  dispute  is  in  danger  of  ending  in  bloodshed. 
It  is  this  that  has  multiplied  homicides,  especially  in  the  south- 
western parts  of  the  United  States.  But  to  return  to  Rome. 
We  had  hastened  back  to  this  metropolis  of  the  Catholic  Church 
for  the  purpose  of  being  present  at  the  religious  festivities  of  Holy 
Week ;  an  account  of  which  will  be  found  in  the  following  let- 
ters. 

To  the  Editors  of  the  Methodist  Magazine. 

MESSRS.  EDITORS, 

Thinking  it  may  gratify  your  readers  to  be  informed  of  some 
of  the  most  prominent  ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Church  at  the 
fountain-head,  I  have  determined  to  communicate  some  sketches 
of  what  passed  under  my  notice  during  Passion  Week.  The  ex- 
ercises of  this  festive  occasion  commenced  with 

PALM    SUNDAY. 

Palm  Sunday  is  instituted  as  a  celebration  of  our  Saviour's  tri- 
umphant entry  into  Jerusalem.  It  happened  the  present  year  on 
the  27th  of  March.  The  public  performances  were  in  a  small 
chapel  called  the  Capella  Sistina,  which  may  be  considered  an 
appendage  of  St.  Peter's.  Why  the  capacious  church  of  St.  Pe- 
ter's should  be  passed  by,  and  this  splendid  ceremony  be  crowded 
into  a  small  chapel,  no  good  reason,  I  believe,  can  be  given ;  it 
is,  however,  on  the  principle,  I  suppose,  by  which  so  many  things 
are  directed  in  Rome,  viz.,  the  tradition  of  the  fathers  ;  what  has 


PALM  SUNDAY.  231 

been  must  be.  The  custom,  however  venerable  for  antiquity,  is 
certainly  very  inconvenient.  In  the  first  place,  one  half  of  the 
church  is  reserved  for  the  functionaries  of  the  day.  Then  a  kind 
of  side  gallery  is  allotted  to  the  ladies,  into  which  they  are  admit- 
ted until  it  is  full ;  the  filling  of  which  does  not  take  long,  as  it 
holds  only  from  two  to  three  hundred.  The  remainder,  reserving 
something  for  alleys  and  guards,  was  appropriated  to  the  gentlemen. 
The  crowd  was  insupportable  ;  every  man  had  to  fight  almost  for 
his  stand,  and  then  endure  such  a  pressure  as  was  painful  and 
suffocating.  There  was  crushing  of  hats,  there  was  elbowing, 
and  crowding,  and  scolding,  and  laughing,  and  sometimes  swear- 
ing, to  an  extent  that  rendered  the  scene  anything  but  a  place  of 
Divine  worship.  In  this  jam  I  was  particularly  unfortunate  in 
my  position,  which  was  just  in  the  direction  of  access  to  a  reserved 
section  of  the  chapel,  into  which  none  seemed  to  get  admitted  but 
British  uniforms,  ecclesiastics,  and  such  favourites  as  they  might 
introduce.  Frequently  some  bustling  favourite  of  this  description 
would  come  elbowing  and  pressing  his  way,  by  mere  physical 
force,  into  this  place.  Of  course,  as  the  space  where  we  stood 
was  entirely  full,  there  was  no  introducing  &  foreign  body  without 
either  crowding  out  or  compressing  some  portions  of  the  matter 
already  there.  As  none  of  us  chose  to  yield  our  position,  we  had 
to  undergo  the  compression.  This  compression,  when  once  made, 
was  keyed  up  by  some  individual  or  individuals  following  up  the 
wake  of  the  man  who  pressed  his  way  through,  and  remaining 
after  the  other  had  passed  out.  In  this  way  we  had  for  some 
time  been  growing  smaller  and  smaller,  with  a  fair  prospect  of 
testing  experimentally  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  doctrine  of  the  indefinite 
compressibility  of  matter.  As  I  felt  myself,  however,  to  be  some- 
thing more  than  inert  matter,  I  thought  a  just  regard  to  my  own 
comfort,  as  well  as  a  desire  to  retain  my  original  dimensions,  re- 
quired me  to  face  a  short,  plump  priest,  who  had  been  out  two  or 
three  times  to  conduct  persons  in,  and  give  him  to  understand  he 
could  not  pass.  He  crowded  forward,  and  commanded  me  to  give 
place  ;  my  answer  was  "  non  possibile ;"  he  threatened,  but  I  kept 
my  position ;  he  crowded  back  to  the  Swiss  guard,  but  the  Swiss 
would  not  interfere ;  he  came  back  with  his  eye  flashing  from  op- 
parent  passion,  and  again  threatened  and  raised  his  hand ;  "  non 
possibile"  was  the  only  reply,  until  the  eyes  of  the  whole  com- 


232  ITALY. 

pany  around  were  fixed  upon  us,  and  I  found  myself  sustained  by 
the  surrounding  crowd,  who  pressed  closer  and  closer,  to  stop  the 
farther  progress  of  the  priest.  At  length  a  good-natured  Irish 
ecclesiastic  leaned  over  and  whispered  in  my  ear  that  perhaps  it 
might  be  better  to  let  the  gentleman  pass,  for  he  was  the  general 
of  the  Franciscans.  I  replied,  that  might  be,  but  he  had  already 
incommoded  us  several  times  by  passing  and  repassing,  and  it  had 
become  insufferable.  Behind  him  were  two  other  Irish  ecclesi- 
astics, whom  the  general  was  convoying  in,  and  who  said  they 
had  a  place  assigned  them  by  his  holiness,  and  they  thought  it  a 
hard  case  they  could  not  be  permitted  to  enjoy  it.  But,  to  end 
this  occurrence,  after  holding  the  Franciscan  at  bay  until  it  was 
thought  he  would  not  undertake  another  excursion  through  the 
crowd,  he  was  permitted  to  pass  on  with  much  difficulty,  but  was 
glad,  doubtless,  to  return  no  more.  We  were  now  permitted 
to  behold  the  entry  of  the  pope  and  the  commencement  of  the 
functions  of  the  day.  First  of  all,  however  (as  is  common  on 
such  occasions),  the  cardinals,  bishops,  &c..  must  pay  their  respects 
to  the  pope ;  which  was  done  by  going  up  to  his  throne,  bowing 
to  him,  and  kissing  his  hand  by  the  cardinals,  and  his  feet  by  the 
other  church  dignitaries.  This  ceremony,  together,  in  fact,  with 
all  that  followed,  seemed  to  me  a  clear  indication  that  the  pope 
was  more  an  object  of  worship  than  any  other  being.  All  eyes 
were  turned  towards  the  pope  ;  all  ceremonies  seemed  to  centre  in 
the  pope.  When  he  entered  all  kneeled  before  him.  His  robes 
were  of  the  richest  character,  inwrought  with  gold  and  silver ;  the 
one  worn  outside  was  of  a  purple  colour,  with  a  silver  plate  finely 
gilded,  embossed,  and  encircled  with  precious  stones.  On  his  head 
was  a  mitre  of  silver.  On  each  side  of  his  throne  stood  a  cardinal 
deacon,  whose  business  it  was  to  open  and  fold  his  robe  ;  to  wait 
upon  him  in  rising  up  and  sitting  down  ;  others  held  a  book,  bound 
in  gold  or  silver,  for  him  to  read  the  service ;  another  held  up  his 
train ;  another  offered  incense  before  him ;  and  ever  and  anon 
cardinals,  bishops,  and  other  church  dignitaries  left  their  seats, 
came  down  into  the  centre,  which  was  left  vacant  for  the  purpose, 
and  bowed  the  knee.  Such  a  scene  of  man-worship  I  never 
before  beheld.  Often  during  the  exercise  was  I  reminded  of 
2  Thess.,  ii.,  4  :  "  Who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all 
that  is  called  God,  or  that  is  worshipped ;  so  that  he,  as  God,  sit- 


PALM    SUNDAY.  233 

teth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God."  I 
accuse  not  the  present  pope,  personally,  of  such  feelings ;  I  judge 
no  individual ;  but  the  system  itself  has  all  the  characteristics  of 
the  grossest  creature-homage  that  I  can  conceive  of.  So  the 
pope's  title  seems  to  imply,  "  God's  vicegerent  upon  earth ;"  and 
so  the  common  people  at  least  understand  it.  "  The  pope,"  said 
an  intelligent  servant  who  was  questioned  upon  the  subject,  "  is 
God  Almighty  upon  the  earth."  But  to  return  from  these  reflec- 
tions ;  the  music,  which  was  by  the  pope's  choir,  whose  perform- 
ances are  admirable,  commenced  with  the  hosanna  sung  by  the 
children  on  Christ's  entering  Jerusalem.  The  service  was  then 
read,  which  consists  of  Scripture  lessons  from  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  reading  the  prayer  of  blessing,  chanting  by  the  choir, 
&c.  By  this  exercise  and  benediction  certain  palms  and  olives 
are  blessed  and  prepared  for  distribution.  These  palms  are  ar- 
tificial branches,  curiously  wrought  from  narrow  strips  of  the 
palm-leaf.  They  are  braided,  festooned,  and  beautifully  formed ; 
they  are  about  three  feet  in  length,  with  a  beautiful  open  work  for 
the  stem,  a  circle  of  festoons  for  the  centre,  and  a  still  larger  fes- 
tooned top.  The  olives  were  mere  branches  in  their  natural  state. 
After  they  were  all  blessed  the  distribution  commenced.  The 
attendants  passed  the  palms,  one  by  one,  to  the  pope,  and  he  dis- 
tributed them,  first  to  the  cardinals,  who  came  up  in  order  and 
bowed,  kissed  the  pope's  hand,  then  the  palm,  then  his  knees ; 
they  thereupon  received  the  palm  and  returned  to  their  seats  ;  after 
this  the  patriarchs,  archbishops,  and  bishops ;  then  follow  the  lower 
orders  of  mitred  abbots,  the  penitentiaries,  the  governor  and  prince 
assistant,  the  auditor  of  the  apostolic  chambers,  the  major-domo, 
the  treasurer,  the  prothonotaries  apostolic,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.,  to  the 
number  of  twenty-nine  or  thirty  lower  grades,  all  going  through 
the  same  ceremony,  except  that  all  under  the  grade  of  bish- 
ops kissed  the  foot  instead  of  the  knee ;  last  of  all,  such  distin- 
guished foreigners  as  may  have  previously  entered  their  names  on 
the  list  of  the  major-domo  go  up  and  receive  palms.  During  the 
distribution  the  choir  is  chanting  appropriate  anthems.  The  pope 
then  washes  his  hands  and  prepares  for  the  procession.  This  is 
commenced  by  the  senior  cardinals  chanting  "procedamus  in 
pace" — "  let  us  proceed  in  peace ;"  to  which  is  responded  "  in  nom- 
ine Christi,  Amen" — " in  the  name  of  Christ,  Amen"  Then  the 
20  GG 


234  ITALY. 

procession  moves  forward,  preceded  by  a  cross  veiled,  to  denote  the 
mourning  of  the  church  in  the  Passion  Week.  The  pope  is  seated 
in  his  splendid  chair,  which  is  trimmed  with  rich  crimson,  gilded  with 
gold,  and  elevated  upon  the  shoulders  of  twelve  porters,  all  richly 
clad,  and  over  his  head  is  a  rich  canopy,  borne  by  eight  referen- 
daries, all  splendidly  habited ;  after  him  follow  the  palm-bearers 
in  the  order  of  their  rank.  Adjoining  the  Sistine  Chapel  is  a  large 
hall  called  the  sola  regia,  or  royal  saloon.  Into  this  hall,  which 
is  lined  with  soldiery,  the  procession  advances,  chanting  and  sing- 
ing as  they  go ;  after  they  have  passed  the  gates  of  the  chapel, 
they  are  closed,  and  the  pope,  with  the  procession,  moves  round 
the  hall,  returns  to  the  door,  and  voices  within  and  without  alter- 
nately answer  to  each  other;  the  sub-deacon  strikes  upon  the 
door  without  with  the  staff  of  the  cross,  the  gates  are  thrown 
open,  and  the  vicegerent  of  God  upon  earth  enters  in  triumph, 
with  the  anthem  chanted  by  scores  of  voices,  "  when  the  Lord  en- 
tered into  the  holy  city,"  &c.  The  soldiers  and  people  all  drop- 
ping upon  the  knee  as  his  holiness  passes,  he  is  borne  into  the  chapel, 
descends  from  the  throne,  and  the  whole  ceremony  closes  by  the 
celebration  of  high  mass.  As  a  splendid  earthly  pageant,  this 
ceremony  was  certainly  imposing ;  but  as  a  religious  ceremony, 
and  especially  as  one  founded  upon  Christ's  entering  into  Jeru- 
salem, it  appeared  to  me  the  very  contrast  of  the  thing  signified. 
Let  the  reader  conceive,  if  he  can,  of  the  regal  splendour  and  show 
of  this  entire  ceremony ;  let  him  fix  his  eye  upon  the  pope  in  his 
gilded  throne,  himself  clothed  in  gold  and  purple,  borne  on  high 
and  canopied  by  princely  supporters,  bowed  to  by  his  fellow-worms, 
and  followed  by  dignitaries  in  purple  and  ermine  ;  and  when  the 
image  of  the  entire  scene  is  passing  vividly  before  his  eyes,  let 
him  turn  to  Matt,  xxi.,  4-1 1,  where  this  ceremony  professes  to  have 
its  origin ;  let  him  notice  the  condition  of  the  Saviour  at  this  time,  so 
inimitably  expressed  by  the  prophet,  as  recorded  in  the  fourth  and 
fifth  verses,  "  All  this  was  done,  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which 
was  spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying,  Tell  ye  the  daughter  of  Sion, 
behold  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee,  meek,  and  sitting  upon  an  ass, 
and  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass."  Who  art  thou,  oh  worm  of 
the  dust,  that  personateth  the  Saviour,  in  one  of  the  humblest 
exhibitions  of  himself,  by  sitting  upon  thy  throne  of  state  in  princely 
robes,  and  being  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  men  clad  like  princes  l 


TENEBR^E    AND    MISERERE.  235 

Is  this  to  be  meek  and  lowly  1  How  is  it  possible  that  the  human 
mind  can  be  brought  to  enact  such  contrasts  with  the  word  of  God, 
and  call  them  anniversaries  of  Scripture  events  ?  Call  up  one  of 
those  children  that  sung  hosanna  when  Christ  entered  Jerusalem, 
and  place  him,  without  explanation,  in  the  palace  of  the  Vatican 
to  behold  a  Roman  Palm  Sunday,  would  he  be  able  to  identify 
it?* 

TENEBR^E    AND    MISERERE. 

On  Monday  and  Tuesday  of  the  "  Holy  Week"  there  is  nothing 
very  special  to  call  the  attention  of  the  public ;  but  Wednesday 
P.  M.  there  was  the  finest  music  by  the  pope's  choir  that  I  ever 
heard.  The  function  is  called  the  "  tenebrae,"  or  "  darkness." 
The  performance,  it  is  said,  belongs  strictly  to  Thursday  morning, 
in  the  regular  reckoning  of  time  ;  and  seems  to  be  designed  to 
commemorate  the  darkness  and  gloom  of  the  church  at  the  hour 
of  betrayal,  or  perhaps  the  scene  in  the  garden.  The  origin  and 
design  of  this  performance,  however,  seem  not  to  be  fully  settled 
by  the  Catholics  themselves,  nor  is  it  of  any  great  consequence  to 
determine  it.  It  is  enough  for  me  that  it  was,  on  the  whole,  one 
of  the  most  interesting  occasions  that  I  have  enjoyed  in  Rome. 
The  pope  attended  in  the  Sistine  Chapel,  and  thither,  of  course, 
the  multitude  resorted ;  but  as  there  was  the  same  music  in  St. 
Peter's,  we  proposed  hearing  it  there  rather  than  endure  the 
crowd  of  the  chapel.  The  exercise  was  long,  and  consisted,  in 
the  fore  part,  of  lessons  sung  and  chanted  from  the  Psalms,  the 
Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  and  from  that  part  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  describing  the  institution  of  the  sacrament,  &c.  The 
whole  was  interspersed  with  antiphonies,  and  all  performed  with 
admirable  skill.  Indeed,  it  is  said  that  none  but  those  trained  in 
this  school  can  perform  this  music.  The  French,  when  they  were 
in  power  here,  carried  this  music  to  France ;  but  it  availed  them 
nothing,  for  none  of  their  performers  could  sing  it.  But  this 
choir  perform  it  to  universal  admiration.  The  great  concentration 
of  excellence,  however,  and,  of  course,  of  interest,  is  in  the  clo- 
sing piece,  called  the  miserere,  which  is  the  51st  Psalm  set  to 

*  For  an  explanation  of  the  different  orders,  and  different  offices  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Roman  Church,  I  acknowledge  myself  much  indebted  to  a  little  work  by  Bishop  Eng- 
land, published  in  Rome,  1833. 


1836  ITALY. 

music  by  Allegri.  It  has  its  name  from  the  first  word  in  the  Psalm, 
which  commences  in  Latin,  "  Miserere  mei,  deus,"  &c.  All  who 
have  read  this  Psalm  have  noticed  what  humble  confession,  what 
deep  contrition,  run  through  the  whole  of  this  beautiful  composi- 
tion. But  what  the  psalmist  has  expressed  so  inimitably  in  words, 
seems,  if  possible,  to  be  still  more  forcibly  expressed  in  sounds  ; 
at  least,  putting  the  two  together,  they  were  overwhelming.  Such 
wailing,  lamentation,  and  wo !  such  tender,  melting,  agonizing 
strains  of  penitential  grief  and  contrition !  They  came  over  my 
soul  like  a  dissolving  charm,  melting  my  heart,  and  opening  the 
very  fountains  of  grief.  Every  emotion  of  my  heart  chimed  in 
with  the  sentiments  and  the  music,  and  I  felt  myself  entirely  car- 
ried away  and  overpowered  by  the  inspirations  of  the  occasion. 
It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  there  are  no  females  in  the  choir,  and 
yet  there  were  some  of  the  finest  treble  voices  that  I  ever  heard. 
I  have  heard  before  a  counterfeit  treble  from  a  man,  but  it  was 
not  natural ;  here,  however,  it  was  the  most  perfect,  and  the 
strains  fell  in,  one  after  another,  from  the  finest  falsetto  to  the  gra- 
vest bass,  and  all  so  skilfully  arranged  and  modified  as  to  produce 
but  one  effect ;  it  was  like  a  multitude  of  old  men  and  maidens, 
young  men  and  children,  pouring  forth  their  united,  concordant 
strains  of  chastened  grief,  in  all  the  bitterness  and  reverence  of 
supplication  and  adoring  penitence. 

As  is  usual  in  all  cases  of  Catholic  worship,  numerous  candles 
were  at  first  burning ;  but  they  were  extinguished,  one  after  an- 
other, until  only  one  was  left,  and  that  was  partially  concealed  be- 
hind the  altar.  Of  the  meaning  of  this  there  is  not  an  agreement ; 
some  say  it  is  the  gradual  extinction  of  the  prophetic  lights  before 
the  coming  of  Christ ;  others  say  it  is  designed  to  represent  the 
fact,  that,  when  Christ  was  apprehended,  all  his  disciples  forsook 
him  and  fled.  The  concealing  of  the  only  remaining  lamp  repre- 
sents Christ  in  the  tomb,  whose  light  was  suspended,  but  not  ex- 
tinguished. At  the  close  is  a  short  prayer ;  then  a  loud  clapping 
noise  representing  the  earthquake,  &c.,  closed  the  exercises. 

MAUNDY    THURSDAY. 

This  day  was  so  called  from  the  mandatum  or  command  of  the 
Saviour  to  his  disciples  to  wash  each  other's  feet.  On  this  day 
there  are  several  important  functions,  viz.,  high  mass  in  the  pres- 


HIGH    MASS.  237 

ence  of  the  pope,  the  procession  into  the  Pauline  Chapel  with  the 
host,  the  benediction  from  the  balcony  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  the 
washing  of  feet,  and  the  waiting  upon  the  pilgrims  at  dinner  by 
the  pope.  All  these,  with  much  difficulty,  through  the  pressure 
of  the  crowd,  I  succeeded  in  personally  seeing.  I  will  take  them 
up  in  their  order. 

High  Mass. 

This  was  celebrated  in  the  Sistine  Chapel.  Early  in  the  gatii 
ering  I  approached  the  door  of  the  reserved  section,  and,  informing 
the  doorkeeper  that  I  was  an  ecclesiastic  from  America,  he  very 
politely  admitted  me  into  the  interior,  which  at  once  relieved  me 
from  the  crowd,  and  gave  me  a  more  favourable  opportunity  to  be- 
hold the  ceremony.  The  cardinals  came  in,  dressed  in  purple 
robes,  each  attended  by  a  chaplain.  The  robes  had  a  train  several 
yards  in  length,  which  the  chaplain,  as  soon  as  he  entered  the 
door,  very  adroitly  unrolled  and  spread  out  in  full  length  and 
breadth,  and  supported  it  till  they  arrived  to  the  seat ;  after  placing 
it  properly  on  the  seat  behind  his  eminence,  he  unrolled  the  cape 
and  arranged  the  front  in  flowing  style.  The  chaplain  then  placed 
himself  on  a  seat  at  the  foot  of  the  cardinal.  The  bishops  and 
other  dignitaries  entered ;  each,  as  he  came  in,  paid  a  reverence  to 
the  place  and  the  occasion,  by  kneeling,  not  only  at  the  altar  as 
he  passed,  but  also  by  his  seat  before  he  sat  down.  I  was  struck, 
however,  on  this  occasion  as  on  many  others,  how  much  these 
external  -acts  of  reverence  were  a  mere  form.  One  man,  a  bish- 
op, as  I  judged,  came  in  and  kneeled  by  his  seat ;  another,  who 
seemed  pleased  to  see  him,  took  out  his  snuff-box,  and  offered  him 
a  pinch  of  snuff ;  this  he  took,  making  some  passing  remark  while 
yet  on  his  knees,  accompanied  also  with  a  smile ;  and,  after  a  little 
time,  he  crossed  himself  and  arose.  This  talking  when  on  their 
knees,  and  when  some  of  the  most  important  functions  are  per- 
formed, is  very  common.  In  most  cases,  I  will  not  say  always, 
the  whole  appears  to  be  attended  to  as  a  task ;  and  a  tedious  one 
it  must  be,  considering  the  tiresome  length  and  monotonous  rep- 
etition of  the  Catholic  forms.  Never,  in  any  forms  of  worship, 
have  I  seen  more  yawning  and  apparent  inattention,  especially 
among  ecclesiastics,  than  I  beheld  frequently  among  the  Catholic 


238  ITALY. 

clergy.     Snuff-taking  also  seems  to  be  an  almost  universal  prac- 
tice among  the  ecclesiastics  of  Italy,  and  especially  of  Rome. 

High  mass  is  distinguished  from  common  mass  merely  in  re- 
spect to  the  number  of  the  celebrants  and  the  attendant  ceremo- 
nies. Common  mass  is  by  a  single  priest  and  an  attendant — that 
being  sometimes  a  mere  boy — as  also  without  any  music,  either 
vocal  or  instrumental.  The  mass  is  the  ordinance  of  the  commu- 
nion, or  the  Lord's  Supper.  The  nature  and  design  of  the  ordi- 
nance, however,  are  viewed  very  differently  by  Catholics  and 
Protestants.  The  latter  consider  it  a  mere  remembrancer,  and  a 
help  to  faith,  agreeable  to  the  command,  "  This  do  in  remembrance 
of  me  ;"  while  the  Catholics,  to  use  the  words  of  Bishop  England, 
believe  it  to  be  an  "  unbloody  sacrifice,  in  which,  by  the  power  of 
God,  the  institution  of  Christ,  and  the  ministry  of  the  priest,  the 
body  and  blood  of  our  blessed  Saviour  are  produced  upon  the  altar 
under  the  appearance  of  bread  and  wine,  and  are  there  offered  to 
the  Almighty  as  a  propitiation  of  the  sins  of  mankind,  and  in  tes- 
timony of  the  adoration  or  homage  which  is  his  due."  Hence,  the 
more  masses  there  are  the  more  sacrifice  is  offered  for  the  propi- 
tiation of  sin,  and  hence,  too,  the  reason  why,  in  the  mass,  there 
is  not  always,  nor  commonly,  a  distribution  of  the  consecrated  el- 
ements to  the  faithful.  In  a  great  proportion  of  cases  there  are 
none  but  the  priest  who  partake  of  the  consecrated  elements. 
"  The  nature  of  this,"  says  Bishop  England,  "  is  fully  understood 
and  appreciated  by  those  who  assist,  even  though  they  should  not 
hear  a  word  that  is  spoken,  or,  if  hearing,  should  not  understand  the 
exact  meaning  of  the  language  that  is  used."  On  this  account  the 
priest  takes  no  pains  to  be  generally  heard  or  understood.  The 
service  is  in  Latin,  and  the  whole  performance  almost  is  either 
muttered  by  the  priest  or  chanted.  In  either  case  it  is  equally 
unintelligible ;  yet,  strange  to  tell,  while  the  Catholic  Church  is 
so  very  perfectly  indifferent  as  to  the  intelligence  of  the  language, 
she  is  very  careful  as  to  the  pomp  and  extent  of  the  ceremony  of 
the  mass,  both  as  it  respects  the  number  of  the  performers  in 
high  mass,  and  the  variety  and  exactness  of  the  gesticulations 
and  ceremonies.  I  will  briefly  notice  each  of  these.  First, 
then,  is  the  celebrant,  or  the  priest  or  bishop,  who  leads  in  the 
consecration,  then  the  deacon,  the  sub-deacon,  the  priest, who  is 
styled  master  of  ceremonies,  two  acolyths,  who  carry  lights,  and 


HIGH    MASS.  239 

another,  who  is  the  thurifer,  or  censor-bearer,  the  sacristan,  who 
has  charge  of  the  sacred  vestments,  besides  the  musicians,  &c. 
Each  of  these  has  a  peculiar  dress,  most  of  which  are  derived 
from  the  robes  of  state  among  the  Romans,  or  from  the  robes  of 
the  ancient  Roman  priests.  The  author  already  quoted  acknowl- 
edges that  the  "  antiquarian  will  discover  the  greatest  portion  to 
consist  of  the  ancient  Roman  robes  of  state."  They  are  chiefly 
the  toga,  or  robe ;  the  trabea,  which  is  thrown  over  the  shoulders, 
with  an  aperture  for  the  head,  and  a  cross  generally  on  the  back ; 
the  amyct,  for  the  neck;  the  alb,  or  white  garment,  and  the 
cincture,  or  girdle.  When  a  bishop  officiates,  he  has  a  tunic  and 
a  dalmatic ;  he  also  wears  a  hollow  gold  cross  hanging  down  in 
front,  which  is  filled  with  sacred  relics,  in  imitation  of  the  bulla,  or 
golden  ball,  which  the  ancient  Roman  patricians  used  to  wear. 
He  must  celebrate  mass  fasting ;  he  washes  his  fingers  before  he 
commences,  and  then  they  put  a  pair  of  gloves  upon  his  hands,  and 
a  ring  with  a  precious  gem  upon  his  finger.  They  put  upon  him 
the  sacrificial  vestments ;  a  mitre  is  placed  upon  his  head  with 
two  fillets  hanging  down  behind.  He  has  a  golden  crosier,  which 
is  a  staff,  with  a  turn  at  the  upper  end  like  a  shepherd's  crook. 
Thus  habited  and  thus  attended,  he  proceeds  to  his  duties.  The 
ceremony  is  very  complicated,  and  the  master  of  ceremonies  stands 
by  to  give  directions  and  to  see  that  everything  is  performed  in 
due  order.  The  acolyths  hold  the  lights  to  illumine  the  book,  al- 
though it  is  midday !  the  thurifer  attends  to  the  incense,  which  is 
used  sometimes  by  him,  and  sometimes  by  the  celebrant,  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  service  ;  the  sacristan  attends  to  the  vestments, 
and  to  the  wine  and  bread  for  consecration,  &c. ;  the  assistants 
hold  the  book,  change  it  from  side  to  side,  hold  up  the  vestments 
of  the  bishop,  take  off  and  put  on  his  gloves,  change  his  mitre  for  a 
cap,  and  again  replace  the  mitre,  &c.,  &c.  The  celebrant  reads 
the  service,  chants,  turns  round,  waves  his  hand,  kneels,  rises, 
prays  to  himself,  sometimes  faces  the  altar,  sometimes  the  people, 
kisses  the  altar,  the  book,  and  other  things,  performs  a  variety  of 
genuflections,  and  manipulations,  and  ceremonies,  which,  it  seems 
to  me,  require  a  long  study  and  practice  to  understand  or  per- 
form. At  length,  when  the  entire  transformation  of  the  bread  and 
wine  is  effected,  and  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  is  supposed 
to  be  produced,  follows  the  elevation  of  the  host,  as  it  is  called ; 


240  ITALY. 

that  is,  due  notice  being  given,  the  celebrant  raises  up  the  wafer 
as  an  object  of  worship,  Whereupon  all  the  people  fall  upon  their 
knees  in  profound  adoration,  and  then  in  like  manner  the  cup,  be- 
fore which,  as  before  the  wafer,  the  people  bow.  The  priest  di- 
vides the  wafer,  and  puts  a  part  of  it  into  the  wine,  that  the  blood 
and  body  of  Christ  may  be  commingled ;  he  then  eats  one  part, 
and  afterward  drinks  the  entire  contents  of  the  chalice.  This  in 
most  cases  closes  the  mass ;  for,  as  before  remarked,  it  is  not 
common,  compared  with  the  number  of  masses  celebrated,  to  dis- 
tribute the  elements  to  others  ;  when  this  is  done  at  all,  which  I 
saw  in  only  one  instance,  the  bread  only  is  given,  no  one  parta- 
king of  the  wine  but  the  priest. 

In  the  present  instance,  to  wit,  on  Maundy  Thursday,  the  cele- 
orant  was  a  bishop,  although  the  pope  was  present  and  took  some 
part  of  the  ceremony.  The  customary  honours  were  paid  to  him 
when  he  came  in  and  opened  the  exercises.  There  were  on 
this  occasion,  also,  two  portions  of  the  elements  consecrated ;  one 
being  consumed  by  the  celebrant,  as  usual,  and  the  other  reserved 
to  be  disposed  of  as  will  be  seen  in  the  following  description  of  the 

Procession. 

Twelve  esquires,  dressed  in  red,  came  from  the  sacristy  with 
candles  :  these  are  distributed  to  those  who  are  to  join  the  proces- 
sion, and  are  lighted.  The  procession  consists  of  the  same  per- 
sons as  on  Palm  Sunday,  but  the  pope  is  not  now  carried  in 
state  ;  he  walks  with  his  head  uncovered.  The  choir  sings  beau- 
tifully ;  incense  smokes  ;  the  pope,  wrapped  in  a  veil,  and  cover- 
ing the  host,  which  is  the  wafer  just  consecrated,  with  the  same 
veil,  follows  the  cross  that  is  borne  before  him,  and  proceeds  to 
the  Pauline  Chapel,  which  is  in  a  different  part  of  the  Vatican,  to 
deposite  the  consecrated  wafer  in  a  kind  of  sepulchre  which  is 
there  prepared  for  it.  The  multitude  all  fall  upon  their  knees  as 
it  passes,  for  it  is  their  god.  It  is  desired,  also,  that  all  spectators 
should  bow  in  like  manner ;  but,  for  myself,  I  could  not  conscien- 
tiously prostrate  myself  before  what  I  believed  to  be  as  truly  and 
literally  a  wafer  as  it  was  when  it  came  from  the  hands  of  the 
manufacturer. 

This  place  of  deposite  is  called  a  sepulchre,  though  the  cere- 
mony is  more  properly  an  anniversary  of  the  passion  in  the  garden 


WASHING    THE    FEET.  241 

than  of  Christ's  death,  the  anniversary  of  which  is  the  next  day. 
This  disregard,  however,  of  the  unities  of  time  and  place  is  not 
uncommon  in  Italy,  either  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  church  or  in 
the  exhibitions  of  the  arts.  Here  the  host  reposes  in  state  until 
the  next  day ;  the  altar  in  which  it  is  depbsited  is  splendidly 
adorned,  and  lighted  up  in  a  beautiful  manner  with  six  hundred 
wax  candles. 

Benediction. 

After  the  procession  our  ladies  were  hastened  into  the  Church  of , 
St.  Peter's,  to  secure  good  places  for  seeing  the  washing  of  feet, 
while  most  of  us  went  to  the  front  of  that  church  to  behold  the 
benediction.  This  is  a  splendid  exhibition,  to  form  any  correct 
conception  of  which  one  must  have  some  idea  of  the  place  and  of 
the  multitudes  present.  The  pope  is  in  a  lofty  gallery  of  this 
magnificent  church,  opening  into  the  great  area  of  the  matchless 
piazza  in  front.  This  piazza,  vast  as  it  is,  seems  but  a  moving 
mass  of  living  men  and  women.  Every  eye  is  turned  upward  to 
watch  the  coming  of  the  pope.  At  length,  borne  in  state,  he  ap- 
proaches the  gallery  from  the  interior,  attended  by  his  liveried 
retinue  and  the  waving  fabelli,  which  are  a  pair  of  magnificent 
fans  of  peacock's  feathers.  A  short  service  is  read,  and  the 
pope  spreads  out  his  hands  ;  the  multitude  fall  upon  their  knees 
while  he  pronounces  the  benediction.  The  vast  height  of  the 
pope ;  the  devotion  with  which  he  gives  and  the  people  receive 
this  blessing ;  the  multitudes  that  compose  the  assembly,  from 
every  nation,  and  of  every  description  of  character ;  the  prostra- 
tion of  the  people  upon  their  knees  ;  the  sounding  of  the  bells,  and 
the  firing  of  the  cannon  of  St.  Angelo,  altogether  make  this  a 
very  imposing  ceremony. 

Washing  of  the  Feet. 

From  the  balcony  the  pope  retires  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
ceremony  of  washing  the  feet  of  persons  selected  for  that  purpose, 
in  imitation  of  Christ's  washing  the  feet  of  the  disciples  ;  for  in  all 
things  practicable  by  him,  it  behooveth  the  pope,  it  seems,  to  act 
the  part  of  Christ,  whose  vicegerent  he  professes  to  be. 

Here  another  scene  of  running  and  crowding  occurred  to  secure 
21  HH 


242  ITALY. 

good  positions  to  behold  this  ceremony,  which  was  to  be  per 
formed  in  St.  Peter's. 

On  a  staging,  elevated  for  the  purpose,  thirteen  persons  were 
placed  who  had  been  selected  to  participate  in  this  honour.  It  is 
not  necessary,  I  believe,  that  they  should  hold  any  office  in  the 
church,**but  they  are  admitted  or  selected  in  an  honorary  way,  to 
act  a  part,  for  the  time  being,  in  this  ecclesiastical  drama.  It  has 
been  a  question,  which  has  been  answered  in  various  ways  by 
Catholics  themselves,  and  the  subject  is  still  unsettled,  why  there 
are  thirteen  instead  of  twelve,  which  was  the  number  of  those 
whom  our  Saviour  washed.  Some  say  the  thirteenth  represents 
St.  Paul,  others  St.  Matthias,  others  the  host  at  whose  house  Christ 
celebrated  the  passover.  But  the  more  plausible  conjecture  is, 
that  this  thirteenth  person  was  introduced  to  commemorate  a  re- 
markable event  in  the  life  of  St.  Gregory  the  Great.  He  was  in 
the  habit  of  feeding  twelve  poor  persons  daily ;  and  on  a  certain 
occasion  an  angel  appeared  and  seated  himself  in  the  company. 
On  the  Coelian  Hill,  in  one  of  the  chapels  of  the  Church  of  St. 
Gregory,  we  were  shown  a  table  at  which  these  poor  persons  were 
fed,  on  which  was  the  following  inscription  : — 

M  Bissenos  hie  Gregorius  pascebat  egenos,  angelus  et  decimus 
tertius  accubuit." 

"Here  Gregory  fed  twelve  persons,  and  an  angel,  the  thir- 
teenth, came  and  seated  himself  with  them." 

It  is  in  commemoration  of  this  event,  it  is  supposed  by  many,  that 
the  thirteenth  individual  was  introduced  into  this  ceremony,  and 
into  the  one  that  follows,  of  being  fed  and  waited  upon  by  the  pope. 
It  is  not  necessary  or  profitable,  however,  to  inquire  too  critically 
into  the  reason  for  all  the  Catholic  ceremonies. 

The  selection  of  these  is  made  in  the  following  manner,  viz. : 
"  By  the  ambassadors  of  Austria,  France,  Spain,  Portugal,  and 
Venice,  each  one ;  one  by  each  of  three  cardinals,  by  the  major- 
domo,  by  the  captain  of  the  Swiss  guard ;  the  cardinal  prefect  of 
the  propaganda  names  two,  and  an  Armenian  priest  is  selected  by 
the  cardinal  protector  of  that  nation."!  The  stockings  were  cut 
so  as  to  admit  of  laying  the  foot  bare  with  ease.  The  pope  de- 
scended from  his  throne,  robed  gorgeously,  and  girded  with  a  towel 
trimmed  with  lace,  attended  by  various  officers,  to  hold  the  golden 

*  Bishop  England  calls  them  priests.  f  Bishop  England. 


DINNER.  243 

basin  and  ewer,  to  bear  up  his  train,  to  hold  up  the  foqt  that  was 
to  be  washed,  to  bear  the  book  and  the  lamps,  to  incense  the  pope, 
&c.  The  pope  knelt,  poured  on  the  water,  and  rubbed  the  foot 
with  the  towel ;  after  which  he  kissed  the  foot,  and  it  was  again 
covered.  The  treasurer  followed,  and  gave  a  purse  and  medals 
of  gold  and  silver  to  each.  Each  also  was  presented  with  a  towel 
and  a  nosegay.  Thus  the  exercise,  with  a  concluding  prayer, 
&c.,  was  ended. 

Dinner. 

This  was  in  the  Sola  Clementina,  a  part  of  the  great  Vatican 
palace,  up  two  or  three  flights  of  stairs  from  the  portico  of  St. 
Peter's,  and  at  some  distance  round  a  balcony.  Desirous  to  see 
the  whole,  we  left  our  ladies  to  the  care  of  some  friends,  and 
threw  ourselves  into  the  current  of  the  moving  thousands  who 
were  pressing  upward  and  onward  to  the  place  of  feeding.  Here 
was  a  scene  of  crowding  and  pushing  which  exceeded  all  that 
I  had  before  experienced.  Several  times  my  courage  wellnigh 
failed  me ;  and,  indeed,  I  believe  I  should  have  given  up  the  en- 
terprise at  last,  but  that,  when  the  severest  part  of  the  pressure 
came,  I  found  it  too  late  to  repent,  and  I  had  no  other  alternative 
but  to  give  myself  up  to  the  moving  current,  and  be  carried  on- 
ward by  volitions  and  muscular  energies  other  than  my  own.  To 
give  the  English  credit  for  all  they  do,  I  must  say  they  played  the 
principal  part  in  this  drama.  On  the  whole,  they  are  the  most 
famous  performers  in  a  jam  I  ever  met  with  ;  and  what  surprised 
me  the  more  was  to  see  many  English  ladies  in  the  crowd,  some 
with  their  shawls  and  Vandykes  torn  off,  others  with  their  bonnets 
crushed,  and  all  with  their  fashionable  shoulder  balloons  well  flat- 
tened. For  myself,  being  naturally  weak  at  the  chest,  I  began  to 
fear  dangerous  consequences  from  the  compression,  as  I  found 
my  breath  nearly  suspended,  and  my  breast  wedged  up  as  in  a 
vice,  the  screws  of  which  were  gradually  turned  closer  and  closer. 
I  found,  however,  by  a  little  management,  I  could  turn  myself  so 
as  to  take  the  pressure  laterally,  and  thus  relieve  my  chest.  With 
this  precaution  I  succeeded  in  gradually  working  my  way  up  very 
near  the  table,  where,  for  two  very  tedious  hours  (so  long  at  least 
the  time  seemed  to  me),  I  had  the  gratification  of  seeing — what  ? 
Why,  of  seeing  those  symbolical  apostles  eat  their  sweetmeats 


244  ITALY. 

and  drink  their  wine,  while  the  pope  served  them  in  person.  His 
holiness,  however,  did  not  see  the  end  of  the  meal ;  he  only  moved 
round  the  table  a  few  times,  being  himself  waited  upon  by  pre- 
lates, who  took  the  dishes,  and,  kneeling,  handed  them  to  the 
pope,  and  he  passed  them  to  the  guests.  After  giving  them  some- 
thing to  eat,  he  gave  them  drink,  blessed  them,  and  retired.  They 
seemed,  however,  determined,  whether  served  by  popes,  prelates, 
or  other  servitors,  to  finish  their  meal,  which  they  did  at  good 
length,  and  apparently  with  a  good  zest.  At  the  close  they  took 
the  remainder  of  the  refreshments  in  sacks,  and  their  serviettes, 
all  of  which,  it  seems,  were  their  perquisites,  and  retired ;  not, 
however,  without  having  first  distributed  some  of  their  consecrated 
flowers  to  their  friends  and  others,  a  few  of  which,  as  a  stranger, 
I  solicited  and  obtained.  They  were  given  with  that  usual  cour- 
tesy which  the  Italians,  to  their  credit  be  it  spoken,  generally 
show  to  strangers. 

The  remaining  exercises  of  the  day  were  the  repetition  of  the 
"  Tenebra"  and  " Miserere"  the  latter  by  Bai,  and  a  ceremony 
called  "  the  washing  of  the  altar,"  which  is  done  by  pouring  wine 
and  water  upon  it,  and  rubbing  it  with  brushes,  and  wiping  it  with 
sponges  and  towels  ;  all  of  which  is  to  represent  the  blood  and 
water  which  flowed  from  the  Saviour's  side,  and  the  bloody  sweat 
with  which  he  was  bathed  in  the  garden.  Of  this  ceremony,  how- 
ever, I  cannot  speak  from  personal  observation,  as  I  was  too  much 
fatigued  with  the  preceding  ceremonies  to  be  able  to  attend  the 
concluding  observances  of  the  day. 

Good  Friday. 

Some  of  our  friends  attended  on  the  functions  of  the  pope  on 
this  day,  but,  as  I  was  informed  nothing  very  different  was  to  be 
transacted  from  the  ceremonies  of  the  preceding  day,  I  did  not 
attend  at  the  Sistine  Chapel.  I  learn,  however,  from  their  report, 
and  this  also  agrees  with  Bishop  England's  account  of  the  day, 
that  the  principal  ceremony  consisted  in  the  pope's  going,  with  all 
his  ecclesiastical  court  and  prelates,  to  bring  back  from  the  Pau- 
line Chapel  the  body  of  Christ  that  had  been  deposited  there  the 
day  before.  A  procession  was  formed  as  before ;  the  host  was 
taken  from  the  tomb,  and  given  to  the  pope,  who  carried  it  covered 
with  a  veil,  himself  walking  under  a  canopy  back  again  to  the 


SATURDAY  BEFORE  EASTER.  245 

Capella  Sistina.     After  this  was  performed  what  is  called  the 
mass  of  the  presanctified,  so  called  because  the  wafer  was  con- 
secrated before.     It  might  h  ve  been  remarked,  however,  that, 
previous  to  this  procession,  his  holiness  goes  through  the  cere- 
mony of  worshipping  the  cross.     This  ceremony  is  in  the  Sistine 
ChapeJt.     The  cross  is  presented,  before  which  the  pope  kneels 
repeatedly ;  he  then  has  his  shoes  and  his  mitre  taken  off.     He 
then  goes  to  the  cross,  bows  before  it  with  the  profoundest  rever- 
ence, kisses  it,  &c.,  after  which  the  attendant  knight  throws  into 
a  silver  basin  a  red  purse  of  damask  silk  trimmed  with  gold,  which 
contains  the  pope's  offering  for  the  occasion ;  for  on  Good  Friday 
all  the  devotees  throw  in  their  offering,  more  or  less,  into  a  basin 
placed  to  receive  it.     It  seems,  indeed,  to  be  a  general  collecting 
day.     We  visited  numerous  churches,  and  found  in  each  a  cruci- 
fix, generally  with  the  image  of  the  Saviour  upon  it,  and  placed 
in  such  a  position  as  to  be  accessible  by  all.     To  this  cross  a 
crowd  of  worshippers  of  men,  women,  and  children  were  con* 
stantly  pressing,  bowing  before  it,  and  kissing  the  image.    The 
more  common  course  was  to  kiss  the  five  wounds  on  the  feet, 
hands,  and  side,  and  sometimes  the  temples ;  and  as  they  withdrew, 
for  they  were  continually  coming  and  going,  they  threw  into  the 
basin,  which  was  always  placed  under  the  cross,  a  piece  of  money. 
The  most  solemn  ceremony,  however,  which  we  beheld  on  this 
day  was  at  the  Jesuits'  Church.     It  was  called  the  "  Three  hours 
of  Agony."     Here  a  great  multitude  were  assembled,  and  attend- 
ing alternately  to  reading  and  extempore  addresses.     The   read- 
ing was  a  kind  of  service  which  seemed  to  be  specially  prepared 
for  the  occasion,  descriptive  of  the  Saviour's  sufferings.     As  the 
officiating  priest  read,  he  was  occasionally  interrupted,  perhaps  in 
the  middle  of  a  paragraph,  by  the  extempore  orator  or  preacher, 
who  rose  up,  as  it  would  seem,  at  some  thought  which  struck  him 
at  the  time,  and  gave  an  impassioned  address  on  some  point  con- 
nected with  the  service  and  with  the  solemn  reminiscences  of  the 
day.     The  audience  appeared  solemn ;  some  of  them  affected ; 
and  the  whole  ceremony  was  impressive. 

Saturday  before  Easter. 

On  this  day,  at  the  Basilica  of  St.  Peter's,  were  a  number  of  un- 
important functions,  the  principal  of  which  were  the  extinguishing 
21 


246  ITALY 

of  all  the  old  lights,  and  the  striking  of  new  fire  from  a  flint  to  re- 
kindle them,  to  represent,  the  resurrection.*  Then  followed  the 
blessing  of  the  paschal  candle.  The  paschal  candle  is  very  large, 
sometimes,  I  should  judge,  three  inches  in  diameter,  and  has 
somewhere  about  the  centre  certain  knobs  or  protuberances  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  be  an.  imperfect  representation  of  the  crossA  One 
of  these  candles,  of  greater  or  less  dimensions,  according  to  the 
character  of  the  church,  was  found  in  almost  every  church  and 
chapel  we  visited. 

But  the  most  interesting  ceremonies  of  the  day  were  at  the 
Church  of  St.  John  of  Lateran.  The  first  was  a  baptism  of  such 
Jews  as  had  been  converted  to  Christianity.  We  arrived  just  at 
the  conclusion  of  this  ordinance,  which,  however,  was  of  less  in- 
terest on  account  of  the  fewness  of  the  converts  ;  only  two  or 
three,  I  believe,  presented  themselves  for  this  Christian  ordinance. 
The  disciples  of  Moses  at  Rome  seem  very  obstinate  in  their 
rejection  both  of  the  Messiah  and  of  his  assumed  successor  and 
vicegerent ;  judging,  perhaps,  that  the  Messiah  has  no  more  claim 
upon  their  faith  than  his  supposed  representative.  Few,  however, 
as  was  the  number  of  converts,  we  found,  on  going  into  the  church, 
that  the  agents  of  conversion  were  being  multiplied  abundantly. 
The  ordination  service  was  a  splendid  function,  on  account  of  the 
richness,  and  variety,  and  changes  of  the  vestments,  the  pomp  of 
the  ceremonies,  and  the  number  of  the  candidates. 

After  some  delay  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  sacristans,  who 
promised  to  admit  us  into  a  temporary  gallery  which  had  been 
erected  for  spectators,  and  which  delay  seemed  to  be  for  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  a  higher  fee,  we  at  length  obtained  a  position  which 
gave  us  a  near  and  distinct  view  of  all  the  performances.  The 
service  was  led  by  a  bishop  of  middle  age  and  fine  personal  ap- 
pearance, with  a  countenance  that  expressed  more  of  heaven  than 
of  earth.  His  mitre  was  splendid,  his  robes  rich  and  gorgeous, 
and  his  whole  manner  devout.  The  candidates,  nearly,  if  not 
quite  one  hundred  in  number,  all  clad  in  their  peculiar  vestments, 
according  to  their  standing  and  destination,  on  entering  the  choir, 
threw  themselves  upon  their  faces  in  solemn  and  devout  prostration. 
All  of  them  had  their  heads  shaved,  for  they  had  a  vow.  Some 

*  The  flints  used  for  this  purpose  at  Florence  are  said  to  have  been  brought  from  the 
'oly  Land,  which  gives,  of  course,  a  greater  sacredness  to  the  fire. 


EASTER    SUNDAY.  247 

only  had  a  small  spot  shaved  upon  the  crown ;  but  the  greater 
part  had  both  the  top  and  the  lower  part  shaved,  leaving  only 
a  ring  or  belt  of  hair  passing  round  the  centre  of  the  head.  They 
were  ordained  in  four  or  five  classes,  according  to  their  different 
grades.  The  ceremony  consisted  in  prayers  and  music,  in  a 
multitude  of  incensings,  genuflections,  prostrations,  manipula- 
tions, and  benedictions.  The  bishop's  vestments  were  changed, 
his  mitre  was  taken  off  and  put  on,  so  also  were  his  gloves  and  his 
ring ;  he  clipped  a  lock  of  hair  from  the  candidates,  bound  their 
hands  with  a  napkin,  caused  them  to  be  ^'vested  and  invested 
in  a  variety  of  changes  and  by  a  variety  of  garments,  and  per- 
formed upon  them  and  to  them  many  other  rites  too  numerous 
to  mention,  in  all  which  he  was  assisted  by  numerous  bishops 
and  other  ecclesiastical  functionaries,  who  took  their  part  in  the 
service. 

Like  most  other  Catholic  observances,  however,  the  thing  was 
quite  overdone,  both  as  to  the  number  of  the  rites  and  also  the 
length  of  the  entire  service.  All  parties,  both  spectators  and 
actors,  seemed  heartily  weary  of  the  scene,  and  great  portion  of 
the  former  had  withdrawn  long  before  the  ceremonies  closed.  The 
bishop  himself,  who  appeared  to  be  a  feeble  man,  seemed  quite 
exhausted  ;  and  yawning  and  snuff-taking  round  the  ecclesiastical 
benches  showed  that  much  form  and  ceremony  were  a  weariness 
to  the  flesh.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  service  we  recreated  our 
minds  a  little  by  taking  another  view  of  this  splendid  Basilica 
church,  and  then  returned  to  our  lodgings. 

Easter  Sunday. 

This  is  the  great  day  of  the  feast,  being  one  of  three  days 
during  the  year  in  which  his  holiness  himself  celebrates  high 
mass.  The  other  two  instances  are  Christmas  and  the  festival 
of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  We  were  at  our  places  before  the 
hour,  in  order  to  obtain  good  positions  to  behold  the  ceremony ; 
for,  in  general,  a  Catholic  church  is  of  all  places  the  worst  for 
seeing  and  hearing.  The  functions  are  generally  performed  but 
a  little  above  the  dead  level  of  the  floor  of  the  church,  and  there 
are  for  the  most  part  neither  galleries  nor  seats.  Some  temporary 
galleries,  however,  had  on  this  occasion  been  thrown  up,  into 
which  our  ladies  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  access ;  and  I  took 


248  ITALY. 

a  position  directly  at  the  side  of  the  gate  into  the  altar ;  where, 
not  without  some  difficulty,  I  was  permitted  to  stand,  and  some- 
times to  sit,  in  a  free  and  close  view  of  the  ceremony,  and  directly 
in  the  way  where  all  the  vestments  and  sacred  elements  and 
vessels  were  carried  past  by  the  sacristan,  who  was  constantly 
passing  and  repassing  in  the  performance  of  his  part  of  the  service. 

The  procession  formed  in  the  Sola  Regia,  or  Royal  Saloon, 
passed  down  the  royal  staircase,  and  through  the  porch  of  the 
church  into  the  front  door,  where  the  chapter  ranged  in  two  lines, 
and  the  military  guards  awaited  its  entrance.  The  pope  came  in 
state,  borne  in  his  pontifical  chair  upon  the  shoulders  of  his  twelve 
"  supporters,"  and  canopied,  as  on  Palm  Sunday,  by  a  splendid 
screen,  elevated  upon  long  poles,  and  carried  over  his  head  by 
eight  referendaries.  As  he  entered  the  church  the  choir  chanted, 
"  Tu  es  Petrus,  et  super  hanc  petram  cedificabo  ecclesiam  meam" 
— "  Thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church," 
&c.  As  he  passed  up  he  stopped  at  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy 
Sacrament,  to  descend  and  worship  the  sacred  host.  The  stool 
where  he  knelt,  like  the  chair  from  which  he  had  descended,  was 
covered  with  crimson  velvet  and  gold.  He  reascended  the  chair, 
and  was  borne  to  his  throne,  where  he  was  seated  to  receive  the 
homage  of  the  cardinals  and  prelates  before  the  worship  of  the 
great  God  above  was  allowed  to  commence  ;  but,  as  this  man- 
worship  was  similar  to  that  explained  already,  I  need  not  repeat  it 
here.  The  pontifical  prince  wore  upon  his  head  the  tiara  or  triple 
crown.  This  is  a  crown  with  three  cinctures  or  coronets,  to  rep- 
resent the  pontifical,  imperial,  and  kingly  offices  united.  This 
crown,  it  is  said,  had  at  first  a  single  cincture,  and  it  was  thus 
worn  in  the  time  of  Constantine.  In  about  1300,  Boniface  VIII. 
added  another,  and  in  about  1360,  Urban  V.  completed  this  triune 
emblem  of  all  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power,  by  giving  it  the  form 
of  the  present  tiara.  The  large  splendid  fabelli  of  peacock's 
feathers  waved  before  him,  together  with  a  large  golden  cross 
called  the  vexillwn. 

The  pontiff  had  to  pass  through  the  operation  of  robing  prepar- 
atory to  the  celebration  of  mass ;  and,  in  addition  to  the  robes 
worn  by  other  bishops  already  alluded  to,  he  had  a  striped  silk 
scarf-like  cincture  over  his  shoulders,  called  a  fanon,  a  sort  of 
maniple  hanging  on  the  left  side,  and  called  a  succinctorium,  and 


EASTER   SUNDAY.  249 

a  band  round  the  neck,  hanging  down  in  pendants  before  and  be- 
hind. This  is  made  of  wool  shorn  of  lambs  blessed  on  St.  Agnes's 
day ;  and,  after  it  is  fabricated,  it  is  again  blessed  by  the  pope  at 
the  festival  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  With  this  double  blessing 
it  becomes  a  badge  of  great  sanctity  and  honour. 

Having  been  vested,  the  pope  entered  upon  the  solemnities  of 
his  official  function  for  the  day.  He  was  attended  by  the  thurifer 
or  incense-bearer,  the  cross-bearer,  four  accolyths  or  light-bearers, 
deacons,  patriarchs,  archbishops,  bishops,  priests,  &c.  Three 
cardinal  priests  approached  him,  and,  after  bowing  profoundly, 
embraced  him,  to  represent  the  homage  of  the  three  wise  men 
to  the  Saviour.  The  mass  was  then  celebrated.  The  form  being 
essentially  the  same  as  already  described,  I  will  not  repeat  it. 
His  holiness  certainly  performed  the  service  with  a  great  deal 
of  solemnity  ;  and,  just  at  the  moment  when  the  transmutation  was 
about  to  take  place,  when  the  inert  wafer  was  to  become  a  god, 
before  which,  or  whom,  the  whole  multitude  were  to  fall  prostrate, 
he  gazed  at  it  with  an  intensity  which  seemed  to  indicate  his  full 
belief  in  the  fable  of  transubstantiation.  The  language  of  every 
feature  was 

"  A  god,  a  god  appears  j" 

and  as  he  elevated  the  host  at  the  given  signal — I  was  very  near 
him,  and  I  think  could  not  be  mistaken — as  he  elevated  it  for 
the  adoration  of  the  multitude,  tears  gushed  into  his  eyes,  and  he 
seemed  to  be  melted  down  before  the  imaginary  god  of  his  own 
creation.  Indeed,  all  that  I  saw  of  Gregory  XVI.  led  me  to  think 
favourably  of  his  sincerity  and  piety.  Respect  for  a  venerable 
old  man,  as  well  as  a  tender  regard  for  the  feelings  of  the  wor- 
shippers near  me,  would  have  induced  me,  if  principle  had  not 
been  involved  in  it,  to  bow  with  the  thousands  that  were  pros- 
trate around  me.  But  believing,  as  I  verily  did,  that  that  same 
piece  of  wafer  was  only  a  wafer  still,  a  voice  from  Sinai  thun- 
dered in  my  ears,  "  Thou  shall  have  no  other  gods  before  me." 
One  circumstance  in  the  celebration  shows  that,  after  all,  Catho- 
lics themselves  do  not  believe  in  the  reality  of  the  change  of  the 
elements  into  the  actual  body  and  blood  of  Christ.  Before  the  el- 
ements of  consecration  were  received  by  the  pontiff,  the  sacristan, 
in  order  to  guard  against  poison,  ate  two  of  three  particles  which 


250  ITALY. 

were  brought  forward  for  the  mass,  and  drank  some  of  the  wine. 
It  is  hardly  supposable  that,  at  the  present  day,  the  pope  fears 
being  poisoned ;  but  there  was  a  time  when  such  fears  were  en- 
tertained, and  hence  originated  the  custom,  which  is  now  kept  up 
merely  as  an  established  usage.  But  this  shows  that,  when  there 
was  danger  of  poison,  even  popes  were  afraid  to  trust  to  transub- 
stantiation  to  change  the  poisoned  wafer  into  the  real  body  of 
Christ.  What?  The  body  of  Christ  poisonous,  and  producing 
death  !  Christ  says,  "  My  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  my  blood  is 
drink  indeed.  I  am  the  bread  of  life."  But  Catholics  either  be- 
lieve that  Christ's  body  and  blood  may  be  poison  indeed,  and  the 
bread  of  death,  or  they  do  not  believe  that  a  poisoned  wafer  is,  by 
the  celebration  of  the  mass,  changed  into  the  real  body  of  Christ. 
Whichever  alternative  they  take  proves  fatal  to  their  system. 

And  here  let  me  say  that  the  courtesy  of  the  Romans  far  ex- 
ceeds that  of  some  blustering  Catholics  of  our  own  country,  who 
have  assumed  to  themselves  the  liberty  of  knocking  off  hats,  if  not 
of  knocking  down  those  who  do  not  choose  to  conform  to  what  is 
verily  believed  to  be  their  superstition.  The  military  behaved  on 
this  occasion  with  great  propriety.  I  was  specially  struck  with 
the  pontiffs  noble  guard.  They  are  a  volunteer  corps,  who  tender 
their  services  gratuitously  to  their  sovereign  pontiff,  and  are  made 
up  from  the  noble  families  of  Rome.  They  were  well  dressed, 
and  as  fine  looking  men  as  I  ever  saw  in  the  ranks  of  a  military 
company.  This  guard  were  all  around  me ;  and,  although  they 
could  not  but  see  that  I  was  a  decided  nonconformist  in  the  ceremo- 
nies of  the  occasion,  they  let  all  pass  without  censure  or  apparent 
notice. 

The  pope,  together  with  the  deacon  and  subdeacon,  communi 
cated  on  this  occasion ;  the  two  latter,  which  is  not  practised  on 
other  occasions,  taking  the  wine  as  well  as  the  wafer,  and  taking 
it,  too,  in  a  very  peculiar  way,  by  sucking  it  through  a  pipe  or  tube, 
his  holiness  also  drinking  in  the  same  way. 

After  mass,  the  pope  returned  in  state,  as  he  came,  stopping, 
however,  at  a  kneeling  stool  by  the  way  to  venerate 

The  Holy  Relics. 

As  you  face  the  high  altar  of  St.  Peter's,  you  see  on  the  left  a 
shrine  consecrated  to  a  damsel  called  St.  Veronica.  Here  is  a 


THE    HOLY   RELICS.  251 

statue  of  the  saint,  and  high  above  it  is  a  balcony,  where,  on  great 
occasions,  three  most  sacred,  and,  if  we  may  believe  the  reports 
of  several  special  courts  that  have  been  appointed  to  examine  into 
their  history,  most  veritable  relics  are  exhibited.  They  are,  ] .  A 
part  of  the  lance  with  which  the  Saviour's  side  was  pierced ;  2. 
Parts  of  the  true  cross ;  and,  3.  A  napkin  or  handkerchief,  on  which 
the  Saviour  wiped  his  face,  covered  as  it  was  with  blood  and 
sweat,  as  he  was  going  up  Calvary.  The  outlines  of  his  visage 
were  thus  miraculously  left  upon  the  napkin,  which  continue  unto 
this  day.  With  respect  to  the  authenticity  of  these  relics,  every 
one,  of  course,  must  judge  for  himself.  Even  Catholics  do  not 
require  a  belief  in  them  as  essential  matters  of  faith.  The  same 
subdeacon  that  whispered  in  my  ear  at  the  time  of  the  con- 
troversy with  the  Spanish  general  of  the  Franciscans  on  Palm 
Sunday,  stood  by  me  on  Easter  Sunday,  as  I,  with  thousands  of 
others,  stood  gazing  at  these  relics  ;  and  perceiving,  as  I  suppose, 
by  my  remarks  and  looks,  that  I  was  somewhat  incredulous,  ob- 
served, "  These  are  not  articles  of  faith ;  a  man  may  believe  them 
or  not,  and  in  either  case  be  a  good  Catholic."  With  respect  to 
the  handkerchief,  it  appears  that  its  identity  and  history  can  be 
traced  as  far  back  as  the  year  707,  at  which  period  it  was  an  ob- 
ject of  veneration.  What  its  former  history  was,  I  believe  even 
Catholics  cannot  definitely  trace.  Tradition  says,  however,  that 
this  St.  Veronica  was  one  of  those  daughters  of  Zion  who  accom- 
panied their  Lord  and  Master  to  the  scene  of  his  tragedy,  and  that, 
being  near  him  as  he  was  sweating  under  his  cross,  she  kindly 
wiped  his  face,  or  permitted  him  to  wipe  it  on  her  handkerchief — 
and  the  miracle  followed.  It  was  taken  back  with  the  bloody 
portrait  indelibly  impressed  upon  it.  It  was,  of  course,  preserved 
as  an  object  of  attention  and  veneration,  and  where  else  should  it 
be  preserved  but  at  the  great  capital  of  the  Christian  world  ? 
With  respect  to  the  cross,  the  history  is,  that  it  was  found  at  Je- 
rusalem by  St.  Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine.  She  placed 
the  larger  portion  of  it  in  a  case  at  Jerusalem,  but  sent  some  pieces 
to  Rome.  The  portion  left  at  Jerusalem  was  carried  away  by 
Chosroas,  king  of  Persia,  in  his  war  with  Phocas  in  the  year  624. 
It  was  afterward  retaken  and  brought  back  to  Jerusalem,  and  car- 
ried thence  to  Constantinople ;  and,  during  the  crusades,  portions 
of  it  were  brought  to  the  west  of  Europe,  at  different  times  and 


252  ITALY 

by  different  persons,  insomuch  that  it  has  been  sarcastically  said 
that  there  were  pieces  of  wood  in  different  places  of  Catholic 
countries,  which  are  called  parts  of  the  true  cross,  sufficient  to 
build  a  seventy-four.  This  is  doubtless  hyperbolic  ;  but  that  there 
are  and  have  been  many  cords  of  such  wood  there  can  be  no 
doubt.  We  were  shown,  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross  in  Je- 
rusalem, situated  near  the  church  of  the  Lateran  in  Rome,  that 
portion  which  was  brought  or  sent  to  Rome  by  St.  Helena.  One 
of  the  pieces  now  exhibited,  for  I  believe  there  are  two  of  them, 
is  from  the  portion  first  sent  over  by  the  empress,  and  the  other, 
probably,  is  from  Constantinople.  They  are  enshrined,  as  are 
also  the  other  relics,  in  a  rich  silver  case,  with  rock  crystal  and 
precious  stones.  The  lance  is  also  said  to  have  been  found  at 
Jerusalem  by  the  mother  of  Constantine,  and  this  was  carried  to 
Constantinople  in  the  sixth  century,  and  was  there,  as  the  ac- 
counts say,  divided.  The  point  was  pledged  to  the  Venetians  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  in  pawn  for  the  payment  of  money  bor- 
rowed, and  the  shank  was  kept  still  at  Constantinople.  St.  Louis 
of  France  redeemed  the  pledge,  and  took  the  relic  to  France. 
The  part  kept  at  Constantinople  was  sent  to  Rome  by  a  special 
embassage  in  1492.  At  Ancona  two  bishops  met  the  ambassador 
and  received  the  relic ;  at  Narni  two  cardinals  met  the  bishops 
and  received  it  from  them ;  and  at  the  Flaminian  gate  of  Rome 
the  pope  himself  received  the  relic,  and  carried  it  in  solemn  pro- 
cession to  the  Vatican.  So  much  for  the  history  of  these  sacred 
remains;  and  I  have  dwelt  the  longer  on  this,  that  the  reader 
might  know  something  of  the  ground  on  which  so  many  sacred 
relics  in  Rome  are  authenticated.  These  relics  are  supposed  to 
be  the  most  unquestionable  of  any.  What  credit,  then,  is  to  be 
given  to  others,  each  must  judge  for  himself.  Where  were  these 
relics  when  Jerusalem  was  ploughed  as  a  field  ?  They  are  now 
kept  in  a  chapel  made  on  purpose  to  receive  them,  and  are  al- 
lowed to  be  approached  by  none  but  the  canons  of  the  church.* 
The  height  and  distance  from  which  we  were  permitted  to  view 
them,  as  they  were  successively  exhibited  in  their  crystal  cases 
from  the  high  balcony,  made  the  view  very  indistinct.  We  could 

*  Don  Miguel,  the  ex-king  of  Portugal,  has  obtained  the  favour  of  the  pope  of  being 
made  honorary  canon  of  St.  Peter's,  for  the  purpose  of  being  permitted  to  examine  these 
relics. 


THE    FLAGELLATION.  253 

discern,  however,  the  outlines  of  a  human  face  faintly  imprinted 
upon  the  handkerchief.  The  pope  kneeled  to  behold  the  ex- 
hibition, and  to  venerate  these  sacred  relics ;  and  the  vast  multi- 
tudes that  thronged  St.  Peter's  fell  also  upon  their  knees.  And 
there  they  were,  in  one  devout  mass,  gazing  with  upturned  eyes, 
and  with  the  same  apparent  intensity  and  adoration,  until  the 
relics  disappeared,  as  that  with  which  the  disciples  gazed  upon 
their  ascending  Lord,  until "  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight." 
The  pope  reascended  the  chair,  and  was  borne  out  of  the 
church,  to  appear  once  more  at  the  front  gallery  to  bless  the 
people.  This  benediction  was  more  splendid  than  that  on  Maundy 
Thursday,  inasmuch  as  the  crowd  was  larger,  and  there  was  a 
greater  display  of  the  military.  Even  the  horses,  it  is  said,  were 
made  to  kneel  at  the  spreading  out  of  the  papal  hands.  The 
pope  prayed,  and,  although  he  was  too  high  and  distant  to  be 
heard,  yet  the  form  is  written,  as  is  every  part  of  the  Catholic 
service,  and  from  this  form  we  learn  that  the  pope  "  asks,  through 
the  prayers  and  merits  of  the  blessed  Mary,  ever  virgin,  of  the 
blessed  John  the  Baptist,  of  the  blessed  apostles  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  all  the  saints,  that  the  Almighty  God  may  have  mercy  upon 
them,  and  that,  all  their  sins  being  forgiven,  Jesus  Christ  would 
bring  them  to  eternal  life.  Amen."  A  truly  Catholic  prayer : 
sins  are  to  be  forgiven  through  the  merits  of  the  saints ! !  The 
blessing  was  then  pronounced,  and  plenary  indulgence  imparted 
to  penitents,  which,  on  printed  notices,  is  thrown  down  among  the 
people,  all  of  whom  seemed  eager  to  catch  them.  Once  more 
the  bells  rang,  and  the  cannons  of  St.  Angelo  thundered,  and  the 
multitudes,  which  were  variously  estimated  at  from  thirty  to  eighty 
thousand,  moved  off  and  were  dispersed  to  the  four  winds. 

THERE  were  several  other  features  and  events  connected  with 
Holy  Week,  or  occurring  a  little  before  and  after,  which  are  wor 
thy  of  notice.     I  have  omitted  some  of  them  in  the  order  of  time, 
that  I  might  not  interrupt  the  account  of  the  great  ceremonies  of 
the  church.     These  I  will  now  notice. 

The  Flagellation. 

Some  friends  informed  us  that  a  ceremony  of  no  small  interest 
was  to  be  seen  every  night  at  a  particular  church,  which  they  de- 
22 


254  ITALY. 

scribed  to  us.  We  mentioned  the  subject  to  our  valet  de  place, 
and  requested  him  to  conduct  us  to  the  spot.  He  gave  that  pecu- 
liar shrug  of  the  shoulders  which,  to  be  understood,  must  be  seen, 
and  which  none  but  an  Italian,  I  believe,  can  fully  enact ;  and 
said  he  was  there  once,  and  never  wished  to  go  again.  It  seems 
that  some  of  the  professedly  self-inflicted  penance  had  been  mis- 
directed, and  had  fallen  upon  poor  Luigi,  the  bare  recollection  of 
which  made  him  cringe.  However,  he  consented  to  conduct  us 
to  the  door,  and  wait  for  us  there  till  the  fearful  devotion  was  over. 
When  we  arrived  we  found  one  single  light  glimmering  near 
the  altar;  the  church  itself  seemed  badly  kept,  compared  with 
most  Roman  churches,  and  the  worshippers  appeared  coarse  and 
squalid.  None  but  males  were  admitted,  for  a  very  good  reason, 
as  the  reader  will  presently  see.  Everything  around  looked  sus- 
picious ;  and,  if  some  of  our  countrymen  had  not  been  there  before 
us  and  described  the  scene,  we  might  have  supposed  ourselves  in 
dangerous  circumstances.  For  myself,  I  passed  back  of  some 
broken  forms  that  lay  near  the  wall,  behind  which  I  intrenched 
myself  at  a  little  distance  from  the  theatre  of  action.  The  door 
was  then  bolted.  The  single  candle  was  carried  to  a  small  tem- 
porary platform,  beside  which  stood  a  crucifix,  and  a  palmerlike 
gloomy  ecclesiastic  ascended  and  commenced  an  impassioned 
harangue,  the  tenour  and  burden  of  which  were  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  and  an  exhortation  to  the  people  to  be  willing  to  suffer 
with  him  ;  that,  as  Christ  was  chastised,  and  suffered  for  their 
sins,  much  more  should  they  be  willing  to  chastise  themselves  for 
their  manifold  transgressions.  The  solitary  light  was  removed, 
and  in  the  midst  of  Egyptian  darkness  the  tragedy  commenced. 
It  was  as  though  you  had  been  suddenly  ushered  into  one  of  the 
chambers  of  Pandemonium.  The  first  thing  we  heard  after  the 
extinguishing  of  the  light  was  the  cracking  of  whips  or  thongs, 
and  the  sound  of  scores  of  simultaneous  lashes  well  laid  on.  Then 
followed  the  most  bitter  groans  and  wailings,  as  from  miserable 
wretches  writhing  under  the  torture.  The  sounds  became  com- 
mingled ;  the  strokes  fell  thick  as  hail ;  and  groans  and  howlings 
filled  the  temple.  It  was  an  awful  scene  !  After  it  had  contin- 
ued for  several  minutes  there  was  a  pause,  and  the  same  voice 
resumed  the  exhortations  to  the  assembly.  It  was  perfect  dark- 
ness still,  and  the  sharp  voice  of  the  preacher,  keyed  up  almost  to 


THE    PILGRIMS.  255 

a  talsetto,  rung  through  the  invisible  arches  of  the  church,  and 
died  away  in  the  distance.  He  paused,  and  again  the  flagellation 
and  the  howlings  were  resumed.  At  the  second  pause  the  light 
was  restored ;  a  person  went  around  and  collected  the  thongs  or 
ropes,  to  preserve  them,  I  suppose,  for  future  penance,  and  the  as- 
sembly broke  up.  Whether  they  lashed  themselves,  or  each 
other,  or  the  floor,  I  cannot  say.  I  had  intended,  when  the  flog- 
ging commenced,  to  have  put  myself  in  a  situation  to  receive 
some  of  the  blows,  being  willing  to  run  some  risk  of  a  lash  or  two, 
to  determine  for  myself  whether  the  blows  were  laid  on  with  ef- 
fect or  otherwise.  But  the  light  was  extinguished  unexpectedly, 
and  I  had  made  no  arrangements  that  would  enable  me,  situated 
as  I  was,  to  make  the  experiment  satisfactorily.  I  can  only  say 
that  there  were  blows  enough,  and  they  were  sufficiently  loud 
to  have  done  good  execution ;  and  they  were  accompanied  by 
enough  of  wailing  and  of  wo  to  have  indicated  an  indescribable 
amount  of  suffering ;  and  this  is  religious  worship  !  in  a  Christian 
assembly,  and  at  the  very  seat  of  the  infallible  church. 

The  Pilgrims. 

The  Hospital  of  the  Trinity  is  a  place  for  the  entertainment  of 
the  pilgrims  who  visit  Rome  on  great  festive  occasions  for  religious 
purposes.  Here  they  are  washed,  fed,  and  lodged  for  a  term  of 
time  not  exceeding  three  days  for  the  greater  portion,  although  those 
who  come  from  a  great  distance,  as  from  Spain,  Portugal,  &c.,  are 
entertained  four  or  five  days.  The  institution  is  a  charitable  one, 
and  supported  chiefly  by  donations  and  contributions  from  the  more 
wealthy.  A  long  list  of  names  of  the  more  prominent  benefactors 
are  recorded  on  public  tablets  at  the  hospital.  There  are  two  grand 
divisions  to  the  apartments  of  the  hospital,  one  section  being  set 
apart  for  the  females,  and  the  other  for  the  males.  In  the  male 
apartments  alone  they  make  up,  as  we  were  informed  by  one  of  the 
attendants,  two  thousand  beds.  On  Holy  Week  especially,  great 
numbers  of  both  sexes  are  expected  at  this  hospital,  and  ample 
provision  is  made  for  their  entertainment.  One  of  the  rules  of  the 
institution  is,  that  all  who  come  in  the  course  of  the  day  must 
have  their  feet  washed  at  night,  which  washing  is  performed  partly 
by  the  regular  attendants  and  partly  by  the  nobility  of  Rome  and 
of  other  countries,  who  volunteer  their  services  on  this  occasion 


256  ITALY. 

as  a  kind  of  voluntary  humility,  as  well  as  a  sort  of  religious  rite, 
showing  by  this  their  readiness  to  "  wash  the  saint's  feet,"  and  to 
serve  their  poorer  brethren  in  the  humblest  offices  of  life.  The 
pope  himself,  we  were  told,  sometimes  officiates  in  this  menial 
service.  The  evening  we  were  at  the  hospital,  however,  the  high- 
est dignitary  that  officiated  at  the  tub  was  the  ex-king  of  Portugal, 
Don  Miguel.  We  had  also  Lord  Gifford,  of  England,  and  a 
number  of  the  Roman  nobles. 

As  we  brought  no  tickets  we  had  a  little  difficulty  at  first  in 
getting  admittance.  This  being  settled,  I  left  Mrs.  F.,  whom  I 
conducted  to  the  entrance  of  the  female  apartment,  and  went 
down  into  the  bathing-room  of  the  males,  where  a  number  pre- 
sented themselves  to  be  washed,  not  as  many,  however,  as  on 
former  occasions,  for  it  was  approaching  towards  the  last  of  the 
week.  There  was  a  range  of  foot  baths  quite  around  the  room, 
with  pipes  to  conduct  hot  and  cold  water,  and  a  rail  extending 
quite  around  in  front  of  the  baths,  to  prevent  spectators  from 
crowding  upon  them.  After  standing  until  we  were  weary,  the 
ceremony  commenced  by  a  short  religious  service,  read  as  usual. 
What  followed  was  no  more  of  an  exhibition  than  any  other  case 
of  washing  dirty  feet,  except  as  to  the  number  and  quality  of  the 
actors  and  spectators.  There  was  a  large  room  full  of  gentlemen, 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  to  see  kings  and  noblemen  perform  the 
work  of  ablution  upon  the  lower  extremities  of  some  of  the  dirtiest, 
roughest  looking  subjects  that  Italy  can  produce.  Some  of  them 
had  sore  feet  from  the  badness  of  their  shoes  and  their  pedestrian 
journey;  for  these,  plasters  were  prepared  and  applied.  The 
thick  rough  boots  of  some  were  drawn  with  great  difficulty  ;  and 
their  stockings,  when  they  wore  any,  looked  as  though  they  needed 
washing  as  much  as  the  feet  they  covered,  without  which,  to  wash 
the  latter  would  be  of  little  avail.  The  don  had  a  hard  case ; 
however,  he  scrubbed  away  with  might  and  main,  and  when  he 
got  to  the  skin  he  wiped  it,  kissed  the  foot,  and  ensconced  it  again 
in  its  former  sheath.  All  kissed  the  feet  when  they  had  finished 
washing  them. 

After  the  washing  we  ascended  to  the  Salle  a  manger,  to  see 
the  feeding.  Here  the  crowd  of  spectators  was  still  greater,  and 
here,  too,  were  assembled  all  the  pilgrims  that  had  been  congregated 
for  several  days.  Truly  they  were  a  motley  group,  some  with 


THE    PILGRIMS.  257 

their  long  pilgrim's  staves,  some  with  shells  of  scallops  and  other 
shellfish  fastened  upon  their  breasts  and  shoulders,  many  of  them 
ragged  and  wo-begone,  although  the  greater  part  are  supposed  to 
come  from  cities  of  Italy  not  far  distant.  They  gathered  around 
the  long  tables,  and  those  who  washed  their  feet  prepared  to  serve 
them.  I  got  a  position  near  the  ex-king.  He  is  a  middle-aged 
man,  of  rather  small  stature,  and  possessing  a  countenance  by 
no  means  indicative  of  that  cruelty  and  thirst  for  blood  which 
seem  to  have  marked  his  public  life.  He  is  as  great  a  stickler 
for  Romanism  as  his  brother,  Don  Pedro,  was  an  opposer.  Their 
course  in  this  matter  has  undoubtedly  been  shaped  very  much  by 
their  political  interests.  While  Don  Pedro  was  thwarted  and  op- 
posed in  all  his  plans  by  the  priests,  these  have  been  the  partisans 
of  Don  Miguel,  and  sustained  his  course,  and  he,  in  his  turn,  has 
sustained  theirs.  It  is  this  that  has  led  the  pope  to  patronise  the 
don  in  his  exile,  by  giving  him  a  refuge  and  a  salary  of  three 
thousand  dollars  per  annum ;  and  this,  on  the  other  hand,  has  led 
the  ex-king  to  be  very  officious  in  matters  of  religion,  and  specially 
active  during  Holy  Week  in  all  the  self-denying  duties  of  the  oc- 
casion. At  this  time  he  was  very  active  in  helping  the  pilgrims, 
in  cutting  their  bread,  and  serving  their  fish,  vegetables,  and  wine,* 
and,  at  the  same  time,  was  very  social,  now  with  the  pilgrims,  and 
now  with  one  of  the  attendants,  and  then  again  with  some  of  his 
fellow-servitors.  He  left,  however,  in  time  to  be  introduced  into 
the  ladies'  apartments.  When  the  company  had  satisfied  their 
appetites,  and  some  of  these  poor  fellows  ate  as  if  they  had  eaten 
nothing  for  a  long  time  before,  they  began  to  fill  their  handker- 
chiefs and  sacks  with  the  fragments  and  remains,  and  to  pour  the 
wine  into  their  leather  bottles.  These  were  their  perquisites,  and 
they  laid  in  liberally ;  sufficiently  so,  I  should  think,  to  last  them 
a  considerable  distance  in  their  homeward  journey.  They  then 
all  rose,  and  in  single  file,  chanting  or  singing  as  they  went, 
marched  up  to  their  lodgings. 

Mrs.  F.  found  the  ceremonies  in  the  female  apartments  much 
the  same  as  above  described,  except  that  the  ladies  who  waited 
upon  the  pilgrims  were  more  minute  and  assiduous  in  their  atten- 
tions than  the  gentlemen.  The  noble  ladies,  as  they  entered  the 
room,  went  to  a  table  on  which  lay  a  quantity  of  red  and  white 

*  It  was  still  Lent, 

22  KK 


258  IT  ALT?. 

aprons,  the  former  with  waists  and  the  latter  without  waists. 
The  red  apron  was  first  put  on ;  and  then  the  other,  which  was 
furnished  with  two  large  pockets,  to  hold  their  napkins,  &c.,  was 
tied  on  over  the  former.  They  then  proceeded  to  wash  the  feet, 
after  which  each  lady  took  a  pilgrim  by  the  arm  and  led  her  to 
the  table,  and  waited  upon  her  as  before  described,  filling  her 
wallet  and  her  wine-sack  with  what  remained,  and  taking,  as  they 
retired,  a  large  pile  of  plasters  up  to  their  lodging-rooms  to  dress 
their  sore  feet,  &c.  One  old  woman,  who  had  the  appearance 
of  extreme  old  age,  and  was  bowed  down  with  the  weight  of  years, 
had  nevertheless  walked  fifty  miles  to  see  this  festival.  For  her, 
the  ladies  in  attendance  made  up  a  purse  to  cheer  her  heart  and 
relieve  her  wants. 

In  all  this  there  is  certainly  much  of  kindness  and  Christian 
courtesy  exhibited  that  were  well  worth  the  imitation  of  Protest 
ants.  In  the  ceremonies  before  us,  however,  there  is  a  drawback 
upon  the  credit  we  might  otherwise  be  disposed  to  give  to  the 
parties  concerned,  from  the  consideration  that  the  whole  is  a  set 
form,  or  kind  of  exhibition,  and  a  stated  public  observance,  which 
has  in  it  much  of  show  and  ostentation,  much  of  fashion,  and  per- 
haps of  superstition. 

There  is  much  more  of  the  spirit  of  our  holy  and  benevolent 
religion  where  the  meek  Christian,  unobserved  and  unattended  by 
the  pomp  of  form  and  ceremony,  seeks  out  the  poor  and  the 
squalid,  and  with  his  or  her  own  hands  washes  the  saint's  feet, 
and  cheers  the  heart  of  the  fainting ;  a  spirit  which,  to  the  reproach 
of  our  common  Christianity,  is  too  little  prevalent  both  in  the 
Catholic  and  Protestant  churches.  I  cannot,  however,  but  con- 
cede that,  in  my  opinion,  the  Catholic  takes  the  lead  in  charities 
of  this  kind ;  and  perhaps  ceremonies,  such  as  those  I  have  al- 
ready described,  may  have  kept  alive  among  them  a  sense  of  duty 
on  this  point ;  for  such  ceremonies  cannot  but  have  their  influence, 
especially  upon  the  young,  who  are  thus  trained,  at  times  at  least, 
to  think  of  and  feel  for  the  poor  and  the  wretched.  Here  young 
girls  of  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  age  are  seen  bounding  along,  with 
laughing  eyes  and  mantling  cheeks,  bearing  the  large  trays  of  re- 
freshments to  the  tables,  while  their  mothers  and  older  sisters  dis- 
tribute those  refreshments  to  the  hungry  and  weary  pilgrims. 
The  impressions  of  one  such  scene  upon  the  mind  of  the  young 


TAKING   THE    WHITE   VEIL.  269 

might  be  as  lasting  as  life,  and  such  scenes  repeated  might  do 
something  at  least  towards  moulding  permanently  the  character  of 
the  heart. 

It  should  be  observed  that  males  are  not  usually  admitted  into 
the  female  apartments  during  these  ceremonies  except  the  priests, 
some  of  whom  are  present  to  lead  in  the  religious  observances, 
and  to  see,  I  suppose,  that  all  things  are  done  "  decently  and  in 
order."  Don  Miguel,  however,  was  on  this  occasion  escorted 
in  by  four  priests  with  lighted  candles,  for  the  purpose,  I  suppose, 
of  showing  himself  to  all  the  guests,  and  also,  as  it  would  seem,  to 
be  introduced  to  a  princess,  who  was  present  and  assisting  at  the 
supper. 

Taking  the  White  Veil 

The  Church  of  St.  Cecilia  in  Trastivere  is  situated  on  the 
south  part  of  the  city,  on  the  right  side  of  the  Tiber,  and  is  sup- 
posed to  be  built  on  the  site  of  the  house  of  St.  Cecilia.  This 
saint  suffered  martyrdom  at  the  time  of  the  Lombard  invasion  in 
a  bath  appertaining  to  the  house.  For  some  time  there  was  a 
doubt  about  the  identity  of  the  body,  but  at  length  she  appeared 
in  a  supernatural  way  to  St.  Paschal,  and  gave  him  such  instruc- 
tion as  enabled  him  to  find  and  identify  the  body.  Whereupon 
it  was  taken  and  deposited  in  a  sepulchre  under  the  high  altar  of 
this  church,  which  was  erected  to  her  memory  and  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  the  faithful.  All  this  I  learned  from  a  copy  of  a  Latin 
letter  sent  to  the  pope  from  Paschal,  and  inscribed  on  a  marble 
tablet  in  the  wall  of  the  church.  Here  over  the  sarcophagus  is  a 
beautiful  horizontal  statue  of  marble,  with  the  head  turned  under, 
in  the  very  attitude,  it  is  said,  in  which  she  was  discovered  after 
her  martyrdom.  Connected  with  this  church  is  a  nunnery,  in 
which  are  the  order  of  St.  Cecilia.  Thither  on  Tuesday  after 
Holy  Week  we  went  to  see  the  assumption  of  the  white  veil  by 
two  young  females.  On  our  arrival,  we  were  invited  into  a  private 
apartment  adjoining  the  convent,  where  we  and  many  others  were 
generously  treated  with  refreshments  furnished  by  the  friends  of 
the  candidates.  This  room  was  connected  with  the  convent  by 
doubly  grated  windows.  The  two  sets  of  grates  were  distant  from 
each  other  about  eight  inches,  and  the  rods  were  so  close  as  to 
render  it  impossible  for  persons  to  touch  each  other  through  them. 


260  ITALY. 

We  could  see  the  sisters  of  the  order,  however,  and  also  the  can- 
didates for  the  sisterhood.  After  refreshment  we  went  into  the 
church,  and  soon  an  aged  bishop,  with  locks  whiter  than  wool,  en- 
tered with  his  attendants.  A  golden  crosier  was  borne  before 
him.  He  was  then  clad  with  his  sacerdotal  vestments,  the  prin- 
cipal of  which  was  a  robe  of  silver  tissue  bordered  with  gold,  and 
a  mitre  studded  with  brilliants.  Soon  the  candidates  entered, 
dressed  like  princesses,  followed  by  little  girls  with  wings  from 
their  backs  in  the  character  of  angels,  holding  up  their  trains. 
After  some  ceremony  by  the  bishop  and  the  candidates,  a  discourse 
was  delivered  by  a  priest,  which  seemed  to  be  a  defence  of  per- 
petual virginity,  and  a  reference  to  the  advantages  of  the  monastic 
life.  The  novices  then  retired,  and  directly  appeared  at  a  grate 
communicating  with  the  church.  This  grated  window  had  an 
altar  on  each  side,  within  and  without,  and  a  communication  be- 
tween them  about  eight  or  ten  inches  square.  Here,  with  the 
bishop  and  priests  on  one  side,  and  the  young  ladies  with  their 
attendants  on  the  other,  the  appointed  service  was  performed.  By 
the  kindness  of  the  brother  of  one  of  the  candidates,  I  was  accom- 
modated with  a  favourable  position  near  the  altar,  and  near  the 
new  vestments  with  which  they  were  about  to  be  clothed.  These 
lay  in  two  separate  piles,  with  the  name  of  each  upon  her  parcel. 
After  a  portion  of  the  service,  the  candidates  placed  their  heads  by 
the  window  of  the  grate  ;  and  the  officiating  bishop,  with  a  pair  of 
golden  scissors,  taken  from  a  plate  of  gold,  cut  off  a  lock  of  their 
nair.  They  then  underwent  a  complete  transformation  as  to  their 
garments.  The  rich  headdress  and  ornaments  were  taken  off, 
the  hair  turned  back,  the  fine  tresses  straightened,  and  a  plain  tight 
cap  without  a  border  put  upon  the  head.  The  ornaments  were 
taken  from  the  arms,  the  ears,  the  neck-;  the  rich  dress,  in  short, 
was  removed,  and  left  the  candidates  modestly  blushing  with  only 
a  close  white  underdress  to  cover  them.  The  whole  of  this  gay 
attire  and  these  princely  ornaments  were  loosely  rolled  together 
and  put  into  the  hands  of  the  wearer,  who,  with  some  sentence 
which  I  could  not  understand,  but  which  was  undoubtedly  ex- 
pressive of  her  abdication  of  the  world  and  its  vanities,  as  if  she 
should  say, 

"  I  bid  this  world  of  noise  and  show, 
With  all  its  flattering  smiles,  adieu," 


TAKING    THE    WHITE    VEIL.  261 

cast  them  from  her.  Her  new  attire  was  then  brought  forward, 
and  article  after  article  was  received  through  the  grate,  affection- 
ately kissed  and  put  on,  an  official  nun  standing  by  each  candi- 
date and  assisting  in  the  investment.  The  order  of  the  clothing 
was,  as  nearly  as  I  can  recollect,  as  follows  :  first,  a  scarf,  with  an 
opening  for  the  head,  was  thrown  over  the  shoulders,  and  hung 
down,  perhaps,  as  low  as  the  knees,  before  and  behind ;  around 
this  a  white  sash ;  over  the  whole  a  robe,  which,  like  the  other 
garments,  was  of  fine  white  stuff  like  worsted ;  then  a  peculiar 
collar  for  the  neck,  which  was  turned  down  before,  but  turned  up 
behind,  and  pinned  at  the  back  of  the  head ;  and,  finally,  the  white 
hood  or  veil,  which  was  made  stiff  and  fashioned  somewhat,  in 
the  part  for  the  head,  like  a  peasant's  sunbonnet  in  our  country, 
without,  however,  being  gathered  behind,  for  it  extended  down 
like  a  stiff  veil  over  the  shoulders.  A  crucifix,  rosary,  and  prayer- 
book,  together  with  a  lighted  candle,  were  given  to  each  ;  all  of 
which,  as  they  were  received  one  by  one,  were  kissed  by  the 
candidates,  as  also  was  the  priest's  hand  who  presented  them. 
Last  of  all,  the  head  was  surmounted  by  an  armillary  crown, 
either  of  silver,  or  tinsel  resembling  silver.  The  whole  of  this 
transformation  was  sudden,  and  the  contrast  most  striking.  It 
was  as  if  a  princess,  by  the  touch  of  a  Roman  wand,  had  been 
metamorphosed  into  a  meek-eyed,  modestly-apparelled  sister  of 
charity. 

Thus  habited,  the  two  novices  threw  themselves  again  upon  the 
altar,  with  their  faces  buried  in  the  velvet  cushions  before  them, 
when  the  venerable  bishop,  assisted  by  other  priests,  performed 
the  most  solemn  part  of  the  service,  which  consisted  of  short  sen- 
tences and  brief  responses,  in  which  all  seemed  to  join  with  a  good 
deal  of  spirit.  The  new  sisters  then  arose  and  kissed  their  as- 
sistant officials,  the  other  attendant  nuns,  their  attending  cherubs, 
and  their  female  friends  who  were  within  the  grate.  Up  to  that 
moment  the  friends  of  the  buried  alive*  seemed  to  be  cheerful ; 
but,  now  that  the  final  separation  was  come,  there  was  more  ap- 
parent difficulty  in  concealing  the  emotions  which,  doubtless,  they 
had  all  along  felt ;  and  I  now  noticed  that  the  sister  of  one  of  them, 

*  I  say  buried  a.(ve,  because,  although  these  had  only  taken  the  white  veil,  and  there- 
fore may,  it  is  pretended,  at  their  option,  come  out  at  the  end  of  a  year,  still,  I  believe,  in 
most  cases,  having  taken  the  first  step,  they  are  made  willing  to  proceed. 


262  ITALY. 

who  had  been  remarkably  gay,  drew  back  with  swimming  eyes. 
The  candidates,  on  the  contrary,  through  the  whole  scene  mani- 
fested little  emotion  either  of  devotion  or  of  excited  sensibilities  for 
friends,  but  seemed  to  pass  through  the  ceremony  with  a  self-pos- 
session and  firmness  that  to  me  indicated  either  deep  principle  of 
duty  or  the  indifference  of  disappointment.  Undoubtedly  many 
persons  take  the  veil  from  both  of  these  causes ;  others  from  pov- 
erty ;  and  others,  again,  and  perhaps  of  these  there  are  not  a  few, 
from  the  solicitation  of  parents  or  brothers,  who,  not  being  able  or 
willing  to  make  genteel  provision  for  the  supernumerary  female 
members  of  their  family,  find  this  a  convenient  and  respectable 
way  of  disposing  of  them.  What  may  have  been  the  cause  of 
the  seclusions  in  the  present  cases  I  of  course  am  ignorant  of; 
but  I  have  left  upon  my  mind  the  deep  and  indelible  conviction, 
that  the  church  which  offers  facilities  and  holds  out  motives  for 
such  moral  suicides  has  greatly  mistaken  her  duty  to  the  world, 
and  must  be  held  responsible  for  encouraging  a  system  wholly 
unsanctioned,  either  by  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  and  against 
the  principle  of  which  the  entire  economy  of  man's  nature  throws 
back  the  denial  through  every  law  of  his  physical  and  moral 
constitution. 

A  number  of  sonnets  were  composed  on  this  occasion  and  dis- 
tributed to  the  spectators,  and  possibly  some  of  them  were  sung ; 
for  the  exercises  were  occasionally  and  pleasantly  varied  by  the 
sound  of  sweet  music.  At  the  commencement  we  not  only  had 
the  deep-toned  organ,  but  the  sweet  notes  of  female  voices  dropped 
down  in  melting  strains  from  the  lofty  latticed  galleries,  behind 
which  the  sisterhood  were  concealed.  Here,  "  through  the  loop- 
holes of  their  retreat,"  they  were  permitted  to  look  out  upon  the 
ceremonies  below ;  a  place  which  they  doubtless  often  occupy  at 
the  time  of  public  service  in  the  church,  and  which  so  far  screened 
them  that  nothing  was  seen,  even  when  they  stood  the  nearest  to 
the  network  screen,  but  some  undefined  forms  robed  in  white, 
which  a  lively  imagination  in  this  land  of  visions  might  easily 
transform  into  celestial  visitants,  who  had  come  down  to  chant  a 
dirge  for  the  departing  spirits,  and  then  to  accompany  them  to  their 
future  abodes  of  rest.  And  their  sweet  voices,  softened  by  their 
passage  through  the  lattice,  fell  gently  down  upon  the  company 
below,  as  if  to  say,  in  all  the  winning  witchery  of  melody, 


TAKING    THE    WHITE    VEIL.  263 

"  Sister  spirits,  come  away." 

From  the  sonnets  distributed  on  the  occasion,  we  learned  that 
the  name  of  one  of  the  initiated  was  Teresa  Gauttieri  Romana, 
daughter  of  Signor  Vincenzo,  but  her  new  name  (for  all  take  a 
new  name  on  entering  the  sisterhood)  was  Donna  Marianna. 
The  name  of  the  other  was  Teresa  Gauttieri,  but  her  assumed 
name  was  Donna  Maria  Benedetta:  Their  respective  ages  were 
apparently  about  twenty-three  and  twenty-eight.  They  seemed 
to  depart  from  this  world  in  peace.  May  kind  Heaven  grant  that 
no  bitter  disappointment  blight  their  expectations,  and  no  passion 
or  oppression  pollute  or  disturb  the  quiet  of  their  prison-house  ! 

It  may  be  proper  to  notice  in  this  connexion  that,  a  day  or  two 
after  this,  a  lady  belonging  to  one  of  the  noble  families  of  England 
took  the  veil  in  Rome.  Her  conversion  to  Catholicism — for,  until 
recently,  she  had  been  a  Protestant — had,  with  the  attendant  cir- 
cumstances, been  a  subject  of  considerable  interest  in  the  city,  and 
was  considered  by  the  Catholics  not  only  as  a  great  triumph  of 
truth,  but  as  a  great  confirmation  also  of  their  faith.  It  seems, 
strange  and  simple  as  the  circumstance  may  appear,  that  the  first 
thing  which  staggered  her  Protestantism  was  that  phrase  in  the 
creed,  "  I  believe  in  the  holy  Catholic  church."  How  could  she 
repeat  this  in  sincerity,  being  a  Protestant  ?  For  it  seems  she 
understood  by  this,  not  the  universal  church,  but  the  Roman 
church !  This  put  her  upon  an  inquiry,  which  resulted  in  her 
conversipn  to  Romanism,  followed  by  an  earnest  desire  to  become 
a  nun  of  the  order  of  St.  Theresa.  But,  as  the  regimen  of  that 
order  was  rigorous,  and  her  own  health  very  delicate,  her  friends 
were  unwilling  she  should  come  under  the  vows  of  the  order. 
She  then  prayed  to  the  Virgin,  who,  in  answer  to  prayer,  miracu- 
lously healed  her  not  only  as  to  her  general  health,  but,  as  was 
affirmed,  a  lameness,  which  had  rendered  one  of  her  limbs  useless, 
was  suddenly  healed  and  entirely  cured.  This  miracle  not  only 
satisfied  her  friends  as  to  her  duty  in  the  case,  but  was  the  occa- 
sion also  of  converting  her  mother  to,  and  confirming  her  in,  the 
Catholic  faith.  She  accordingly  took  the  veil.  We  passed  the 
place  of  the  ceremony,  where  we  saw  an  immense  number  of 
coaches  and  a  great  gathering ;  but,  as  the  crowd  was  great,  and 
the  ceremony  not  new  to  us,  we  did  not  attempt  an  entrance. 


264  ITALY. 

She  appeared  at  the  grated  window  for  a  number  of  successive 
days  afterward  to  converse  with  her  friends.  We  saw  some  who 
conversed  with  her,  and  they  represented  her  as  appearing  very 
cheerless  and  agitated.  Indeed,  it  seems,  from  all  the  information 
I  could  gain,  that  her  mind,  as  well  as  her  body,  was  of  a  sickly 
cast,  and  her  temperament  visionary  and  fanciful.  It  was  a  case, 
however,  that  gave  great  joy  to  the  papists,  insomuch  that  the 
Jesuit  priest  hereafter  alluded  to  made  it  a  subject  of  one  of  his 
public  addresses  to  a  popular  assembly  in  Rome,  to  confirm  their 
faith  and  confidence  in  the  "  Holy  Catholic  Church." 

Chiesa  Delia  Trinitd  de  Monti. 

This  church  stands  on  the  Pinchean  Hill,  situated  in  the  north 
part  of  the  city,  near  the  Porta  del  PqpoZo,  and  east  of  the  Piazza 
di  Spagna.  It  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  points  in  the  modern 
city,  and  is  rendered  still  more  magnificent  in  its  western  aspect 
by  the  splendid  staircase  by  which  it  is  approached  from  the 
Piazza  di  Spagna. 

Connected  with  the  church  is  a  convent,  all  the  inmates  of  which 
are  said  to  be  ladies  of  quality.  The  regulations  of  their  order  are 
in  some  respects  peculiar,  especially  in  that  they  take  upon  them 
no  vows  of  perpetual  seclusion,  but  hold  themselves  at  liberty  to 
leave  whenever  they  choose.  And  yet  it  is  mentioned,  as  a  most 
extraordinary  fact,  that  no  one  has  ever  been  known  to  leave  the 
sisterhood  after  she  has  once  entered.  If  this  be  a  fact,  there  is 
at  least  one  conclusion  to  which  we  may  safely  come,  viz. :  that, 
if  it  is  not  a  violation  of  a  positive  vow  to  leave  the  convent,  and, 
therefore,  an  infraction  of  no  written  law,  it  nevertheless  is  a  vio- 
lation of  common  law  and  of  an  implied  engagement,  to  break 
which  would  show  a  disregard  of  all  that  is  sacred  in  religion  and 
all  that  is  respectable  in  character.  These  are  considerations, 
therefore,  that  undoubtedly  operate  strongly  and  effectually  to 
guard  the  egress  from  these  monastic  walls.  In  addition,  the 
rules  of  the  order,  it  is  presumed,  are  not  rigorous ;  their  privileges, 
both  social  and  religious,  are  great ;  and  their  company  abundant 
and  most  respectable.  At  least,  I  have  noticed  that  priests  and 
ecclesiastics  of  a  most  respectable  appearance  were  among  their 
visitors. 

Hearing  that  they  had  most  enchanting  music  there  at  vespers, 


CHIESA    BELLA    TRINITA    DE    MONTI.  265 

on  Sabbath  evenings,  we  made  several  attempts  to  get  admittance, 
in  all  of  which  we  failed  save  in  one  instance,  in  which  I  had 
wandered  to  the  church  alone  at  an  early  hour,  and  happened  to 
approach  the  private  door  just  at  the  same  time  with  two  or  three 
priests.  The  door  on  this,  as  on  all  other  occasions,  was  locked, 
and,  as  the  priests  were  pulling  the  bell,  I  informed  them  that  I 
was  a  stranger,  which  they  doubtless  would  readily  perceive  by 
my  bad  Italian ;  that  I  had  a  great  desire  to  be  present  at  the 
vespers,  and,  if  they  would  pass  me  in,  I  should  be  greatly  obliged 
to  them.  They  bowed  assent  with  the  usual  frankness  and  cour- 
tesy of  the  Italians,  and  especially  of  the  priests.  The  door  was 
opened  by  a  nun  of  a  most  angelic  countenance ;  who,  at  the  in- 
timation of  the  priests,  admitted  me,  and,  showing  me  a  side  door 
into  the  church,  conducted  the  clergymen  into  the  convent. 

It  was  early,  and  the  church,  as  I  thought,  was  perfectly  empty. 
This  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  examining  it  leisurely.  The 
chancel  was  separated  from  the  nave  by  a  very  high  and  magnif- 
icent screen,  consisting  of  beautiful  iron  balusters.  This  was  to 
separate  the  nuns  who  chant  the  service  from  the  congregation 
in  the  church.  As  I  looked  through  the  balustrade,  I  saw  to  the 
left  a  solitary  priest,  with  his  prayer-book  in  his  hand,  and  so  deeply 
intent  upon  his  devotions  that  he  did  not  observe  me.  I  immediately 
recognised  him  to  be  the  Count  of ,  to  whom  I  had  been  intro- 
duced a  few  evenings  before  at  Mr.  C 's,  in  the  Corso.  Al- 
though a  count,  he  was  also  a  priest,  and  a  gentleman  of  soft  and 
winning  address  and  kindly  manners.  And  here  he  was  alone,  in 
this  lovely  church,  where  silence  reigned,  where  the  sacredness  of 
the  place,  the  beauty  of  the  edifice,  the  sweet  breath  and  sweet 
light  of  an  evening  in  which  the  setting  sun  gleamed  faintly  through 
the  remaining  mists  of  a  recent  shower,  all  conspired  to  melt  the 
heart  and  mould  the  spirit  into  devout  veneration  of  the  God  of 
the  sanctuary.  This  it  was,  perhaps,  which  prepared  me  the  more 
to  enjoy  what  followed. 

There  is  always  a  church,  I  believe,  connected  with  every  con- 
vent; and  in  every  such  instance  there  are  private  entrances  to 
it  from  the  convent.  So  it  was  with  the  Chiesa  della  Trinitd. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  the  vesper  bell  rang,  the  nuns  began  to 
enter.  Those  who  led  the  music  came  into  the  high  gallery  by  a 
private  passage,  and  seated  themselves  around  and  near  an  organ. 
23  LL 


266  ITALY. 

Below,  within  the  chancel,  entered  first  the  young  ladies  of  the 
school  connected  with  the  nunnery,  two  and  two,  paired  according 
to  their  size,  first  bowing  towards  the  high  altar,  and  then  seating 
themselves  facing  it;  then  followed  the  nuns.  They  were  all 
neatly  dressed,  and  had  heavenly  countenances  beaming  with 
cheerfulness  and  devotion.  Indeed,  it  was  evident  that  an  habitual 
frame  of  mind  of  this  kind  had  produced  a  permanent  effect  upon 
the  features  of  the  face  and  the  expression  of  the  countenance. 
The  services  commenced ;  they  consisted  chiefly  of  music  from 
the  voices  of  the  nuns  and  from  the  organ.  And  such  an  organ  ! 
and  such  voices !  The  organ  seemed  to  have  been  constructed 
on  purpose  to  symphonize  with  the  sweet  voices  of  the  sisters ; 
and  sweet  were  those  voices  !  sweet  was  that  organ  !  The  music 
was  rather  of  a  lively,  cheerful  cast,  and  was  set  to  a  hymn  or 
song  of  praise,  which,  to  the  number  of  some  twelve  verses,  I 
should  think,  was  performed  and  sung  on  the  occasion.  I  cannot 
describe  it,  much  less  can  I  describe  the  effect  on  my  own  feel- 
ings. It  was  not  so  overwhelming  as  the  Tenebrce  at  St.  Peter's, 
but  it  seemed  to  trickle  down  into  the  sentient  chambers  of  the  soul, 
and  there  diffuse  itself  to  the  extremities  through  all  the  con- 
ductors of  feeling,  until  the  whole  system  was  exhilarated  and 
enchanted.  To  this  hour,  whenever  my  mind  reverts  to  the 
Church  of  the  Trinity,  I  seem  to  hear  those  ravishing  notes 
anew,  "like  the  memory  of  joys  that  are  past,  pleasant,  and 
mournful  to  the  soul."  Never,  perhaps,  before  or  since,  have  I 
felt  so  much  devotion  in  a  Catholic  church  as  on  that  occasion. 
The  benediction  was  pronounced,  and  I  reluctantly  retired  from  a 
spot  that  had  afforded  me  delight  as  unexpected  as  it  was  refined. 
While  on  the  subject  of  music  I  will  add,  that  the  common 
music  in  Italy  fell  far  short  of  my  expectations.  I  had  supposed 
that  in  that  musical  country  there  would  be  much  interest  in  the 
music  of  the  streets  and  of  the  peasantry  of  the  country.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  absolutely  horrible  :  the  braying  of  an  ass  is  scarcely 
more  repulsive.  You  will  hear,  especially  in  the  evening,  com- 
panies of  young  men  walking  the  streets  and  singing ;  you  will 
hear  songs  in  the  country,  and  your  vetturino  will  sing  to  you 
perhaps  from  morning  till  night,  but  it  is  all  utterly  destitute  of 
music.  The  same  may  be  said  of  much  of  the  music  of  the 
churches.  As  I  did  not  attend  the  operas,  of  course  I  cannot 


ILLUMINATION    AND    FIREWORKS.  267 

speak  of  the  music  there.  Doubtless  it  is  of  the  most  scientific 
kind ;  but,  so  far  as  my  opportunities  of  observing  go,  much  of  the 
music  of  Italy  is  bad.  I  heard  one  amateur  in  a  private  party  in  Na- 
ples, whose  singing  was  admirable ;  and  on  a  few  public  occasions, 
such  as  that  at  St.  Peter's,  and  this  at  the  Trinity,  and  some 
others,  the  music  was  splendid.  Farther  than  this  I  cannot  com- 
mend. Neither  can  I  account  for  it  that  the  popular  airs  and 
common  singing  are  so  bad,  when  those  of  other  countries  are 
often  so  superior.  Switzerland,  and  Wales,  and  Scotland  are 
not  celebrated  for  their  scientific  music,  and  yet  the  native  airs 
are  the  very  melody  of  nature,  and  the  singing  of  their  peasantry 
is  absolutely  enchanting.  Italy,  on  the  other  hand,  is  celebrated 
for  music  the  most  scientific  and  most  refined,  and  yet  the  singing 
of  her  peasantry  is  rivalled  by  the  braying  of  her  donkeys.  The 
inference  seems  to  be,  that  the  greatest  refinements  in  scientific 
music  avail  to  destroy  the  simplicity  of  nature  in  all  classes ;  but 
as  it  is  possible  for  only  a  few  to  become  successful  scientific 
performers,  the  great  whole  are  left  unskilled  in  the  melody  of 
sweet  sounds. 

Illumination  and  Fireworks. 

These  usually  conclude  the  exhibitions  of  the  splendid  festivities 
of  the  Passion  Week ;  and,  if  I  had  seen  them,  I  might  describe 
them.  Unfortunately  for  us,  however,  the  exhibition  did  not  take 
place  this  year.  The  disappointment  was  felt  the  more  because 
it  was  given  out  that  it  would  take  place ;  the  fixtures  were  all 
placed  upon  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's ;  the  rockets  and  other  pre- 
paratives were  all  made  for  the  fireworks  ;  and  the  time  appointed 
for  the  exhibition.  The  first  night  was  rainy,  and  it  was  post- 
poned ;  another  excuse  was  given  at  another  time,  and  thus  the 
subject  was  delayed  and  suspended,  till  at  length  the  report  was 
circulated  that  the  whole  was  indefinitely  postponed,  and  that  the 
money  which  it  would  have  cost  would  be  given  to  the  poor. 
Whether  the  poor  ever  got  the  money  I  cannot  say ;  I  can  only 
say  we  lost  a  fee,  which  we  paid  in  part  in  advance  for  our  win- 
dow, where  we  were  to  behold  the  exhibition,  as  doubtless  did 
many  others  ;  for  it  is  usual  on  these  occasions  for  all  who  have 
houses  advantageously  situated  to  rent  their  windows  for  the 
night  for  from  five  to  perhaps  twenty,  or  even  fifty  dollars  each, 


268  ITALY. 

according  to  their  situation  and  accommodations.  Some  of  them 
have  balconies  and  curtains  over  head.  For  a  number  of  days 
the  windows  in  the  neighbourhood  were  dressed  and  curtained, 
waiting  for  an  exhibition  which  was  finally  suspended.  The  rea- 
son for  the  disappointment  we  could  never  learn.  If  there  was 
any  good  reason,  it  ought  to  have  been  announced  ;  for,  as  it  was, 
there  was  much  of  surmising  and  hard  sayings  against  the  Romans 
and  against  his  holiness.  By  holding  out  the  expectation  and 
postponing  it,  day  after  day,  many  persons  were  induced  not  only 
to  rent  their  stands  for  the  night,  but  to  postpone  their  departure 
from  Rome,  some  of  them  a  week  or  ten  days,  waiting  for  the 
great  sight,  and  were  finally  disappointed.  Thus  thousands  of 
dollars  were  spent  in  the  city  by  travellers  which  would  not 
otherwise  have  been  spent ;  and  some  expressed  their  conviction 
that  there  might  be  some  design  in  all  this.  For  myself,  however, 
I  would  not  readily  give  credit  to  such  an  imputation ;  but  I  con- 
fess there  was  a  kind  of  injustice  in  the  procedure,  which  nothing 
but  an  important  reason  could  excuse.  If  such  a  reason  had  ex- 
isted, one  would  think  it  would  have  been  made  public.  As  to 
the  plea  that  the  money  would  be  given  to  the  poor,  that  was 
worse  than  nothing ;  the  situation  of  the  poor  was  known  before 
any  such  expectation  was  raised  ;  and  much  more  might  have  been 
saved  for  the  poor  if  no  arrangements  had  been  made  for  the  ex- 
hibition. There  is  a  great  difficulty,  however,  not  only  in  Rome, 
but  throughout  all  Italy,  of  getting  before  the  public  the  desired 
information  on  subjects  of  general  interest.  Instead  of  numerous 
periodicals  and  public  newspapers,  as  in  our  country,  they  have 
nothing  scarcely  that  deserves  the  name  of  a  public  periodical 
press.  They  have  in  Rome  one  or  two  little  papers,  published 
perhaps  weekly,  about  twice  the  size  of  a  man's  hand,  containing 
some  account  of  the  functions  and  ceremonies  of  the  cathedrals, 
the  movements  of  the  cardinals,  &c.,  together  with  some  of  the 
leading  events  of  Europe,  provided  these  events  do  not  savour  too 
much  of  liberalism ;  and  that  is  the  extent,  I  believe,  of  Roman 
newspapers.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  most  difficult  thing  to  get  informa- 
tion on  subjects  of  public  interest ;  and  this  may  serve  in  part, 
perhaps,  as  an  apology  for  the  Roman  court  for  leaving  the  public 
in  the  dark  in  this  instance,  in  respect  to  the  reasons  for  the  course 
adopted. 


ILLUMINATION    AND    FIREWORKS.  269 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  proposed  ex- 
hibition, such  as  it  has  usually  been.*  Heretofore  it  has  been 
usual  to  have  this  exhibition  both  on,  or  rather  immediately  after 
Passion  Week,  and  also  at  the  festival  of  St.  Peter. 

The  illumination  is  on  the  dome  and  other  parts  of  the  outside 
of  St.  Peter's.  It  is  effected  by  lamps,  flambeaux,  and  various 
combustible  matter,  so  arranged  that  every  part  of  the  church,  to. 
the  very  summit  of  the  cross  over  the  dome,  appears  in  a  blaze. 
The  forepart  of  the  illumination  is  mild,  and  gleams  like  the  light 
of  the  moon ;  but  at  seven  o'clock  it  changes  suddenly  into  a  uni- 
versal blaze,  as  if  by  magic  ;  and,  it  is  said,  nothing  scarcely  can  be 
conceived  of  more  splendid  than  this  transition,  and  the  brilliant 
spectacle  which  follows.  There  are  between  four  and  five  thou- 
sand lanterns  used  in  this  illumination,  and  seven  or  eight  hundred 
flambeaux.  The  lighting  is  effected  by  men  on  the  outside,  sus- 
pended by  ropes,  who  are  moved  with  pulleys  by  men  within ; 
and  so  hazardous  is  the  enterprise,  that  the  performers  receive  the 
sacrament  before  they  commence,  that  they  may  be  prepared  for 
sudden  death. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  fireworks  commence  at  the  castle  of  St.  An- 
gel o,  formerly  Adrian's  Mausoleum.  The  commencement  is  an 
explosion  called  the  Girandola,  which  is  effected  by  such  an  ar- 
rangement and  discharge  of  four  or  five  thousand  rockets  as  to  be, 
it  is  said,  a  very  good  representation  of  an  eruption  of  a  volcano. 
This  is  followed  by  various  other  modifications  of  pyrotechnical 
display,  grand  and  beautiful ;  and  the  whole  is  closed  by  another 
magnificent  Girandola. 

I  have  thus  just  sketched  this  grand  exhibition  for  the  sake  of 
those  of  your  readers  who  may  not  have  been  made  acquainted 
with  its  character,  although  we  did  not  see  it.  The  pope  himself 
gave  us  an  animated  description  of  it  in  an  interview  we  had  with 
him,  but  I  should  have  abundantly  preferred  that  he  had  let  us  see 
it ;  but  fearing  it  might  be  contrary  to  court  etiquette  to  question 
the  sovereign  pontiff  on  this  subject,  I  did  not  inquire  his  reasons 
for  disappointing  us. 

*  And  such  as  it  was  indeed  this  year,  at  the  festival  of  St.  Peter,  which  took  plac» 
since  we  left  Rome. 
23 


270  ITALY. 


Religious  Processions. 

In  describing  the  ceremonies  of  this  festive  occasion  at  Rome, 
it  might  be  well  to  notice  that  religious  processions  were  at  this 
time  unusually  frequent.  Companies  of  ecclesiastics  and  various 
religious  orders  marched  through  the  streets,  chanting  religious 
services,  and  bearing  a  crucified  Christ,  or  the  image  of  some 
saint,  before  which  the  multitudes  bowed.  This  is  more  or  less 
common,  in  fact,  at  all  seasons  throughout  Italy. 

The  consecrated  host  also,  especially  the  day  after  Easter,  was 
borne  in  procession  through  the  streets  in  various  parts  of  the  city. 
The  object,  we  were  told,  was  to  convey  it  to  the  sick,  for  their 
sanctification  and  comfort.  Whenever  it  passed,  the  people  pros- 
trated themselves  ;  and  why  should  they  not  ?  For  this  material 
substance,  thus  supported  like  any  other  portion  of  matter,  was  be- 
lieved to  be  verily  and  truly  GOD  ! 

Holy  Staircase. 

I  may  not  have  a  better  opportunity  than  the  present  to  mention 
the  religious  ceremony  or  penance  of  the  holy  staircase.  This  is 
not  peculiar  to  Holy  Week,  although  it  happened  more  particularly 
to  strike  our  attention  at  this  time  ;  and  perhaps,  on  account  of  the 
many  strangers  present  at  this  festival,  there  may  have  been 
more  votaries  engaged  in  this  penance  than  on  other  or  common 
occasions. 

This  staircase  is  called  "  holy,"  because  it  is  that  up  which,  if 
we  may  believe  the  tradition,  the  Saviour  passed  pending  his  trial 
at  Pilate's  bar.  How  it  was  preserved  at  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, especially  as  the  Christians,  who  alone  would  be  interested 
with  its  preservation,  had  previously  left  the  city ;  or  why  even 
Christians  should  be  solicitous  to  preserve  a  staircase  belonging 
to  the  palace  of  a  weak  and  wicked  ruler,  who  gave  sentence 
against  their  Lord,  are  matters  which  neither  I,  nor,  I  presume, 
any  one  else,  can  satisfactorily  account  for.  However,  it  is  believed 
to  be  that  very  staircase,  and,  as  such,  is  not  only  an  object  of  ven 
eration,  but  is  made  meritorious  in  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  up  it 
no  one  is  allowed  to  pass  except  upon  his  knees;  and  every 
time  any  one  thus  ascends  it,  he  has  remitted  to  him  two  hundred 
years  from  the  fires  of  purgatory !  This,  of  course,  makes  its 


CHARACTER  AND  TENDENCIES  OP  THE  CATHOLIC  RELIGION.    271 

ascent  an  object  of  great  interest ;  insomuch  that  the  marble  steps 
have  been  so  worn  away  by  penitential  friction  as  to  make  it 
necessary  to  cover  them  anew,  to  save  them  from  complete 
destruction.  Almost  any  time  of  day  you  may  see  more  or  less 
of  these  poor  deluded  votaries  climbing  up  these  steps,  some  of 
them  upon  their  bare  knees  ;  the  females  dividing  their  attention 
between  their  devotions  and  the  decent  adjustment  of  their  ap- 
parel ;  and  all  kissing  the  steps  and  muttering  their  prayers  as  they 
ascend ! 

When  I  first  approached  these  steps,  not  knowing  their  sanctity, 
I  started  to  ascend  them  to  see  what  there  was  above ;  the  cicerone 
pulled  me  back  with  horror,  and  informed  me  of  its  character. 
Not  choosing  to  ascend  on  our  knees,  we  went  up  an  adjoining 
flight  of  stairs,  and  surveyed  them  above  and  below  with  no  other 
emotion  than  that  of  astonishment  and  disgust  at  this  new  illus- 
tration of  the  deep-rooted  and  all-pervading  superstitions  and 
idolatries  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Yours  truly, 

W.  FISK. 

To  the  Editors  of  the  Methodist  Magazine. 

MESSRS.  EDITORS, 

Having  given  an  account,  in  the  preceding  letters,  of  the  more 
prominent  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  Church,  it  may  not  be  un- 
profitable, in  the  present  letter,  to  make  some  reflections  upon  the 
character  and  tendencies  of  the  Catholic  religion.  This  is  a  sub- 
ject that  is,  at  this  moment,  attracting  to  itself  intense  interest,  and 
especially  in  the  United  States.  The  time  having  passed  by,  we 
hope  for  ever,  in  which  the  advocates  of  this  religion  can,  as  for- 
merly, enforce  their  dogmas  by  the  sword  and  by  the  authority 
of  the  secular  power,  they  now  find  it  necessary  to  try  the  strength 
of  the  question  on  moral  grounds.  This  is  a  position  to  which  the 
opposers  of  Romanism  have  long  wished  to  press  the  question, 
and  they  have  partially  succeeded  ;  and,  in  the  United  States  par- 
ticularly, the  question  presents  itself  exclusively  upon  this  ground. 
As,  in  the  despotisms  of  Europe,  the  old  ground  of  propagation  is 
abandoned,  the  experiment  is  now  to  be  tried  whether  the  senti- 
ment can  prevail  in  a  country  of  free  discussion.  Here,  and  on 
these  principles,  we  ought  to  be  prepared  to  meet  it.  Let  us, 


272  ITALY. 

then,  examine  some  of  its  claims  and  tendencies  by  what  we  see 
and  know  of  its  character.  For  Romanism,  to  be  known  and 
judged  of,  must  be  seen  and  scrutinized  where  no  motives  of  policy 
force  it  into  unnatural  positions  or  concealments.  In  short,  in 
Italy,  and  in  Rome  itself,  this  system  can  best  be  tested.  Against 
this  Catholics  cannot  object;  for  if,  as  they  teach,  Christianity 
has  a  grand  central  capital,  and  that  is  Rome  ;  if  it  has  one  single 
head  on  earth  to  whom,  as  the  vicegerent  of  Christ,  the  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  have  been  committed,  and  the  pope  is  that 
head,  then  here,  certainly,  under  the  influence  of  the  pontifical 
court,  and  under  the  very  droppings  of  the  pope's  sanctuary,  we 
may  hope  to  find  concentrated  all  the  excellences  of  this  church. 
Here,  if  anywhere,  impurities  will  be  discarded  and  abuses  dis- 
countenanced. 

ROMANISM  HAS  A  STRONG  AND  DIRECT  TENDENCY  TO  IDOLATRY. 

I  will  not  say  that  a  Roman  Catholic  must  necessarily  be  guilty 
of  idolatry ;  nor  will  I  now  argue  from  the  fact  that  the  Catholics 
have  left  out  the  second  commandment  from  many  of  their  editions 
of  the  commandments,  because  it  speaks  so  directly  against  their 
image  worship,  which  seems  to  be  a  tacit  acknowledgment  by 
themselves  that  they  must,  if  judged  by  the  light  of  Scripture,  be 
convicted  of  idolatry. 

Neither  will  I  now  insist  upon  the  glaring  idolatry  of  worship- 
ping a  wafer  in  the  form  of  a  consecrated  host ;  because,  if  a  Cath- 
olic can  really  believe  that  this  wafer  is  converted  into  a  god,  as 
some  of  them  perhaps  do,  he  does  not  worship  the  thing  that  is, 
but  the  thing  which  he  believes  it,  to  be ;  and,  therefore,  he  may, 
even  in  this  worship,  be  held,  in  the  sight  of  God,  innocent  of 
idolatry.  But  whatever  some  of  strong  faith,  or,  more  properly, 
of  irrational  credulity,  may  believe  on  this  subject,  there  are  many, 
doubtless,  who  are  led  into  this  worship,  following  the  example  of 
others  who,  as  the  apostle  expresses  himself  on  a  somewhat  anal- 
ogous subject,  "with  conscience  to  the  idol  unto  this  hour,"  bow 
down  to  it  as  to  what  their  senses  tell  them  it  really  is,  a  portion 
of  matter,  and  yet  a  portion  of  matter  which,  like  the  gree-gree  or 
the  amulet,  has  some  peculiar  charm  and  talrsmanic  virtue ;  and 
thus  their  "  consciences  are  defiled,"  and  their  minds  are  sensual- 
ized. Indeed,  every  one,  it  appears  to  me,  who  attempts  to  be 


TENDENCY    OF   ROMANISM   TO    IDOLATRY.  273 

lieve  in  transubstantiation,  lays  a  snare  for  his  conscience ;  and  the 
church,  which  inculcates  this  doctrine  lays  a  broad  foundation  for 
materialism.  And  this  the  Catholics  do,  not  merely  in  this  doc- 
trine, but  in  their  veneration  for  relics.  Rome  and  all  Italy  is  full 
of  sacred  relics ;  they  are  considered  as  possessing  in  themselves 
peculiar  virtue.  Here  are  stones  that  sweat  blood ;  here  are  mar- 
tyrs' bones  that  raise  the  dead,  and  pieces  of  the  cross,  and  scour- 
ges, and  pillars  of  stone,  and  holy  staircases,  and  a  thousand  things 
which  have  wrought  more  miracles  than  were  ever  wrought  by 
Christ  or  his  apostles. 

When  an  ignorant  African  pagan  talks  about  the  virtue  of  his 
gree-gree,  and  relies  upon  it  for  his  protection,  we  call  him  an 
idolater,  and  so  he  is.  But  is  he  more  so  than  the  Catholic,  who 
believes  in  the  virtue  of  his  crucifix  or  other  trinket  because  it  has 
been  blessed  by  the  pope,  or  because  it  has  been  shaken  in  the 
porringer  which,  as  is  pretended,  contained  the  pap  from  which 
the  holy  child  Jesus  was  fed  ? 

But  another  source  of  idolatry  is  the  numerous  subordinate  me- 
diators that  enter  into  the  machinery  of  the  Catholic  religion.  In 
my  former  letter  an  instance  is  given  in  a  very  solemn  and  impo- 
sing service,  performed  by  the  pope  himself,  in  which  pardon  was 
supplicated  through  the  merits  of  saints.  Angels  are  prayed  to. 
Saints,  male  and  female,  are  prayed  to,  and  especially,  and  above 
all,  the  blessed  Virgin  is  an  object  of  universal  veneration  and 
worship.  It  is  in  vain  for  Catholics  to  plead  that  they  only  so- 
licit the  aid  of  these  personages  to  present  their  suit  to  God  ;  for, 
in  the  first  place,  many  of  the  prayers  are  direct,  and  imply  that 
these  saints  have  power  in  themselves  to  give  the  necessary  aid. 
Besides,  the  very  idea  that  the  Virgin,  or  that  the  angel  Gabriel, 
or  St.  Peter  can  hear  the  prayers  of  Catholics,  praying,  as  they 
do,  in  different  and  distant  parts  of  the  world,  clothes  these  saints, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  worshippers,  with  omnipresence ;  one  of  the 
attributes  of  the  Deity.  Nay,  to  show  that  many  of  the  people 
do  directly  worship  these  saints  and  the  blessed  Virgin,  this  one 
fact  is  sufficient,  that  they  will  sooner  swear  by  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ,  or  of  God  the  Father,  than  by  the  name  of  the  Virgin. 
Hence  it  appears  that  they  either  consider  it  greater  blasphemy 
to  profane  the  name  of  the  Virgin  than  that  of  God,  or  else  they 
think  she  stands  in  a  more  intimate  relation  to  them,  and  has  it  in 

MM 


274  ITALY. 

her  power  to  avenge  any  insult  offered  to  her.  If  the  latter  be 
the  idea,  as  perhaps  in  many  instances  it  is,  even  this  shows  that 
they  consider  the  Virgin  as  everywhere  present  to  take  cogni- 
zance of  their  insults  to  her  character,  and  as  having  power,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  of  dispensing  blessings  and  curses  That 
this  is  the  idea  of  the  greater  portion  of  the  people  of  Italy  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  No  man  can  travel  through  Italy  without  noti- 
cing that  the  great  whole  of  the  worship  of  Italy  is  the  worship  of 
the  Virgin.  If  there  is  one  shrine  in  any  of  the  churches  more 
popular  than  another,  it  is,  as  a  general  thing,  that  of  the  Virgin. 
Nay,  it  is  worse  than  this.  The  strongest  features  in  the  idolatry 
of  the  Catholics  are  not  in  the  worship  of  the  saints,  but  in  the 
worship  of  images  and  pictures.  The  image  of  a  saint  is  more 
worshipped  than  the  saint  himself;  the  picture  of  the  Madonna 
more  than  the  Virgin  in  heaven.  It  is  said  by  Catholics  that 
these  images  are  destined  only  as  helps  to  fix  the  attention ;  but, 
•whatever  may  have  been  their  design  originally,  it  is  notorious 
that  they  are  now  actually  worshipped,  and  this  some  Catholics 
are  candid  enough  to  own.  This  the  priests  countenance.  I 
have  seen  a  priest  himself  praying  to  an  image  of  the  Virgin. 
They  carry  around  the  images  in  procession,  and  encourage  the 
people,  in  times  of  calamity,  to  try  different  Madonnas,  because 
some  have  more  virtue  than  others.  Nay,  the  devotees  of  differ- 
ent cities  and  churches  claim  superior  power  and  merit  for  their 
respective  Madonnas.  The  inhabitants  of  Pisa,  for  example,  the 
summer  before  we  were  there,  attributed  their  escape  from  the 
cholera,  while  it  raged  most  fearfully  and  fatally  at  Leghorn,  less 
than  twelve  miles  from  them  in  a  straight  line,  to  the  superior  vir- 
tue of  their  Madonna.  All  these  facts,  and  a  thousand  others 
that  might  be  mentioned,  show  that  it  is  not  the  Virgin  in  heaven, 
but  this  or  that  particular  image  or  picture  that  is  supposed  to 
have  the  virtue  and  the  power  of  saving  and  blessing.  They  are 
taught  this,  or  why  is  it  so  prevalent  ?  Is  it  not  taught  by  the 
example  of  the  pope  himself,  when  he  worships  the  cross,  when 
lie  bows  down  before  the  relics  at  St.  Veronica's  shrine  ?  when 
he  goes,  as  he  did  on  Holy  Week,  to  the  bronze  image  of  St.  Pe- 
ter in  the  church  of  St.  Peter's,  and  kisses  it,  and  rubs  his  face 
against  it,  and  kneels  before  it  ?  Nay,  is  not  this  countenanced 
in  the  very  homage  paid  to  the  pope  himself,  before  whom  the 


TENDENCY    OF   ROMANISM    TO    IDOLATRY.  275 

prelates  and  people  prostrate  themselves  as  to  a  god  ?  If  a  sys- 
tem had  been  formed  for  the  express  purpose  of  calling  off  the  at- 
tention of  the  people  from  the  Creator  to  the  creature,  from  things 
spiritual  to  things  material,  could  anything  more  appropriate  to 
the  object  have  been  formed  ?  What  feature  is  there  in  the  en- 
tire system  of  the  most  splendid  and  fascinating  forms  of  pagan 
idolatry  that  is  not  equalled  or  excelled  by  the  various  parts  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  machinery?  While  the  institutions  of  the  Sa- 
viour were  few,  simple,  and  the  very  opposite  of  anything  like  ex- 
ternal show  or  parade,  for  the  express  purpose  of  turning  the  mind 
from  sensible  objects  to  God,  who  is  a  spirit,  the  entire  system  of 
Catholic  forms  and  rites  is  formed  to  dazzle  the  senses  and  cap- 
tivate the  imagination.  What  else  than  an  extended  and  an  abun- 
dant harvest  of  sensuality,  materialism,  and  idolatry  could  we  ex- 
pect from  such  a  religion  ?  And  what  might  be  expected  is  seen 
in  staring  capitals  throughout  the  country  ;  stark  staring  idolatry 
prevails  in  every  direction.  They  have  become  vain  in  their  im- 
agination, and  their  foolish  heart  is  darkened,  and  they  have 
"  changed  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image  made 
like  to  corruptible  man." 

And,  what  is  worst  of  all  in  this  and  every  other  unholy  fea- 
ture of  Roman  Catholicism,  they  cannot  alter  without  destroying 
the  only  claim  of  that  church  by  which  she  enforces  her  authority 
— her  infallibility.  Wherever  infallibility  is  supposed  to  exist, 
whether  in  the  pope,  in  general  councils,  in  tradition,  or  in  all 
these,  it  is  evident  that  all  have  united  to  sanction  these  idolatrous 
features  of  their  religion.  The  very  moment,  therefore,  that  these 
usages  are  forbidden,  the  groundwork  of  the  whole  system  must 
fall ;  infallibility  will  be  arrayed  against  itself,  and,  when  once 
this  charm  is  broken,  the  whole  system  is  laid  open  to  investiga- 
tion ;  the  decrees  of  popes  and  councils,  which  have  been  venera- 
ted for  centuries,  are  brought  into  discussion,  and  the  entire  sys- 
tem will  crumble  to  the  dust.  It  is  only  by  crying,  procul,  O  pro- 
cul  este  profani — let  not  the  unbelieving  presume  for  a  moment 
to  question  our  authority — that  Catholics  can  keep  their  system 
in  countenance.  Hence  this  church  has  entailed  upon  herself  the 
errors  and  abuses  that  corrupt  her  whole  system,  by  incorpora- 
ting those-»errors  into  her  very  framework,  and  making  them  an 
integral  part  of  her  very  identity.  There  is  no  removing  one  of 


276  ITALY* 

them  without  removing  the  very  substratum  in  which  they  all  in- 
here, and  thereby  unsettling  and  dissolving  all  its  constituent  parts. 
Before  dismissing  this  objection  to  Romanism,  I  cannot  per- 
suade myself  to  omit  noticing,  with  decided  disapprobation,  the 
views  of  Rev.  Mr.  Dewey,  who,  under  the  title  of  the  "  Old 
World  and  the  New,"  has  lately  given  to  the  public  the  result  of 
some  of  his  observations  in  Europe.  He  approves  of  images  and 
paintings  in  churches,  and  of  many  of  the  forms,  ceremonies,  and 
festivals  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  expresses  a  wish  that  simi- 
lar practices  might  be  introduced  into  our  own  country,  and  into 
Protestant  churches.  I  know  not  whether  his  Unitarian  brethren 
will  generally  respond  to  his  sentiments ;  but,  if  they  should,  it 
might  solve  what  has  been  unaccountable  to  many  in  America, 
viz.,  the  favour  which  they,  as  a  religious  sect,  have  manifested 
towards  the  introduction  and  spread  of  Roman  Catholicism  in  the 
United  States.  For  myself,  I  have  generally  accounted  for  it  on 
the  principle  that  they  are  stanch  advocates  of  free  discussion 
and  liberty  of  religious  opinion.  They  have  seen  that  there  has 
been  the  appearance  of  something  like  an  intolerant  spirit  towards 
the  Catholics,  and  this,  as  I  have  supposed,  has  led  them  to  en- 
list their  sympathies  and  influence  in  their  favour.  But  Mr. 
Dewey's  book  has,  I  confess — and  I  express  my  opinion  with  the 
greatest  kindness,  although  I  do  it  with  all  frankness — led  me  to 
fear  that  there  are  between  the  two  religions  some  points  of  har- 
mony and  coincidence  which  may  have  been  overlooked  hitherto 
by  their  Protestant  brethren.  It  has  been  the  opinion  of  many 
Protestants  that  Unitarianism  has  a  decided  leaning  towards  mate- 
rialism ;  that,  as  a  religion,  it  has  in  it  less  of  spirituality  and  more 
of  formality,  especially  as  the  supernatural  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  upon  the  heart  is  denied.  May  there  not  be  principles  of 
affinity  here  which  will  enable  the  two  religions  to  symbolize  to- 
gether to  some  extent  ?  And  especially  since  the  Unitarians  be- 
lieve in  only  a  created  Mediator,  and  that  those  strong  expres- 
sions in  the  Scriptures  authorizing  veneration  and  worship  to  this 
Mediator  are  only  expressive  of  such  a  homage  as  may  be  con- 
sistently paid  to  a  creature,  what  objection  can  they  have  to  the 
homage  paid  by  Catholics  to  their  numerous  mediators,  real  and 
symbolical?  If  Christ  is  only  a  mere  man,  as  some  Unitarians 
hold,  he  is  but  a  saint  at  best.  Why,  then,  should  not  his  sainted 


ROMANISM    INCOMPATIBLE    WITH    RELIGIOUS    FREEDOM.      277 

mother,  and  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  the  thousands  of  martyrs, 
male  and  female,  that  have  been  canonized,  come  in  for  an  equal 
share,  or,  if  not  an  equal  share,  at  least  for  a  similar  kind  of  hom- 
age with  Jesus  Christ  ?  I  deeply  regret  these  suggestions  of  Mr. 
Dewey  :  they  commend  a  most  repulsive  and  dangerous  feature 
of  Romanism,  and  thereby  strengthen,  so  far  as  his  influence  goes, 
the  system  itself;  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  they  show,  at  the  same 
time,  how  extremes  in  error  may  meet  in  the  same  diameter  of 
the  circle,  and  how  a  departure  from  the  truth  in  one  form  may 
push  us  ultimately  into  the  very  errors  we  have  been  accustomed 
to  oppose. 

ROMANISM    IS    INCOMPATIBLE    WITH    CIVIL   AND    RELIGIOUS 
FREEDOM.  . 

I  say  civil  and  religious  freedom,  because  I  think  these  two 
generally  go  together.  They,  in  fact,  imply  each  other,  and  the 
very  power  which,  in  any  government,  exists  in  sufficient  strength 
to  take  away  one,  can  also  infringe  upon  the  other.  Hence,  how- 
ever there  may  have  been  occasional  and  transient  exceptions,  the 
general  rule  is,  civil  and  religious  freedom  flourish  or  fall  together. 
If  Romanism,  therefore,  be  opposed  to  either,  it  is  incompatible 
with  both. 

It  is  no  argument  against  the  above  proposition,  that,  both  in 
England  and  America,  as  well  as  in  some  other  places,  there  are 
found  Catholics  who  are  strong  advocates  for  liberty.  The  known 
policy  of  the  Jesuits,  who 'are  the  principal  movers  in  the  popery 
of  the  United  States,  is  to  harmonize  with  the  popular  current,  in 
>rder  to  make  proselytes  and  gain  influence.  Indeed  this  is,  to  a 
great  extent,  the  policy  of  Romanism  in  all  its  forms ;  for  it  is 
this  policy  which  has  made  it  so  like  the  idolatrous  worship  of 
paganism,  both  in  its  forms  and  in  its  images.  Especially  would 
Papists  advocate  toleration  in  a  Protestant  country,  where,  as  the 
majority  is  against  them,  they  cannot  even  gain  a  ^foothold  but  for 
toleration.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  Catholics  should 
be  clamorous  in  America  for  civil  and  religious  liberty :  nor  is  it 
at  all  surprising  that  the  pope  himself  should  say,  as  he  did  in 

fwiversation  with  me,  that   he  "  liked  America,  because   there 
ere  many  Catholics  there,  and  they  were  all  tolerated  and  in- 
;sted  with  equal  rights  and  immunities  with  others."    Nor  yet, 
. 


278  ITALY. 

when  I  told  him  that  this  was  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of 
our  government,  for  we  had  no  established  religion,  all  being 
equally  tolerated,  is  it  very  surprising  that  he  should  say  in  reply, 
as  he  did,  that  he  considered  "  true  toleration  to  consist  in  leaving 
every  one  to  worship  God  according  to  his  own  choice."  From 
such  sentiments,  uttered  under  such  circumstances,  we  can  form 
no  definite  opinion  of  the  tendency  of  a  religious  system.  To  as- 
certain this  we  should  inquire,  "  What  are  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines and  usages  of  this  system?"  and  "What  has  been,  and 
what  is  now,  the  practical  working  of  the  system  ?" 

A  leading  and  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  Romanism  is,  that  one 
man  is  the  keeper  of  another's  conscience.  This  doctrine  is  es- 
tablished by  the  principle  of  ecclesiastical  supremacy  and  author- 
ity,* pervading  the  entire  body  from  the  sovereign  pontiff  down- 
ward ;  and  is  especially  enforced  through  the  system  of  auricular 
confession.  A  part  of  the  same  system  is  the  withholding  of  the 
Scriptures  from  the  common  people,  and  the  strict  prohibition — a 
prohibition  enforced  with  the  severest  anathemas — forbidding  the 
people  to  judge  for  themselves  in  matters  of  faith  and  practice. 
This  is,  of  itself,  a  spiritual  and  religious  despotism ;  nothing  else 
can  be  made  of  it ;  and,  therefore,  its  natural  and  certain  operation, 
where  it  is  not  counteracted  by  extraneous  and  powerful  barriers, 
is  against  civil  liberty.  All  the  machinery  of  the  monastic  orders 
is  a  part  also  of  the  same  system.  So  also  is  the  doctrine  of 
penance,  which,  of  course,  is  a  sort  of  sanction  and  enforcement 
of  ecclesiastical  authority.  To  this  same  end,  also,  the  power  of 
the  keys,  and  the  cognate  doctrine  of  absolution,  contribute  pow- 
erfully ;  for  by  these  the  priesthood  get  the  power  over  the  purse 
as  well  as  over  the  conscience.  Such  power  is  exerted  even  in 
our  own  country.  Instances  have  been  known  in  which  the  poor 
have  given  all  their  earnings  to  the  priest,  to  obtain  absolution  for 
themselves,  or  indulgence  for  some  deceased  friend,  to  get  him 
out  of  purgatory,  and  have  applied  to  Protestants  for  bread  to  feed 
themselves  and  families.  Now  look  at  this  power  in  its  accumu- 
lated form  :  power  over  men's  faith  ;  power  over  their  conscience ; 
power  over  their  souls  in  this  life  to  forgive  or  to  condemn ;  power 
over  their  souls  in  another  world  to  bind  in  purgatory  or  to  loose 
from  purgatory  ;  and,  by  virtue  of  this  power,  a  control  over  the 
wealth  of  the  rich  and  the  pittance  of  the  poor  ;  can  its  tendency 


ROMANISM    INCOMPATIBLE    WITH    RELIGIOUS    FREEDOM.     279 

be  other  than  subversive  of  both  civil  and  religious  liberty  ?  How 
soon  will  the  power  of  the  sword  follow  ?  How  soon  will  this 
ecclesiastical  authority  associate  itself  with  the  secular  power, 
and  both  be  exerted  to  bring  the  multitude  into  the  most  abject 
subjection  ?  It  is  thus  that  Romanism  ever  has  tended,  and  ever 
will  tend,  to  the  subversion  of  liberty,  "  in  all  the  appropriate  cir- 
cumstances of  its  being."  And  this  has  been  its  uniform  character. 
Nay,  the  decrees  of  councils  and  of  popes  have  arrogated  the  right 
and  duty  to  the  Catholic  church  of  punishing  incorrigible  sinners 
for  their  heresy  and  impenitency.  This  has  kindled  the  fires  of 
the  martyrs,  excited  the  bloodiest  persecutions,  and  arrayed  all  the 
tortures,  and  perpetrated  all  the  cruelties,  of  the  Inquisition. 

Even  now,  although  the  spirit  of  the  age  has  literally  forced  the 
church  to  the  abandonment  of  their  cruelties  and  enormities,  yet 
we  see  still  in  operation  the  same  opposition  to  liberty.  Every 
advance  that  England  has  made  in  liberty  she  has  made  in  oppo- 
sition to  Romanism,  until  Romanism  was  thrown  into  the  minority ; 
since  which,  papists  in  England  and  Ireland  have  been  great  stick- 
lers for  toleration.  France  has  advanced  only  in  opposition  to  the 
same  influence  ;  and,  if  this  religion  had  been  able  to  maintain  its 
sway  over  the  nation,  it  would  have  remained  in  thraldom  until 
this  hour.  And  who  are  at  this  moment  the  greatest  opposers  of 
constitutional  liberty  in  Spain  and  Portugal  ?  Who  are  the  Carl- 
ists  and  Miguelites  of  the  day  ?  The  Roman  Catholic  priests 
and  those  under  their  influence. 

And  what,  after  all,  is  the  boasted  toleration  of  Gregory  XVI.  ? 
His  definition  does  not  come  up  to  the  true  definition  of  toleration. 
It  is  not  enough  to  "  allow  others  to  worship  as  they  choose." 
True  toleration  gives  the  privilege  of  propagating  as  well  as  en- 
joying. But  what  is  the  true  state  of  the  case  at  Rome  ?  From 
the  time  of  the  dispersion  of  the  Vaudese  congregations  and  the 
Reformers  in  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  although 
there  were  numerotfe  little  churches  extending  through  Italy,  there 
was  no  Protestant  worship  allowed  in  Rome  until  the  peace  of 
1814.  Up  to  1770,  or  near  that  time,  all  Protestants  who  died  in 
Rome  were  obliged  to  be  carried  outside  of  the  city  wall,  and  be 
buried  under  the  muro  torto,  opposite  to  the  ancient  entrance  of 
the  Borghese  villa,  among  the  malefactors  who  died  without 
penitence.  About  this  time  permission  was  obtained  to  bury  a 


280  ITALY. 

young  German  nobleman,  on  account  of  his  wealth,  in  the  open 
field  of  Testaceous,  near  the  pyramid  of  Caius  Sestus.  Very- 
few  other  examples  were  known  until  the  time  of  the  French 
domination.  "When  the  Continent  was  open  for  the  English,  after 
1814,  the  part  they  had  taken  in  the  general  struggle,  and  the  in- 
fluence they  had  in  Europe,  gave  the  English  emigrants  a  claim 
for  some  degree,  at  least,  of  religious  toleration,  and  could  not, 
with  any  show  of  propriety,  be  denied  them.  They  assembled 
first  in  a  room  near  Trajan's  Forum  ;  but,  in  consequence  of  some 
unfavourable  impression  upon  the  mind  of  Pius  VII.,  or,  more  prob- 
ably, perhaps,  in  consequence  of  a  hope  on  his  part  of  being  able 
gradually  to  return  to  the  old  exclusive  policy,  especially  as  France 
and  Spain  seemed  to  be  encouraging  such  a  hope,  the  worship 
was  removed  without  the  Porta  del  Popolo,  where  it  still  re- 
mains. In  1819,  also,  the  King  of  Prussia  set  up  worship,  con- 
nected with  his  embassy  in  Rome,  which  is  still  continued,  and 
where  all  Protestants  who  understand  the  German  language  can 
attend  and  hear  the  gospel  faithfully  preached,  in  accordance  with 
the  Protestant  faith. 

In  the  mean  time  a  Protestant  burying-ground  has  been  estab- 
lished in  the  field  above  alluded  to,  near  the  tomb  of  Caius  Sestus, 
which  is  pleasantly  situated  and  walled  in.  A  Protestant  hospital 
is  also  in  progress,  and  will  soon  be  completed,  on  the  Tarpeian 
Rock ;  so  that  the  spot  once  celebrated  for  popular  violence  or 
public  executions  will  be  transformed  into  a  house  of  refuge  and 
a  hospice  of  mercy  for  those  who  need  the  charities  of  their  fellow- 
Christians.  These  are  evidences  that  public  opinion  is  making 
advancement  on  the  intolerance  of  popery ;  but  the  very  reluctance 
and  obstinacy  with  which  this  subject  has  been  treated  show  what 
is  the  spirit  of  popery. 

Look  at  another  fact : — The  Rev.  Mr.  Burgess,  the  English 
Protestant  minister  in  Rome,  has  published  a  volume  of  discourses, 
preached  in  his  own  congregation,  which  the  Catholics  consider  an 
attack  upon  the  supremacy  and  infallibility  of  the  pope,  insomuch 
that  this  volume  has  been  put  upon  the  Index  Expurgatorius  by 
the  Roman  government ;  still  they  dare  not,  if  they  would,  expel 
Mr.  Burgess  from  the  country,  for  he  is  too  highly  respected.* 

*  This  worthy  and  able  clergyman  has  now  left  Rome,  having  accepted  of  a  call  to  a 
parish  in  Chelsea,  England. 


ROMANISM    INCOMPATIBLE    WITH    RELIGIOUS    FREEDOM.      281 

And  yet,  instead  of  making  him  answer  for  his  heresy  at  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  Inquisition,  which  was  the  former  summary  process 
against  heretics,  they  have  to  resort  to  the  Protestant  method  of 
settling  the  controversy,  viz.,  to  argument.  Two  pamphlets  have 
already  been  issued  against  Mr.  Burgess's  book.  One  step  more 
is  necessary,  however,  before  the  improvement  in  the  spirit  and 
course  of  the  government  can  be  very  much  commended,  and  that 
is,  to  permit  Mr.  Burgess  and  any  other  Protestants  to  defend  their 
own  views  through  the  medium  of  the  press.  Until  the  Catholic 
church  is  willing  to  risk  herself  in  the  open  field  of  controversy, 
she  voluntarily  concedes  her  own  weakness,  and  virtually  records, 
in  the  face  of  the  world,  her  own  consciousness  that  her  dogmas 
and  her  practices  cannot  bear  the  test  of  a  fair  investigation ;  a 
concession  this  which  ought  of  itself  to  make  every  intelligent 
Catholic  suspicious  of  his  faith.  What  a  contemptible  position 
is  that  of  the  Roman  pontiff  and  his  advisers  at  this  moment,  in 
reference  to  this  very  question  !  Here  is  a  Protestant  clergyman 
who  is  tolerated,  and  whose  lectures  to  his  own  people,  when 
published,  are  prohibited  ;  they  are,  nevertheless,  in  circulation, 
and  to  meet  them  the  dignitaries  of  the  Roman  church  take  up 
the  defence,  and  endeavour  to  evade  the  force  of  the  well-aimed 
arrow  at  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  by  argument;  but, 
in  doing  it,  they  are  careful  to  throw  around  them  the  shield  of  the 
government,  so  that  they  are  in  little  danger  of  a  return  fire, 
which,  if  they  had  expected,  doubtless  they  never  would  have 
provoked,  or,  at  least,  they  would  have  guarded  against  it  by 
better  arguments  than  those  with  which  they  seem  to  have  man- 
aged this  affair. 

The  subverters  of  liberty  are  always  afraid  of  the  press,  for  the 
reason  that,  when  the  press  is  free,  liberty  flourishes  ;  but,  when  the 
press  is  shackled,  in  the  same  proportion  is  liberty  infringed. 
And  what  is  the  practice  of  the  Roman  court  with  respect  to  the 
press,  we  have  seen.  Indeed,  the  government  has  still  in  full  op- 
eration the  Index  Expurgatorius,  which  is  a  list  of  such  books 
as  are  prohibited  and  of  such  as  are  allowed.  The  luggage  of 
travellers  is  liable  to  examination  to  see  whether  they  have  any 
of  these  prohibited  works.  So  strict  is  the  surveillance  and  cen- 
sorship of  the  press,  that  not  even  a  sonnet  can  be  published 
for  a  special  occasion,  like  that  of  taking  the  veil  already  men.' 
24  N  N 


282  ITALY. 

tioned,  without  getting  it  vised  by  the  proper  officer,  with  a  con 
permesso. 

The  government  and  the  priesthood  are  so  fearful  lest  t hat  pub- 
lic opinion,  which  has  already  done  so  much  towards  resisting  the 
encroachments  of  Romanism,  should  finally  wrest  from  them  the 
censorship  of  the  press,  that  they  make  this  a  part  of  their  public 
preaching.  During  the  forty  days  of  Lent,  a  popular  Jesuit  priest 
from  Lucca  visited  Rome,  and  preached  every  day.  On  one  oc- 
casion he  took  this  for  his  text,  "  Whom  the  Son  makes  free  is 
free  indeed."  His  object  was  to  show  the  difference  between  true 
and  false  liberty  ;  and,  in  order  to  this,  he  drew  a  lively  picture  of 
what  he  called  the  liberals  of  the  day,  whose  liberty,  he  said,  con- 
sisted in  a  claim  to  "  think  what  they  pleased,"  "  say  what  they 
pleased,"  and  "  publish  what  they  pleased."  After  showing  the 
inconsistency  and  danger  of  such  a  claim,  without  making  any 
distinction  between  legal  and  moral  right,  or  between  men's  polit- 
ical and  religious  opinions,  and  by  adroitly  connecting  with  this 
liberty  individual  slander,  blasphemy,  and  treason,  he  swept  the 
whole  claim  away  by  a  popular  harangue,  and  then  burst  out  into 
gratulations  of  "  happy  Italy  !  that  was  saved  by  the  paternal  care 
of  government  from  this  licentiousness."  This  shows  how  Roman- 
ism hangs  upon  despotism  as  her  only  hope. 

And  to  what  is  the  prevailing  ignorance  of  the  populace  to  be 
attributed  but  to  this  same  spirit  of  despotism?  If  the  mind  of 
the  populace  were  enlightened,  it  could  not  be  enthralled.  Hence 
ignorance  is  perpetuated.  How  easy  it  would  be  for  the  eccle- 
siastics that  swarm  all  over  the  land,  like  the  locusts  of  Egypt,  to 
take  hold  of  the  rising  generation  and  elevate  them  at  once  !  There 
are  enough,  who  are  now  worse  than  idle,  fed  upon  the  public  in- 
dustry, to  educate  the  entire  population.  Why  do  they  not  do  it  ? 
Because  this  would  be  the  death-warrant  to  their  own  usurped  au- 
thority over  the  public  mind.  View  this  system,  then,  as  you 
may,  in  every  possible  aspect — in  its  doctrines,  in  its  theory  of  gov 
eminent,  in  its  ecclesiastical  claims,  and  in  its  practical  operations 
— and  you  find  everywhere,  and  at  all  times,  that  the  spirit  of  Ro- 
manism is  incompatible  with  civil  and  religious  liberty.  That  it 
is  incompatible  with  free  inquiry  is  evident  not  only  from  what 
has  just  been  said  of  the  prevailing  ignorance  of  the  day,  but  also 
from  the  present  intolerance  of  the  papal  government.  If  Catho- 


-. 


TENDENCY    OF    POPERY    TO    ENCOURAGE    VICE.  283 

'ics  deny  what  is  here  declared,  and,  I  think,  proved  to  be  the 
tendency  of  this  religion,  let  them  at  least  unshackle  the  press,  let 
them  permit  Protestants  to  enter  the  states  of  the  pope,  yea, 
Rome  itself,  with  the  Bible,  and  with  free  liberty  to  disseminate 
Protestant  doctrines,  and  establish  Protestant  churches  and  schools. 
Let  the  field  of  argument  be  thrown  open.  If  the  pope  likes  Ameri- 
can toleration,  let  him  adopt  it.  We  permit  his  missionaries  to 
propagate  their  religion  among  us,  to  work  the  press  and  fill  the 
pulpit,  to  erect  ecclesiastical  edifices  and  establish  churches,  and 
until  we  in  turn  are  permitted  to  do  this  in  Rome,  what  confidence 
can  we  place  in  a  bustling  officiousness  in  the  cause  of  liberty  by 
Catholics  in  Ireland  or  America  ?  What  can  we  think  of  it  but 
that  it  is  a  species  of  Jesuitism,  designed  merely  as  a  feint  to 
blind  our  eyes,  until  strength  and  numbers  enable  them  to  adjust 
their  political  course  to  a  more  perfect  accordance  with  their  own 
system  ? 

Let  not  Catholics  in  this  country  say  this  is  persecution,  and 
try  to  shelter  themselves  under  the  sympathies  of  the  people.  It 
is  truth,  and  they  know  it  to  be,  and  every  thinking  mind  must 
believe  it  to  be  truth  until  Catholics  alter  their  course.  Nor  will 
even  this  avail  them  if  the  powers  that  be  wait  until  public  opin- 
ion forces  them  to  change.  Let  the  pope  now  issue  his  bull,  and 
let  it  come  sanctioned  by  his  cardinals,  declaring  that  he  has  full 
confidence  in  the  power  and  stability  of  his  religion,  built,  as  it  is, 
upon  "  this  rock ;"  that  he  challenges  the  world  to  meet  it  in  the 
field  of  argument ;  that  Protestants  may  preach  and  publish  their 
views  of  religious  truth  in  the  very  seat  of  the  Roman  See.  Let 
Rome  be  missionary  ground  for  Protestants,  as  the  United  States 
are  missionary  ground  for  Catholics.  When  he  does  this,  then 
may  Catholics  talk  about  liberty  in  this  country  with  some  plau- 
sibility ;  but,  until  this  is  done,  and  done  voluntarily,  we  are  bound, 
by  all  past  experience  and  by  present  doctrines  and  practice,  to 
believe  the  spirit  of  popery  utterly  incompatible  ivith  civil  and 
religious  liberty. 

THE    TENDENCY    OF    POPERY    IS   RATHER   TO   ENCOURAGE    THAN   TO 
RESTRAIN    VICE. 

This  might  not  strike  the  superficial  observer,  when,  for  the  first 
time,  he  was  introduced  into  a  Catholic  country,  and  saw  all  th6 


284  ITALY. 

array  of  devotional  exercises  and  religious  associations,  together 
with  all  the  terrors  that  are  hung  out  as  motives  of  alarm  and  fear 
to  the  'ignorant  populace.  If,  therefore,  at  this  time,  he  should 
be  informed  that  the  history  of  the  church  shows  her  to  have  been 
very  corrupt  in  the  great  whole,  both  in  her  laity  and  clergy,  and 
that  the  history  of  those  nations  which  have  been  the  most  fully 
under  the  influence  of  popery  shows  them  to  be  among  the  most 
notorious  for  moral  corruption,  this  would  lead  to  an  inquiry 
for  the  reason ;  and  a  little  investigation  would  show  that  there 
are  various  causes  which  produce  this,  and  causes,  too,  that  exist 
in  the  very  constituent  principles  of  popery.  In  the  first  place,  he 
would  see  that  the  law  of  celibacy,  which  is  binding  on  so  many 
priests  and  monastic  orders  of  both  sexes,  has  a  direct  tendency 
to  licentiousness. 

In  the  second  place,  the  doctrines  are  not  suited  to  eradicate 
sin.  The  doctrines  of  penance,  and  of  works  of  supererogation, 
and  of  clerical  absolution,  and  of  purgatory,  and  of  masses  for  the 
dead,  and  of  transubstantiation,  not  only  leave  the  passions  of  the 
heart  unsubdued,  but  do,  in  fact,  substitute  something  else  for  per- 
sonal holiness.  Spread  such  doctrines  as  these  over  the  world,  and 
give  them  the  ascendency  in  every  heart,  and  you  have  gained  noth- 
ing towards  the  moral  renovation  of  man.  Let  a  man  believe  that 
a  priest  can  procure  absolution,  and  that  he  will  do  it  for  money 
or  for  penance,  and  will  he  give  himself  the  trouble  to  forsake  his 
sins  ?  Let  him  believe  that  he  can  be  prayed  out  of  purgatory 
if  he  goes  there,  and  will  he  be  very  anxious  about  his  course  of 
life  ?  Let  him  believe  that,  by  partaking  of  the  sacrament,  he  eats 
the  body  of  Christ,  and  that  whosoever  eats  it  shall  live  for  ever, 
and  will  he  not  trust  to  this  rather  than  to  personal  holiness  ? 
Nay,  Romanism  being  true,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  any  one 
dying  within  the  pale  of  the  church  can  be  finally  lost.  He  may 
have  to  do  penance  in  purgatory  a  long  time,  but  he  will  sooner 
or  later  come  out.  And  when  he  sees  on  a  church  door  or  over 
an  altar,  "  Indulgences  given  here  daily"  (or  every  Tuesday  and 
Friday,  &c.,  as  the  case  may  be)  "  for  the  living  and  the  dead — pro 
vivis  et  defunctis ;"  and  over  another  altar,  "  Two  souls  are  released 
from  purgatory  every  time  mass  is  celebrated  here ;"  or  when  he 
learns  that,  "  by  climbing  the  holy  staircase  on  his  knees,  he  may 
reduce  the  period  of  his  purgatorial  pains  two  hundred  years  >'* 


ROMANISM    OPPOSED    TO    POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  285 

when  he  becomes  acquainted,  in  fine,  with  the  various  ways  of 
escaping  from  the  punishment  of  sin  without  forsaking  sin,  he  will 
be  very  likely  to  sin  on,  trusting  to  his  membership  in  the  only 
true  church  for  ultimate  and  final  deliverance,  and  to  some  of  these 
various  devices  for  an  early  escape  from  the  flames  of  purgatory. 
In  this  way  a  man  may  be  very  superstitious  and  religious,  and 
yet  very  wicked ;  he  may  fear  he  shall  hazard  his  salvation  by 
neglecting  his  Ave  Maria,  although  he  rises  from  it  to  go  and 
commit  robbery  and  murder  without  compunction.  Our  vetturino 
would  swear  most  blasphemously,  and  the  next  moment  you  might 
see  him  raising  his  hat  to  a  madonna  rudely  painted  by  the  way- 
side. In  short,  while  I  am  far  from  thinking  that  the  present 
race  of  Italians  are  sinners  above  all ;  nay,  while  I  believe  there 
is  as  little  danger  of  personal  violence  or  theft  in  Italy  as  in  most 
other  countries,  yet  I  think  licentiousness  prevails  and  dishonesty ; 
and  my  decided  convictions  are,  that  the  tendency,  on  the  whole, 
of  the  Catholic  religion  is  to  encourage  vice  rather  than  restrain 
it ;  and,  while  I  give  due  credit  to  individual  character  for  morality 
and  piety  wherever  found,  still  I  believe  a  careful  examination  of 
the  morals  of  Christendom  will  show  that  Protestant  communities, 
other  circumstances  being  equal,  have  the  decided  advantage  in 
point  of  moral  character. 

THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  RELIGION  HAS  A  DIRECT  TENDENCY  TO 
EMPOVERISH  A  NATION,  AND  IS  DIAMETRICALLY  OPPOSED  TO 
THE  SOUNDEST  PRINCIPLES  OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

If  it  were  true  that  there  is  no  salvation  out  of  the  Catholic 
church,  this  objection  would  be  of  little  weight,  for  "  what  shall  it 
profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?" 
But  we  are  examining  its  exclusive  claims,  and  in  this  examina- 
tion we  find  all  these  considerations  against  it.  Nor  is  it  a  small 
objection  to  any  system  of  religion  that  it  empoverishes  a  nation. 
There  is%more  connexion  between  pecuniary  thrift  and  moral 
character  than  most  are  aware  of,  and  a  more  close  alliance  be- 
tween mere  worldly  prosperity  and  intellectual  and  moral  eleva- 
tion of  character  than  any  who  have  not  examined  this  subject 
have  conceived  of.  I  speak  now  as  well  of  that  general  diffusion 
of  wealth,  and  of  that  kind  of  worldly  thrift  that  opens  the  way 
for  competency,  and  something  more  than  competency,  for  the 


286  ITALY. 

great  mass  of  the  people,  as  also  of  the  amassing  of  larger  fortunes 
by  the  more  enterprising  and  more  favoured.  Now  it  is  obvious, 
I  think,  that  Roman  Catholicism  is  prejudicial  to  this  increase  of 
wealth  in  any  form,  and  that,  so  far  as  wealth  is  accumulated  in 
Catholic  countries,  the  tendency  of  their  institutions  is  to  a  very 
unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  making  some  very  rich  and  others 
beggarly  poor.  We  have  already  seen  that  this  system  encour- 
ages ignorance  in  the  multitude,  and  is  opposed  to  civil  liberty ; 
and  this,  of  itself,  is  sufficient  to  show  its  influence  upon  the  ac- 
quisition and  diffusion  of  wealth  ;  for  when  a  great  portion  of  the 
people  are  kept  in  ignorance  and  in  thraldom,  they  will,  of  course, 
be  wretchedly  poor.  This,  therefore,  is  one  argument  to  show 
the  tendency  of  popery ;  and  we  might  draw  another  from  the 
past  history  and  present  condition  of  Catholic  countries,  and  we 
should  find  the  same  truth  established.  France,  while  she  was 
under  the  exclusive  experiment  of  Catholic  ascendency,  felt  the 
force  of  this  truth.  It  must,  indeed,  be  granted,  that  her  court  as 
well  as  her  religion  was  extravagant  and  prodigal,  but  both  causes 
united  to  press  her  down  beyond  endurance  ;  and,  since  the  power 
and  influence  of  her  clergy  and  of  her  monastic  institutions  have 
been  shaken  off,  notwithstanding  her  numerous  and  expensive  wars, 
she  has  been  advancing  in  wealth,  while  Spain,  and  Portugal,  and 

Se  Brazils,  and  Italy  herself,  all  of  which  have  remained  under 
e  influence  of  the  priesthood,  have  remained,  also,  compara- 
tively poor.  Go  to  Ireland,  and  there  you  will  see  Catholic  Ire- 
land most  miserably  degraded  and  poor,  even  to  a  state  of  starva- 
tion, and  Protestant  Ireland  comparatively  wealthy  and  comforta- 
ble. Go  to  Switzerland,  where  all  have  equally  enjoyed  the  ad- 
vantages of  liberty  and  the  fruits  of  their  industry,  and  mark  the 
difference  ;  a  difference  visible  upon  the  very  surface  between  the 
Catholic  and  Protestant  cantons  and  towns.  But,  leaving  other 
countries,  let  us  confine  our  views  to  Italy.  Italy  is  full  of  beg- 
gars. Italy  is  oppressed  with  poverty.  It  is  not  merely  because 
wealth  is  very  unequally  divided,  although  that  is  true  so  far  as 
wealth  exists,  but  the  real  truth  is,  comparatively  speaking,  the 
whole  community  is  poor,  high  and  low,  rulers  and  ruled.  With 
the  exception  of  some  public  edifices,  religious  and  others,  you 
are  struck  with  the  poverty  of  the  country ;  I  speak  more  espe- 
cially of  Southern  Italy.  Now  why  is  this  ?  It  might  be  said,  I 


Irnnw 


ROMANISM    OPPOSED    TO    POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  287 


know,  that  it  is  owing  to  wars  and  public  robbery ;  that,  under 
all  circumstances  and  in  every  event,  poor  Italy  is  the  prize  con- 
tended for  and  the  country  that  is  plundered.  Grant  that  this 
has  been  to  a  great  extent  true ;  still  it  is  no  more  applicable  to 
Italy  than  to  many  other  countries.  Besides,  it  has  now  been 
twenty-two  years  that  she  has  enjoyed  freedom  from  public  plun- 
der and  from  foreign  invasion.  How  ought  a  country  with  the  re- 
sources of  Italy  to  have  risen  up  from  her  poverty  in  this  period 
of  peace  and  security  ?  But  the  torpor  of  death  is  upon  her  still. 
Nay,  it  may  be  safely  assumed  that  the  wars  and  changes  of  the 
Bonapartean  period  were,  in  point  of  wealth,  after  all,  beneficial  to 
Italy,  Certain  it  is  that  during  that  period  the  national  debts  of 
Florence,  and  Rome,  and  Naples  were  mostly  paid  off.*  Public 
works  that  had  long  been  neglected  were  recommenced  and  per- 
fected ;  roads  and  bridges  were  made,  cities  were  adorned,  anti- 
quities were  excavated  from  the  accumulated  rubbish  of  centuries, 
and  the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  industry  was  waked  up  in  every 
direction,  insomuch  that  the  old  King  of  Naples,  it  is  said,  hardly 
knew  his  kingdom  when  he  returned  to  it  after  the  pacification  of 
1814.  Grant,  if  it  is  required,  that  much  of  this  was  done  by  the 
confiscation  of  ecclesiastical  property,  still  that  only  favours  my 
argument,  for  it  shows  that,  under  the  Catholic  influence,  a  vast 
amount  of  wealth  was  accumulated  in  the  hands  of  the  church  in 
various  forms  which  was  dead  capital,  and  it  was  by  breaking 
down  this  policy  of  the  Roman  church  that  not  only  were  all  the 
expenses  of  these  wars  refunded  and  foreign  rapacity  satiated, 
but  the  public  debts  were  discharged  and  the  aggregate  of  availa- 
ble wealth  increased.  The  plea  of  exhaustion  from  war  and  for- 
eign plunder,  therefore,  cannot  avail  to  account  for  the  present 
state  of  the  country. 

This  poverty  cannot  be  from  the  country's  being  overstocked 
with  inhabitants ;  for  Tuscany,  for  example,  has  but  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  to  a  square  mile,  while  France  has  one 
hundred  and  fifty,  and  England  about  two  hundred  and  sixty. 

It  cannot  be  for  the  want  of  resources,  for  the  soil  of  the  plains 
and  valleys  is  very  rich,  producing  two  crops  a  year ;  the  hills  are 

*  The  Roman  states  were  relieved  of  a  debt  of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  mill- 
ions ;  seventy  millions  of  this,  however,  was  a  paper  currency,  which  had  greatly  depre- 
ciated in  value,  and  which  the  French  never  recognised ;  and  it  must  also  be  acknowl- 
edged that  they  did  not  pay  the  full  value  of  the  balance. 


288  ITALY. 

fruitful  in  vines,  olives,  and  other  fruits ;  and  the  mountains 
abound  in  minerals.  There  is  also  abundant  water-power  for 
machinery,  and  the  entire  country  is  a  peninsula  surrounded  with 
navigable  waters,  and  indented  with  innumerable  bays  and  har- 
bours. 

Will  it  be  said  the  people  lack  enterprise  ?  This  is  grant- 
ed ;  but  what  has  destroyed  their  enterprise  ?  The  climate  ? 
But  when  and  where  was  there  a  more  enterprising  race  than  the 
ancient  Romans  who  inhabited  the  same  country  ?  The  spirit  of 
popery  has  broken  down  their  enterprise,  and  never  will  they  be 
restored  to  activity  and  enterprise  until  this  incubus  be  removed 
from  them.  It  takes  away  the  key  of  knowledge  from  the  great 
mass  of  the  people ;  it  shrouds  their  minds  in  superstition,  and 
superinduces  an  intellectual  torpor. 

But,  above  all,  the  Catholic  religion  absorbs  the  great  whole  of 
the  fruits  of  the  industry  of  the  people  in  a  barren  consumption. 
Never  before,  I  believe,  was  there  so  costly  a  religion  as  this. 
Look  at  some  of  the  principal  items  :  First,  notice  the  expense  of 
the  churches ;  the  traveller  is  astonished  at  the  multitude  of  the 
churches  that  he  sees  in  Italy,  both  in  town  and  country ;  in  the 
vales  and  on  the  mountains ;  where  there  are  inhabitants  and 
where  there  are  none  ;  for  it  is  often  the  case  that  some  saint  will 
have  a  church  and  a  shrine  at  a  distance  of  one,  two,  three,  or 
more  miles  from  the  habitations  of  men,  which  is  used,  perhaps, 
once  or  twice  a  year  on  some  fete  day,  on  which  a  company  make 
a  pilgrimage  thither  to  celebrate  mass.  Every  little  town  and 
village  will  have  a  number.  Rome,  for  example,  has  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  three  hundred  churches.  Many 
of  these  are  splendid  and  extravagantly  expensive.  St.  Peter's 
alone,  with  all  its  fixtures,  furniture,  paintings,  mosaics,  and  stat- 
uary, cost  from  fifty  to  fifty-five  millions  of  dollars  ;  and  although 
there  are  no  other  churches  to  be  compared  with  this,  yet  there 
are  a  number  of  churches  in  Rome  that  must  have  cost  several 
millions  each.  I  should  judge  it  a  moderate  calculation  to  esti- 
mate the  cost  of  the  churches  and  ecclesiastical  edifices  of  Rome 
at  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions.  And  what  does  all  this  expend- 
iture return  for  the  outlay  ?  Nothing ;  for  the  most  part  worse 
than  nothing,  because  it  only  furnishes  occasion  for  the  employ- 
ment of  an  army  of  sinecures.  It  is  true,  an  adequate  number  of 


ROMANISM    OPPOSED    TO    POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  289 

churches  of  reasonable  expense,  and  a  competent  supply  of  reli- 
gious teachers,  are  an  advantage  to  a  nation  even  in  a  pecuniary 
point  of  view ;  but  how  trifling  the  necessary  amount  compared 
with  this  ? 

Secondly,  look  at  the  number  of  ecclesiastics,  monks,  and  nuns 
of  every  grade.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  proportion 
that  the  priests,  monks,  and  nuns  bear  to  the  whole  population. 
I  was  told,  with  how  much  accuracy  I  cannot  say,  that  in  Florence, 
which  has  a  population  of  about  eighty  thousand,  there  were  five 
thousand  priests  and  other  ecclesiastics.  Probably  this  was  a 
high  estimate,  but  certainly  there  are  very  many.  It  seemed  as 
though  every  fifth  or  eighth  man  we  met  in  the  street  was  a  priest 
I  tried  to  ascertain  from  the  priests  themselves  the  number  of 
their  profession  in  Rome.  They  were  either  ignorant  or  unwill- 
ing to  tell.  Their  answer  was,  Molto  !  molto  !  There  are,  how- 
ever, according  to  the  best  information  I  could  get,  from  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  to  two  thousand  priests  and  bishops,  and  about 
double  that  number  of  monks  and  nuns.  These  monastic  estab- 
lishments were  almost  wholly  suppressed  by  the  French,  but  have 
been  restored  by  the  pope.  Not  so  many  of  the  provincial  mon- 
asteries, however,  have  been  restored  in  the  Roman  states  ;  and 
in  the  Austrian  dominions  in  Northern  Italy  none  of  the  orders  or 
religious  houses  have  been  restored.  In  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
before  the  revolutions  there  and  its  subsequent  subjugation  to  the 
French,  the  whole  number  of  ecclesiastics  was  about  one  hundred 
thousand,  which  was  supported  at  an  expense  of  about  nine  mill- 
ions of  dollars  annually.  Some  of  the  religious  houses  of 'this 
kingdom  have  been  restored,  and  it  is  not  for  the  want  of  a  good 
will  in  the  pope  that  all  have  not. 

By  this  multitude  of  priests  and  other  ecclesiastics  it  is  seen 
that  not  only  is  there  a  direct  tax  upon  the  country  for  their  sup- 
port, but  there  is  also  subtracted  from  the  industry  of  the  country 
the  amount  of  what  these  ecclesiastics  might  have  contributed  to 
it  if  they  had  been  engaged  in  some  industrious  calling.  This  is 
a  great  tax,  certainly,  upon  the  income  of  a  nation. 

tSome  of  these  orders  live  upon  incomes  of  certain  estates  at- 
ached  to  them  ;  others,  and  a  very  considerable  portion,  are  of 
he  mendicant  orders.     They  possess  no  property,  and  live  upon 
charity.     We  had  hardly  got  settled  in  our  lodgings  in  Rome  be 
25  Oo 


290  ITALY. 

fore  one  of  these  licensed  beggars  called  on  us,  with  his  creden- 
tials, stating  that  their  monastery  supported  many  of  the  suffering 
poor,  &c.  It  is  said  there  are  ten  convents  in  Rome  that  employ 
public  beggars  constantly. 

The  frequent  feasts  and  religious  days  in  this  country  are  a 
great  tax  upon  the  industry  of  the  people  ;  at  the  same  time  they 
cultivate  indolent  habits,  and  thus  prove  a  double  loss  to  the  com- 
munity. To  this  we  might  add  the  processions  and  the  pilgrim- 
ages, which  are  all  a  tax  of  a  similar  nature,  and  they  also  en- 
courage idleness. 

In  short,  the  wax  candles  that  are  burnt  in  Roman  Catholic 
countries,  most  of  them  in  broad  daylight,  would  of  themselves 
make  a  handsome  revenue.  I  have  seen  large  processions  mo- 
ving through  the  streets  of  Rome  and  Naples,  with  their  large  wax 
candles  flaring  away  in  the  wind ;  and  so  valuable  was  the  drip- 
ping wax  to  the  poor,  that  the  boys,  one  at  each*  candle,  running 
by  the  side,  caught  it  in  a  piece  of  paper  as  it  fell.  I  have  seen 
five  or  six  hundred  of  these  burning  at  a  time  in  one  church. 
Eighty  are  kept  constantly  burning  before  the  shrine  of  St.  Peter 
in  St.  Peter's  Cathedral. 

When  all  these  enormous  expenses  are  taken  into  the  account, 
can  any  one  wonder  at  the  poverty  of  the  people,  or  doubt  that 
this  system  is  at  direct  variance  with  the  soundest  principles  of 
political  economy  ? 

These  are  some  of  the  objections  that  have  occurred  to  me  as 
operating  decidedly  and  fatally  against  the  character  and  claims 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  And,  however  little  they  may 
avail  with  such  &s  are  Catholics,  they  ought  to  have  their  weight 
with  Protestants,  as  well  to  guard  their  own  minds  against  the 
plausible  insinuations  of  the  system,  as  also  to  keep  up  the  influ- 
ence of  an  enlightened  public  sentiment  on  this  subject.  Let  Ro- 
man Catholics  have  full  liberty  to  exercise  and  propagate  their  re- 
ligion ;  but  let  Protestants  ever  bear  in  mind  what  have  been  and 
what  are  now  the  essential  features  of  a  church  that  must  always 
maintain  the  same  character  in  all  its  parts,  or  cease  to  be  what 
she  claims  to  be — the  infallible  and  only  Church  of  Christ. 

W.  FISK 

Rome,  March,  1836. 


THE    CAPITOL   AND    FORUM.  291 


CHAPTER  XV. 

I  have  much  to  say  of  Rome  if  I  mention  but  a  tithe  of  the  in- 
teresting objects  found  here.  I  am  aware,  however,  that  the  limits 
prescribed  to  myself  in  this  journal  will  not  permit  a  very  minute 
description  of  even  the  most  prominent  of  these  objects.  But  I 
must  make  a  selection,  and  briefly  notice  a  few. 

The  first  thing  that  the  stranger  thinks  of,  in  starting  out  from 
his  lodgings  when  once  he  gets  settled  in  Rome,  is  its  antiquities. 
At  least  such  were  my  feelings,  and  I  could  not  be  satisfied  until 
I  was  taken  in  medias  res.  I  desired  to  commence  my  observa- 
tions just  as  the  great  Roman  poet  began  his  ^Eneid — in  the  very 
centre  of  affairs.  I  designed,  indeed,  ultimately  to  follow  out  each 
episode,  and  learn  all  the  circumstances,  direct  and  collateral ; 
but  who  could  endure  to  begin  with  these  ?  Take  me  to  the  Fo- 
rum ;  to  the  focal  point  of  interest ;  not  only  because  it  was  the 
theatre  of  most  of  the  great  public  events  of  ancient  Rome,  but 
also  because  here  and  in  this  neighbourhood  remain  in  greatest 
abundance  and  perfection  the  columns,  the  temples,  the  triumphal 
arches,  and  other  monuments  of  the  ancient  city.  Take  me  to 
the  Capitol ;  to  the  Via  Sacra  ;  to  Nero's  Golden  House ;  to  the 
Tarpeian  Rock ;  to^the  amphitheatre  of  Titus.  Take  me  to  some 
pinnacle  where  I  can  see  the  "  seven  hills"  of  the  ancient  city, 
and  whatever  of  ancient  objects  which,  though  now  in  ruins,  still 
cluster  around  their  classic  brows,  or  have  been  excavated  from 
the  intervening  valleys.  It  was  done  ;  and  the  first  week  we  spent 
in  Rome,  which,  the  reader  will  recollect,  was  before  our  visit  to 
Naples,  we  took  a  general  view  of  most  that  was  to  be  seen  of 
these  ancient  ruins.  The  first  day — the  first  morning,  we  were 
at  the  Capitol  and  in  the  Forum.  Full  many  a  time  afterward 
we  revisited  this  spot,  and  hung  around  these  relics  of  an  ancient 
world,  but  the  charm  never  wore  off.  Indeed,  the  more  we  vis- 
ited and  gazed,  the  more  I  found  my  feelings  clustering  around 
these  ruins ;  just  as  you  often  see  the  modern  ivy  insert  its  fibrous 
root  into  the  walls  of  the  ancient  tower,  or  cover  with  its  fresh  and 
recent  foliage  the  crumbling  capital  of  an  ancient  column.* 

*  « In  contemplating  antiquities  the  mind  itself  becomes  antique."— LIVY. 


292  ITALY. 

The  ancient  Roman  Forum  was  a  space  of  very  considerable 
extent,  between  the  Capitoline  and  Palatine  Hills ;  or,  more  prop- 
erly, extending  from  the  foot  of  the  former  on  the  east,  along  the 
base  of  the  latter  on  the  north.  This  was  surrounded  with  tem- 
ples, basilicas,  and  various  public  edifices  and  monuments.  At 
the  west  was  the  Capitol,  the  foundations  of  which  still  remain, 
and  on  which  the  modern  edifice  called  the  Capitol  is  built. 
Near  to  this  are  the  remains  of  a  temple  supposed  to  have  been 
dedicated  to  Fortune.  There  are  still  standing  eight  columns,  six 
in  front  and  one  each  side,  of  granite,  and  of  the  Ionic  order,  hav- 
ing an  entablature  and  a  pediment.  Near  this  are  three  columns 
of  the  portico  of  a  temple,  built  by  Augustus  to  the  honour  of 
Jupiter  Tonans,  or  Jove  the  Thunderer,  in  commemoration  of 
and  gratitude  for  his  escape  from  lightning.  A  part  of  the  entab- 
lature and  frieze  also  remains.  The  order  is  Corinthian,  and  the 
workmanship  and  proportions  very  fine ;  such  as  might  be  expect- 
ed to  be  built  in  the  Roman  Forum  in  the  Augustan  age.  Near 
this  also  was  the  Temple  of  Concord,  the  base  of  which  has  been 
excavated.  Farther  down  is  the  triumphal  arc  of  Septimus  Sev- 
erus,  erected  in  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  to  commemo- 
rate his  victory  over  the  Parthians.  It  stands  directly  over  the 
Via  Sacra.  These  triumphal  arcs  or  arches  are  all  built  in  a 
fine  style  of  architecture,  and  generally  have  embossed  upon  them 
symbolical  representations  of  the  battles  fought  and  victories  won 
by  the  heroes  they  are  designed  to  honour,  together  with  appro- 
priate inscriptions.  The  top,  for  the  most  part — such,  we  are  in- 
formed, was  the  case  with  this  of  Severus — was  surmounted  with 
a  triumphal  car  and  horses,  and  sometimes  other  figures.  They 
spanned  the  road  or  street  in  architectural  grandeur  and  beauty, 
and  through  them  the  processions  moved  in  triumph.  Passing 
east  from  this  arch  you  come  to  that  erected  in  honour  of  Titus 
after  the  taking  of  Jerusalem.  The  bassi  relievi  on  one  side  of 
this  arch  represent  the  spoils  of  the  temple,  viz.,  incense  vessels, 
the  golden  candlesticks,  the  table  of  show-bread,  and  the  jubilee 
1  rumpets.  As  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  these  are  an  exaet  rep- 
resentation of  the  original,  we  have  in  this  manner  handed  down 
to  us,  through  the  pride  of  a  Roman  hero,  the  models  of  these  an- 
cient vessels,  planned  by  the  Divine  Architect  himself.  This 
arch  has  been  so  much  restored  and  repaired  that  most  of  tho 


THE    VIA    SACRA.  293 

structure  is  modern,  the  interior  part  of  the  arch  being  the  chief 
that  appears  of  the  ancient  structure.  Still  farther  east,  and  bear- 
ing to  the  south,  you  come  to  the  noblest  monument  of  the  kind 
now  remaining  in  Rome — the  arch  of  Constantine.  This  has  twa 
side  arches  and  a  grand  central  arch ;  the  whole  in  a  fine  state  of 
preservation. 

But,  in  following  out  the  triumphal  monuments,  we  have  left 
the  Forum,  and  must  go  back  to  notice  a  few  other  objects  a  little 
more  particularly.  The  Via  Sacra,  or  Sacred  Way,  which  we 
traversed  to  visit  these  arches,  was  so  called  because  here  sacri- 
fices were  offered  at  the  time  peace  was  confirmed  between  those 
ancient  chieftains  Romulus  and  Tatius.  Its  pavements  are  still 
firm ;  and  well  they  may  be,  for,  like  another  Pompeii,  they  have 
but  recently  been  excavated  from  the  oblivious  tomb  of  centuries. 
It  has  never  been  satisfactorily  accounted  for  that  there  has  been 
such  an  accumulation  of  earth  in  the  Forum  as  to  bury  the  streets: 
and  the  temples  to  the  depth  of  twenty  and  thirty  feet.  On  this 
point  history  is  silent,  and  conjecture  is  vague  and  unsatisfactory. 
Nor  is  this  accumulation  in  this  spot  only,  but  all  over  the  ancient 
city,  especially  the  lower  parts,  while  the  hills  seem  lessened  ;  so 
that,  by  the  lowering  of  the  hills  and  filling  up  the  vales,  the  seven 
hills  have  lost  much  of  their  prominency  and  distinctness. 

Much  still  remains  to  be  excavated  from  the  ruins  of  Rome, 
and,  at  present,  the  work  goes  on  slowly.  While  Rome  was  an 
imperial  city  of  the  French  empire,  most  was  done  that  has  ever 
been  done,  and,  unless  times  alter,  that  ever  will  be  done,  by  way 
of  exhuming  these  buried  relics  of  ancient  art.  There  were  quite 
a  number  of  state  prisoners,  with  their  wheelbarrows  and  spades, 
in  the  Forum  ;  most  of  them,  however,  basking  or  sleeping  in  the 
sun.  From  their  appearance  and  idleness,  I  should  judge  that 
the  state  criminals  of  Rome  were  better  provided  for,  and  with 
less  labour,  than  most  of  his  holiness's  labouring  poor, 

A  modern  street  runs  at  oblique  angles  across  the  Via  Sacra, 
and  a  little  east  of  the  arch  of  Septimus,  from  which  you  have  to 
look  down  some  twenty  feet  upon  the  pavement  of  this  ancient 
street  and  the  ruins  around  it.  On  the  side  opposite,  that  is,  east 
of  the  modern  street,  is  a  beautiful  column  still  standing,  with  a 
square  base,  ascended  on  every  side  by  steps,  called  Phocas's 
Column,  erected  in  honour  of  the  emperor  of  that  name  ;  farther 


294  ITALY. 

east,  and  near  the  Palatine  Hill,  stand  three  other  fluted  Corn* 
thian  columns,  surmounted  by  a  broken  entablature.  These  are 
conjectured  to  be  the  remains  of  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Stator, 
or  Jupiter  who  maketh  to  stand  or  stop,  so  called  because,  when 
his  soldiers  were  fleeing  from  the  Sabines,  Romulus,  by  praying 
to  Jupiter,  was  enabled  to  arrest  their  flight  at  this  spot,  and  turn 
the  battle  against  their  pursuers  with  such  success  as  to  gain  the 
victory  ;  in  devout  gratitude  for  which  this  temple  was  erected. 
We  cannot  so  much  wonder  at  the  superstition  of  the  ancient  pa- 
gan Romans,  who  built  temples  to  the  gods  who  had  favoured 
them,  when  the  modern  Christian  Romans  pay  their  religious  ob- 
ligations in  the  same  way.  How  hard  for  man  to  learn,  that  the 
only  way  of  discharging  his  debt  of  gratitude  to  God,  his  creator 
and  preserver,  is  to  consecrate  to  him  his  heart  and  his  life. 

Near  the  last-mentioned  spot,  and  some  suppose  that  these 
columns  are  a  part  of  the  architectural  adornings  of  the  place  it- 
self, was  the  Comitium,  where  the  public  curise  were  held.  Here 
formerly  grew  the  fig-tree  called  Ruminalis,  under  which,  ac- 
cording to  tradition,  Romulus  and  Remus  were  suckled  by  the 
she-wolf.  Not  far  from  this  were  the  Curia  Hostilia,  where  the 
senate  used  to  assemble,  so  called  because  erected  by  Tullus  Hos- 
tilius.  On  these  ruins  now  stands  the  Church  of  St.  Theodore  '* 
for  it  is  the  practice  in  Rome,  and,  indeed,  throughout  Italy,  to 
build  churches  on  the  sites  of  ancient  temples  and  other  edifices. 
Where  any  part  of  the  ancient  edifice  stands,  it  is  incorporated 
into  the  modern  structure ;  or,  if  the  ancient  building  is  entire,  it 
is  metamorphosed  into  a  church ;  such,  for  example,  is  the  Pan- 
theon, hereafter  noticed. 

In  this  part  of  the  Forum  was  the  Rostra,  where  the  public  or- 
ators harangued  the  people.  On  the  north  side  of  the  Forum  was 
the  Temple  of  Antoninus  and  his  wife  Faustina,  than  which  latter 
there  has  scarcely  lived  a  more  scandalous  and  worthless  woman ; 
and  yet  to  her,  conjointly  with  her  husband,  the  Roman  senate 
erected  a  temple,  some  parts  of  which,  the  columns  of  the  portico 
and  an  ancient  frieze,  remain,  and  are  incorporated  with  the 
Church  of  St.  Lorenzo  en  Miranda.  Then  come  the  Temple  of 

*  Some  think  this  church,  which  is  itself  an  ancient  edifice,  is  on  the  site  of  the  an- 
cient Temple  of  Romulus.  There  is  a  difficulty  in  fixiag  the  precise  locality  of  some  of 
these  edifices. 


THE    COLOSSEUM.  293 

Remus,  the  Temple  of  Peace,  and  here  the  stranger  is  especially 
attracted  by  the  extensive  ruins  of  the  Basilica  of  Constantine, 
said  to  have  been  three  hundred  feet  in  length  and  two  hundred 
in  breadth.  Three  immense  arches  remain  almost  entire,  and 
one  of  the  columns  may  be  seen  at  the  Church  of  Maria  Maggi- 
ore,  sixteen  feet  in  circumference  and  forty-eight  feet  high,  one 
entire  fluted  shaft  of  white  marble. 

But  we  must  advance  again  to  the  east,  and,  keeping  to  the  left 
of  the  road  that  leads  you  to  the  arch  of  Constantine,  leaving  on 
either  hand  the  ruinous  indications  at  every  step  of  the  splendid 
edifices  which  once  crowded  this  region  of  the  city,  you  come 
soon  to  the  gigantic  Colosseum,  the  most  magnificent  ruin,  I  doubt 
not,  in  the  world.  Ruin  I  call  it,  and  yet,  if  the  hand  of  man  had 
not  been  employed  in  its  demolition,  it  would  have  remained 
almost  entire  until  now.  The  materials  of  which  it  is  composed 
are  principally  the  travertina  marble,  already  described  in  the  ac- 
count of  the  temples  at  Paestum.  It  is  here  sometimes  called 
Lapis  Tiburtinus,  because  the  stone  is  formed  and  found  in  great 
abundance  at  Tivoli,  the  ancient  Tibur.  In  addition  to  the  imper- 
ishable nature  of  the  material,  the  blocks  are  so  immensely  large 
that  they  bid  defiance  to  the  assaults  of  centuries  ;  so  large,  in 
fact,  that  it  seems  almost  incredible  how,  in  the  then  existing  state 
of  the  mechanic  arts,  they  could  have  been  raised  to  their  places 
in  the  elevated  parts  of  the  building.  In  addition  to  the  character 
and  size  of  the  material,  the  form  of  the  edifice,  an  oval,  was  the 
best  to  endure.  It  can  hardly  fail  to  strike  all  who  examine  an- 
cient edifices,  how  much  more  general  and  entire  are  preserved 
structures  of  a  circular  form  and  finished  with  arches,  than  those 
of  a  rectangular  form.  The  reason,  however,  is  most  obvious; 
the  former  are  constructed  on  those  principles  by  which  every 
part  strengthens  a  part  in  the  most  perfect  manner  possible. 
Hence,  in  a  great  many  of  the  structures  where  one  portion  was  in 
one  form  and  the  other  portion  in  another,  we  find  the  circular 
and  arched  parts  remaining,  while  the  others  are  gone.  Much 
more  remains  when  all  is  circular.  Then,  whether  the  edifice 
have  to  endure  the  assaults  of  war,  the  shocks  of  earthquakes, 
the  strokes  of  lightning,  or  the  more  gradual  corrosions  of  time, 
it  is  best  prepared  to  resist.  The  Colosseum  has  endured  all 
these,  and  would  have  withstood  all  these,  but  that,  by  the  via 


296  ITALY. 

lence  of  a  siege  and  the  shock  of  #n  earthquake,  some  of  the  stones 
were  loosened,  and  then  it  became  the  vast  quarry  from  which 
popes,  cardinals,  and  princes  obtained  their  materials  for  their 
palaces  and  churches,  so  that  a  good  share  of  modern  Rome  was 
erected  out  of  the  ruins  of  this  wonder  of  the  world.  This  work 
went  on  for  centuries,  so  that  on  one  side  this  amphitheatre  is 
greatly  diminished  and  deformed.  At  length  the  place  was  con- 
secrated for  religious  worship,  and,  what  good  taste  could  not 
protect,  superstition  has  effectually  defended,  so  true  is  it  that  in 
many  of  their  tendencies 

"E'en  our  failings  lean  to  virtue's  side." 

If,  in  the  providence  of  God,  some  follies  and  evils  did  not  coun- 
teract others,  this  world  would  long  since  have  been  a  howling 
wilderness.  Now  the  interior  is  filled  with  shrines  and  altars, 
crosses  and  images,  presenting  to  the  mind  of  the  spectator,  as  he 
sees  the  devotees  bowing,  and  praying,  and  crossing  themselves  in 
this  once  bloody  arena,  a  pleasant  reflection  on  the  contrast  between 
the  present  and  former  use  of  this  theatre. 

On  the  parts  where  the  most  injury  has  been  sustained,  repairs 
have  been  made,  and  buttresses  built  to  stay  the  progress  of  dis- 
solution and  dilapidation. 

It  may  not  be  unnecessary  for  some  of  my  readers  to  state  that 
this  stupendous  work  was  reared  under  the  direction  of  Vespasian 
and  Titus,  and  opened  by  the  latter  in  the  year  eighty  of  the 
Christian  era.  At  its  consecration  (desecration)  gladiatorial  sports 
were  celebrated  for  one  hundred  days,  during  which  time  it  is 
said  five  thousand  wild  beasts  and  many  thousands  of  gladiators 
were  sacrificed.  So  eager  were  the  ancient  Romans  for  these 
cruel  sports,  that  this  amphitheatre,  capable  as  it  was  of  contain- 
ing in  the  seats  and  galleries  above  one  hundred  thousand, 
could  by  no  means  furnish  room  for  all  who  crowded  to  the 
bloody  scene.  The  seats  began  to  be  filled  at  midnight  in  order 
to  be  in  time  to  see  the  morning  games.  Twice  a  day  the  sen- 
ators and  principal  citizens  came  to  the  spectacle.  A  virgin  gave 
the  signal  to  commence,  and,  when  a  gladiator  was  wounded, 
it  depended  upon  this  class  of  the  auditory  to  decide  whether  he 
should  be  spared  or  despatched  ;  sometimes  they  gave  the  signal  to 
spare,  and  sometimes  to  complete  the  work  of  death.  If  the  vic- 
tim died  gracefully,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  the  whole 


DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    COLOSSEUM. 

amphitheatre  ring  again  with  applause  !  What  a  comfort !  what 
a  triumph  !  must  this  be  to  the  dying  slave  !  And,  after  the  butch- 
ery was  over,  while  the  arena  was  smoking  in  blood,  the  refined 
and  polished  ladies  of  Rome  went  down  into  it  and  partook  of  a 
feast !  And,  finally,  the  water  from  two  aqueducts  was  poured 
into  the  theatre,  to  wash  out  the  blood  and  cleanse  it  for  another 
exhibition.  Such  was  the  character  of  polished  Rome  !  Such  the 
morality  of  the  most  improved  and  cultivated  city  of  its  day  !  Such 
is  human  nature  at  its  best  estate,  unaided  by  the  light  and  grace 
of  the  gospel. 

This  amphitheatre  is  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-one 
Paris  feet  in  circumference,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  in 
height ;  the  arena  is  two  hundred  and  eighty-five  Paris  feet  in 
length,  by  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  in  breadth.  This  part  was 
surrounded  by  a  wall  to  protect  the  spectators  against  the  wild 
beasts.  Here  first  sat  the  emperor,  and  other  officers  of  govern- 
ment and  Roman  nobles,  and  then  the  seats,  range  above  range, 
falling  back  in  wider  and  sublimer  circles,  were  divided  to  the 
citizens  according  to  their  respective  ranks.  To  each  section 
there  were  separate  entrances,  opening  by  exterior  arches,  all  of 
which  were  numbered,  to  direct  each  one  to  his  appropriate  place, 
and  approached  by  flights  of  stairs  in  due  order.  There  were,  in 
all,  seventy-six  entrances  for  the  people,  besides  two  for  the  em- 
peror and  two  for  the  gladiators.  Quite  round  each  story,  within 
the  outer  wall,  was  a  wide  covered  corridor  leading  to  the  different 
staircases.  These  were  rightly  called  Vomitorii,  for  thence  were 
poured  out  the  hundred  thousand  spectators  when  the  exhibition 
was  ended.  But  I  feel  little  inclined  to  pursue  this  description 
further,  as  I  am  conscious  of  being  unable  to  give  any  adequate 
conception  of  it.  While  in  Rome  I  visited  it  by  day  and  by  night ; 
I  saw  it  by  the  light  of  the  sun  and  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  and 
it  was,  under  all  circumstances,  the  same  magnificent,  wondrous, 
awe-exciting  monument  of  human  art.  Near  it  stood  that  colos- 
sal bronze  statue  of  Nero,  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high, 
which  is  supposed  to  have  given  name  to  the  edifice — Colosseum. 

Now  cross  again  to  the  Palatine  Hill,  noticing,  as  you  pass  out, 
the  ruins  of  an  ancient  fountain  called  Meta  Sudens ;  Meta,  be- 
cause it  was  shaped  like  the  meta  or  bound  of  a  circus,  and  Su- 
dens, sweating,  because  it  had  a  jet-dteau  of  water  at  the  top 

" 


298  ITALY. 

Entering  upon  the  Palatine  Hill  through  the  gates  into  the  pleasure 
gardens  surrounding  the  residence  of  an  English  gentleman,  you 
find  yourself  upon  the  site  of  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Caesars,  the 
ruins  of  which  skirt  the  hill,  and  are  found,  indeed,  under  the  mod- 
ern gardens.*  Here  are  subterranean  arches  and  apartments  in 
successive  stories.  These  ruins  are  too  multiform  and  irregular 
to  be  described,  but  they  are  well  calculated  to  excite  mingled  and 
vivid  emotions  in  contrasting  the  present  remains,  connected  as 
they  are  with  modern  improvements,  with  the  grand  edifices  that 
made  up  this  splendid  palace  of  the  Caesars.  This  mount  once 
contained  all  the  Romans ;  afterward  it  held  but  one  tyrant  and 
his  household  ;  so  true  is  it  that  refined  tyranny  as  well  as  savage 
independence  both  produce  desolation.  Here  were  numerous 
temples  to  the  gods  ;  among  others,  more  common,  was  one  dedi- 
cated to  Moonlight,  one  to  that  monster  of  sensuality  Elagabalus,, 
one  to  the  goddess  Viri-placa,  or  the  man-pacifier,  where  domestic 
broils  were  settled,  and  quarrelling  husbands  and  wives  became 
reconciled.  Would  not  such  a  temple  be  important  in  every 
country  ?  Here,  too,  in  this  splendid  palace,  were  baths,  to  sup- 
ply which,  as  well  as  to  furnish  water  for  the  other  purposes  of 
the  palace,  the  Claudian  aqueduct  was  constructed,  some  arches 
of  which  still  remain.  It  was  brought  over  the  Coelian  Hill, 
which  is  situated  directly  to  the  east  of  the  Palatine,  between 
which  and  the  latter  is  a  modern  street  passing  under  the  tri- 
umphal arch  of  Constantine,  and  this,  too,  was  the  course  of  the 
ancient  triumphal  way.  They  still  show  a  bath  in  which  it  is  said 
the  philosopher  Seneca  opened  his  veins  and  died  at  the  command 
of  Nero ;  for  these  ancient  tyrants,  when  they  wished  to  get  rid  of 
a  man  in  a  respectable  way,  and  with  as  little  offence  as  possible, 
used  to  inform  the  devoted  person  officially  that  it  was  their  wish 
he  should  die,  and  then  gave  him  the  privilege  of  getting  out  of  the 
world  the  best  way  he  could.  The  more  common  way  was  to 
open  a  vein  in  a  warm  bath.  Poor  Seneca's  bath  of  death  is  now 
overgrown  with  a  luxuriant  vegetation,  and  flowers  bloom,  spring- 
ing out  of  the  sides  and  bottom  of  the  bath  itself.  The  golden 
house  of  Nero  extended  quite  across  from  this  to  the  Coelian  Hill, 

*  These  gardens  are  in  the  centre,  but  they  cover  only  a  small  portion  of  the  hill. 
The  ruins  extend  to  the  east  and  west,  but  the  most  interesting  are  in  the  eastern  ex- 
tremity of  the  mount. 


THE    TARPEIAN    ROCK.  299 

and,  it  is  said,  from  one  extremity  of  the  hill  to  the  other.  All 
these  splendid  edifices  are  no  more,  but  one  extended  pile  of  ruins 
instead.  The  terrace,  however,  of  the  Casa  di  Augusto,  and 
other  apartments  of  this  palace,  are  tolerably  preserved.  This  is 
near  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  mount.  From  this  place  you 
have  a  splendid  view  in  almost  every  direction.  To  the  south, 
between  this  and  the  Aventine  Mount,  which  is  the  most  southern 
of  the  seven  hills,  and  lies  just  beyond  the  valley  at  your  feet,  is 
the  site  of  the  ancient  Circus  Maximus,  or  the  great  circus,  cele- 
brated as  a  place  of  magnificent  games  from  a  remote  antiquity. 
Romulus  instituted  these  games,  and  it  was  during  their  celebra- 
tion that  the  Sabine  women  were  seized  by  the  Romans.  This 
circus,  it  is  said,  would  contain  two  hundred  and  sixty  thousand 
spectators.  To  the  south  of  this  circus  are  seen  the  magnificent 
ruins  of  the  Baths  of  Caracalla. 

From  the  west  end  of  the  Palatine  you  might  once  have  crossed 
over  the  Forum  to  the  south  part  of  the  Capitoline  Hill  by  Caligu- 
la's bridge  ;  but,  as  that  exists  no  longer,  I  will  just  translate  you, 
by  the  magic  power  of  a  journalist,  who  is  always  able,  or  should 
be,  to  make  his  readers  pass  rapidly  and  safely  by  an  air  line,  if 
need  be,  over  every  obstruction,  to  the  south  part  of  the  Capitoline, 
and  place  you  on  the  top  of  the  Tarpeian  Rock,  where  many  have 
perished  either  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner  or  by  popular  vio- 
lence. You  will  be  surprised  to  find  it  so  low,  but  you  must  re- 
member that  time  has  scraped  the  brow  and  filled  up  the  vale. 
One  part  of  it  is  still  high  enough,  however,  for  a  place  of  execu- 
tion, if  that  method  were  still  practised.  Passing  now  down  the 
declivity  to  the  north,  through  a  dirty,  crowded  street,  beset  with 
beggars,  you  find  yourself  in  the  region  called  Velabrum.  What 
gave  rise  to  this  name  is  not  agreed  upon,  but  it  was  evidently 
an  important  part  of  the  ancient  city,  for  here  are  still  standing 
some  fine  monuments  and  temples  ;  among  the  former  is  an  arch, 
erected  by  the  bankers  and  tradesmen  of  Forum  Boarium,  which 
was  also  situated  here,  to  Septimius  Severus,  and,  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  other,  it  is  called  Arco  di  Septimio  in  Velabro ;  here 
is  also  the  arch  of  Janus  Quadrifrons,  composed  of  large  blocks 
of  white  marble.  It  has,  as  its  name  implies,  four  fronts,  with  an 
arch  in  each,  and  an  area  in  the  centre  which  might  have  been  a 
market.  Of  temples,  here  is  a  beautiful  one  of  Vesta,  in  a  good 


300  ITALY 

slate  of  preservation,  having,  however,  a  modern  roof ;  and  here* 
also,  is  a  temple  converted  into  a  modern  church,  containing  some 
beautiful  architectural  remains,  built  by  Servius  Tullius  in  grati- 
tude for  his  elevation  from  the  condition  of  a  slave  to  that  of  a  sov- 
ereign, and  dedicated  to  the  goddess  Fortuna  Virilis.  But  a  great 
object  of  interest  here  is  the  remains  of  the  Cloaca  Maxima,  or 
the  great  sewer  of  Rome,  which  came  down  from  the  Roman 
Forum,  conducting  off  through  this  immense  artery  all  the  filth 
of  the  ancient  city,  and  emptying  it  but  a  little  distance  from  this 
into  the  Tiber.  The  masonry  by  which  this  sewer  is  constructed  is 
gigantic,  and  must  endure  while  the  world  standeth.  Many  of  the 
branches  of  the  Cloaca  Maxima  are  choked  up,  and  are  supposed 
now,  by  breeding  miasma,  to  produce  pestilence.  Now,  facing 
the  north,  we  may  take  a  sweep  round  the  west  side  of  the  Capi- 
toline  Hill,  and  pass  in  the  way  some  splendid  ruins,  of  which  the 
theatre  of  Marcellus  is  the  most  magnificent ;  and  we  again  ascend 
the  mount  by  a  flight  of  steps  in  front  of  the  modern  Capitol,  which 
is  the  opposite  side  of  the  Forum.  This  flight  of  steps  was  planned 
by  Michael  Angelo  under  Pope  Paul  III.  On  the  tops  are  two 
antique  colossal  statues  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  with  their  horses, 
together  with  a  number  of  beautiful  ancient  trophies,  and  two  an- 
cient mile-stones,  one  of  which,  marked  I,  was  the  first  stone  on 
the  ancient  Appian  Way ;  and  in  the  square  above  is  a  splendid 
equestrian  statue  of  bronze  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  This  is  said  to 
be  the  only  ancient  bronze  equestrian  statue  now  known  to  be  in 
existence.  Passing  by  this  and  to  the  south  of  the  Capitol,  you 
may  call  at  the  left  at  a  little  church  called  the  Church  of  St.  Jo- 
seph, under  which  is  the  ancient  state  prison  of  Rome,  called  the 
Mamertine  Prison.  This  prison  is  of  an  early  date,  and  consists 
of  two  stories  ;  the  lower,  supposed  to  have  been  built  by  Servius 
Tullius,  is  the  one  in  which  Jugurtha  was  starved  to  death,  and 
where  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  were  imprisoned.  As  we  went  down 
the  staircase  to  these  prisons,  our  attention  was  called  to  an  indent- 
ation in  one  of  the  massy  stones  that  compose  the  walls,  about  the 
size  of  a  man's  head,  and  one  or  two  inches  deep,  screened  by  an 
iron  grating.  This  was  produced  by  St.  Peter's  head.  When  he 
was  going  into  the  prison,  the  jailer  knocked  his  head  against  the 
wall,  and  the  concussion  made  this  impression  in  the  solid  rock ! 
Such  is  the  fable.  We  descended  into  the  lower  prison,  and  there 


THE    SEVEN    HILLS    OF    ROME.  301 

they  showed  us  the  stone  pillar  to  which  the  apostles  were  bound. 
Here  they  preached  the  gospel  to  the  two  jailers  and  forty-seven 
of  their  fellow-prisoners,  all  of  whom  were  converted.  It  was  then 
desirable  to  baptize  them,  but  what  should  they  do  for  water  ?  A 
miracle  supplied  this ;  water  gushed  up  from  the  bottom  of  the 
prison !  and  there  the  spring  is  unto  this  day,  -quite  a  fountain 
of  water  in  the  centre  of  the  prison.  These  -converts  were  then 
all  baptized,  and  subsequently  suffered  martyrdom.  How  the 
apostles,  who  were  chained,  could  baptize  them,  we  did  not  in- 
quire, for  these  custodes  do  not  like  to  have  their  stories  ques- 
tioned. This  one  affirmed  most  gravely  that  all  these  things  were 
true. 

This  lower  prison  is  called  Tullianum,  after  Tullius,  who  built  it, 
and  is  about  six  feet  high  and  eighteen  square.  It  is  built  of  heavy 
blocks  of  stone,  arched  over  without  cement,  and  bids  defiance  to 
the  assaults  of  time.  A  small  hole  at  the  top,  big  enough  to  let 
down  a  man,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  only  opening ;  through 
this  aperture  the  prisoners  were  let  down,  and  here  also  they  re- 
ceived their  food. 

The  position  of  four  -of  the  seven  hills  of  ancient  Rome  in  their 
relations  to  each  other  have  already  been  alluded  to.  Three  of 
them,  the  Capitoline,  Palatine,  and  Crelian,  forming  an  arc  of  a  cir- 
cle opening  to  the  east  of  north,  the  Palatine  forming  the  centre 
of  the  arc,  and  the  Capitoline  and  Coelian  the  west  and  east  ex- 
tremities. In  a  tangent  with  the  west  extremity,  and  lying  south 
of  the  Capitoline,  is  the  Aventine,  as  already  described.  The 
western  base  of  this  is  washed  by  the  Tiber,  which,  by  a  bold 
sweep  to  the  left,  at  this  point  almost  obtrudes  itself  between  the 
Capitoline  and  Aventine  mounts.  But,  having  looked  into  this 
valley  either  for  the  purpose  of  spying  out  the  wonders  of  the  place, 
or  else  to  tender  his  services  to  bear  off  the  spoils  of  the  Cloaca 
Maxima,  for  all  antiquity  unites  in  giving  the  Tiber  personality, 
he  shoots  away  again  to  the  southwest  in  his  rapid  passage  to  the 
sea. 

The  three  other  hills  lie  almost  opposite  to  the  concave  of  the 

three  first  named,  viz.,  a  little  to  the  west  of  north,  so  that,  if  they 

had  been  a  little  nearer,  they  would  have  formed  the  cord  of  the 

arch ;  and  are  arranged,  beginning  at  the  west,  in  the  following 

26 


302  ITALY. 

order :  Quirinale,  Viminale,  and  Esquilim.  Of  these  only  the 
Capitoline  and  Quirinale  are  much  built  upon  by  the  moderns. 
The  other  hills  are  covered  chiefly  by  the  ruins  of  the  former  city. 
The  modern  city  lies  chiefly  to  the  west  and  north.  Some,  how- 
ever, of  the  most  splendid  and  interesting  ruins  are  found  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  modern  city.  A  few  of  them  must  be  noticed. 

Passing  down  from  the  Roman  Forum,  between  the  Capitoline 
and  Qurinale  hills,  you  come  to  Trajan's  Forum.  This  must  have 
been  a  splendid  collection  of  porticoes,  basilicas,  temples,  and  other 
structures,  in  the  centre  of  which  stands  that  beautiful  and  majes- 
tic monument,  Trajan's  Pillar.  It  is  a  Doric  column  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  Paris  feet  in  height,  including  the  statue,  and  consists 
of  thirty-four  blocks  of  marble,  covered  from  bottom  to  top  with 
bassi-relievi,  representing  the  victories  over  the  Dacii  and  others. 
This,  as  has  been  remarked,  was  the  model  for  the  column  of  Bo- 
naparte, in  the  Place  Vendome  in  Paris.  Originally,  the  column 
was  surmounted  with  a  bronze  gilt  statue  of  Trajan ;  but,  at  the 
command  of  Pope  Sextus  V.,  St.  Peter  took  his  place,  just  as 
St.  Paul  has  mounted  the  column  of  Antoninus. 

Trajan's  Forum  is  but  partially  excavated,  nor  can  it  be  further 
without  undermining  churches  and  palaces  of  more  modern  date. 
What  is  laid  open,  however,  shows  a  succession  of  columns  and 
porticoes  wrhich  indicate  the  former  grandeur  of  the  place.  The 
public  are  indebted  to  the  French  for  this  excavation.  Following 
down  to  the  ancient  Campus  Martins,  which  lies  in  the  bend  of 
the  Tiber  formed  by  a  bolder  and  more  extended  sweep  to  the 
right  than  the  one  lower  down  to  the  left  already  described,  we 
came  to  the  Pantheon,  or  the  temple  erected  to  all  the  gods.  This 
is  the  most  perfect  of  all  the  ancient  edifices. 

The  temple  itself  is  a  rotunda,  with  an  interior  diameter  of 
one  hundred  and  forty-nine  feet,  and  with  walls  eighteen  feet  thick, 
making  an  entire  diameter  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet. 
It  is  lighted  from  the  top  of  the  dome  by  an  aperture  of  about 
twenty-seven  feet  diameter.  From  the  floor  to  this  opening  the 
distance  is  one  hundred  and  forty-nine  feet.  Here,  in  this  temple, 
were  assembled  all  the  principal  gods  of  antiquity,  supernal  and 
infernal,  terrestrial  and  marine.  The  vestibule  is  indescribably 
magnificent.  It  is  supported  by  sixteen  Corinthian  columns,  four-. 


THE    BATHS    OF    CARACALLA.  303 

teen  Paris  feet  in  circumference  and  thirty-nine  in  height,  each 
shaft  being  an  entire  block  of  red  oriental  granite,  having  bases  and 
capitals  of  white  marble. 

But  I  perceive  I  must  classify  a  few  of  the  many  undescribed 
antiquities  of  Rome,  and  so  finish  this  part  of  the  subject. 

Terme,  or  baths.  The  remains  of  the  ancient  Roman  baths, 
from  their  magnificence  and  extent,  astonish  the  modern  spectator. 
Bathing  was  practised  by  all  the  Romans,  high  and  low ;  and  hence 
it  became  necessary  to  provide  the  accommodations  for  the  poorer 
classes  at  the  public  expense.*  This  may  account,  in  part,  for  the 
extent  of  these  structures.  But,  in  addition,  the  rage  for  splendid 
architecture  found  in  these  baths  a  field  for  gratification  beyond 
almost  any  other;  for  everything  that  luxury  could  require  or 
sensuality  demand  was  connected  with  these  places  of  public  re- 
sort. The  baths  themselves  were  but  splendid  brothels  for  the 
mingling  of  the  sexes  in  the  most  refined  excesses  of  licentious  in- 
dulgence.! Connected  with  these  baths  also  were  temples,  and 
porticoes,  and  even  palaces,  and  they  were  ornamented  with  the 
finest  statuary  of  the  age.  As  a  specimen  of  these,  take  the  Baths 
of  Caracalla,  situated  at  the  south  of  the  Coelian  Hill.  These 
baths  contained  one  thousand  six  hundred  bathing-places,  be- 
sides a  great  number  of  bathing  tubs  of  porphyry,  and  granite,  and 
marble,  many  of  which  remain  as  beautiful  specimens  of  ancient 
sculpture.  There  were  two  stories  above  ground,  and  three  of 
subterranean  apartments,  and  the  extent  of  all  was  a  square  of 
about  one  thousand  feet  each  side,  the  whole  divided  up,  and 
finished  in  elegant  taste  and  style.  They  were  excavating  in  one 
of  the  courts  while  we  were  there,  in  which  they  had  just  laid 
open  some  beautiful  mosaic  pavement.  They  promised  to  bring 
a  piece  of  it  to  my  lodgings  at  a  stipulated  price,  but  it  never  came. 
The  Roman  baths  were  of  different  kinds,  named  according  to 
their  different  character,  as  the  laconicum,  or  vapour  bath,  the 
caldarium,  or  hot  bath,  the  warm  bath  called  tepidarium,  and 
the  cold,  or  frigidarium.  The  aqueducts  supplied  the  water,  and 
there  was  a  hypocaustum,  or  great  stove,  which  heated  the  water, 
that  was  conveyed  by  pipes  to  different  parts  of  the  edifice.  There 

*  Thepoor  in  Rome  paid  about  one  halfpenny  for  bathing,  but  their  children  went  free, 
t  To  aid  in  this,  the  different  bathing  apartments  generally  communicated  with  each" 
other. 


304  ITALY. 

was  a  large  public  hall  where  the  bathers  undressed,  and  apart- 
ments heated  to  different  degrees  for  the  purpose  of  cooling  grad- 
ually those  who  had  been  at  the  hot  bath.  Shops,  also,  furnished 
with  oil  and  perfumes  for  anointing  and  perfuming  the  rich  and 
such  as  could  afford  itr  were  generally  found  in  these  baths. 

Many  of  the  arches  and  walls  of  these  Baths  of  Caraealla  are 
remaining;  but  the  works  of  art  are  removed,  and  here  were 
found  some  of  the  finest  specimens-  of  sculpture  extant.  It  has 
already  been  mentioned  that  the  Farnese  Bull  and  the  Glycon 
Hercules  of  the  Miaseo  Borbonico  at  Naples  were  found  here. 
It  is  now,  however,  utterly  in  ruins,  having  enough  left  to  show 
its  ancient  grandeur,  but  nothing  entire. 

The  Baths  of  Dioclesian  are  another  specimen  of  this  class  of 
ruins ;  but  here  there  were  also  a  pond  for  swimming  in  the  open 
air,  called  a  natatio,  and  a  scystum,  or  hall  for  gymnastic  arid 
gladiatorial  exercises,  together  with  libraries,  temples,  &c. :  around 
it  were  shady  walks  and  pleasure  grounds.  On  a  part  of  these 
ruins  is  the  beautiful  church  di  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli,  the 
transverse  nave  of  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  xystum  of  the 
baths,  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  seventy-four  wide,  and 
eighty-four  high,  with  the  ancient  columns  still  standing,  formed 
out  of  a  single  block  of  granite  forty-three  feet  high  and  sixteen 
in  circumference.  I  know  not  that  I  saw  anything  in  Rome 
which  gave  me  a  higher  idea  of  the  boldness  and  magnificence  of 
ancient  architecture  than  these  columns.  The  entrance  of  the 
church  is  also  splendid,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the  caldarium  of 
the  ancient  baths.  Michael  Angelo  planned  this  church  at  the 
command  of  Pius  IV.,  who  dedicated  these  baths  to  pious  uses, 
for  the  reason  that  they  were  built  by  Christians,  who,  to  the  num- 
ber of  some  thirty  or  forty  thousand,  were  pressed  into  this  ser- 
vice by  the  tyrannical  Dioclesian,  and,  when  they  had  accom 
plished  the  service,  he  caused  them  all  to  be  martyred. 

Another  part  of  the  baths  is  occupied  by  the  church,  convent, 
and  garden  of  the  monks  of  St.  Bernard,  and  another  by  those  of 
the  Carthusian  monks,  and  still  another  by  public  granaries ;  and 
some  of  these  once  splendid  edifices  are  full  of  hay  and  straw, 
like  a  New-England  barn !  Such  desecrations,  in  fact,  are  not 
uncommon  in  Rome.  The  Temple  of  Antoninus,  as  it  is  sup. 
posed  to  have  been,,  is  the  pope's  dogana^  or  custom-house.  The 


MAUSOLEUM    OF    AUGUSTUS.  <505 

Temple  of  Pallas  is  a  baker's  shop ;  and  some  of  the  finest  ruins 
are  places  of  the  most  offensive  occasions.  They  are  often  fre- 
quented by  the  most  squalid  beggary  ;  and  sometimes  we  have 
found  concealed  among  these  ruins  of  ancient  grandeur  and  lux- 
ury miserable-looking  bipeds,  partly  stripped,  and  picking  the  ver- 
min from  their  persons.  Such  contrasts  are  certainly  not  in  good 
taste ;  but,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  they  seem  unavoidable, 
and,  at  least,  afford  the  moralist  an  occasion  to  reflect  on  the  con- 
trasts and  changes  of  this  mutable  world. 

The  Baths  of  Titus  were  connected  with  his  palace,  and  ex- 
hibit some  fine  ruins  in  a  good  state  of  repair,  especially  some 
of  the  chambers  of  the  palace,  which  exhibit  frescoes  almost  as 
fresh  in  colouring  as  if  they  were  but  just  painted.  Here  also 
were  found  some  fine  statuary,  and  especially  that  first  among 
thejirst,  the  group  of  Laocoon  and  his  children,  now  in  the  Vati- 
can Museum.  The  rubbish  from  these  baths  was  principally 
cleared  away  by  the  French. 

Another  class  of  architectural  antiquities  in  Rome  is  the  Mauso* 
lea,  or  tombs.  Some  of  these  are  of  colossal  architecture,  and 
seem  to  have  been  built  under  the  instinctive  promptings  of  a 
desire  for  immortality,  unaided  by  the  light  of  revelation.  Not 
having  sufficient  and  satisfactory  faith  in  the  realities  of  the  invis- 
ible world  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  they  aimed  to  secure 
a  physical  immortality  for  their  bodies,  by  erecting,  if  possible,  an 
indestructible  mausoleum  ;  and  I  know  not  but  they  have  secured 
their  object. 

Mausoleum  of  Augustus. — This  once  splendid  monument  is 
now  a  kind  of  circus,  and  has  been  used,  we  were  told,  for  bull- 
fights and  exhibitions  of  fireworks.  It  stands  in  the  midst  of 
other  modern  edifices,  so  closely  hemmed  in  and  concealed  that 
I  failed  in  several  attempts  to  find  it  without  a  guide,  although  I 
knew  within  a  few  rods  where  it  was  situated.  It  was  once  a 
towering  monument,  rising  up  to  the  north  of  the  Campus  Martius 
three  stories  high,  each  higher  story  narrowed  by  a  circling  offset 
planted  with  evergreens,  so  as  not  only  to  give  to  the  house  of 
death  perpetuity,  but  to  wreath  it  around  with  unfading  circlets 
of  perpetual  verdure.  On  the  top  was  the  statue  of  the  august 
emperor.  How  have  the  mighty  fallen !  The  lower  story  re- 
26  QQ 


300  ITALY. 

mains  of  massy,  and,  one  would  think,  immoveable  masonry,  in 
which  are  the  arches  constituting  the  sepulchral  chambers.  Here 
was  pointed  out  to  us  the  spot  where  was  found  the  sarcophagus 
of  the  emperor  himself,;  but  this,  too,  has  been  removed. 

The  Mausoleum  of  Adrian  is  on  the  oppositer  or  right  bank  of 
the  river,  immediately  facing  the  ancient  Pans  JElicis,  now  called 
the  Bridge  of  St.  Angelo.  The  bridge,  as  well  as  the  sepulchre, 
was  built  by  Adrian,  principally  to  accommodate  the  approach  to 
his  sepulchre ;  but  it  is  now  the  principal  thoroughfare  to  the  Vati- 
can palace  and  St.  Peter's,  and  is  lined  on  each  side  by  the 
twelve  apostles  in  marble.  This  mausoleum  consisted  of  two 
stories,  and  was  incrusted  with  Parian  marble,  and  surrounded 
and  adorned  with  statuary,  and  surmounted  by  a  dome.  It  is 
now,  and  has  been  ever  since  the  fall  of  the  empire,  a  military 
fortress — stripped  of  its  ornaments,  and  perforated  for  cannon — 
surmounted,  however,  instead  of  by  the  statue  of  Adrian,  as  for- 
merly, by  a  splendid  bronze  angel,  with  a  drawn  sword,  which 
has  given  occasion  for  the  modern  name,  St.  Angelo.  The  origin 
of  this  statue  is  a  vision  of  an  angel  seen  by  St.  Gregory  from 
the  top  of  this  edifice,  announcing  to  him  that  the  plague,  which 
was  then  raging  at  Rome,  was  about  to  cease.  This  fortress 
overlooks  the  Tiber  on  the  one  side,  and  is  connected  by  a  cov- 
ered way  on  the  other  with  the  Vatican,  so  that  his  holiness,  in 
case  of  sudden  danger,  can  secretly  escape  to  this  place  of  de- 
fence. 

The  ancient  part  of  this  structure,  however,  is  the  most  inter- 
esting. The  entrance  to  the  sepulchral  chambers  was  for  a  long 
time  concealed,  but  has  been  discovered  within  a  few  years,  and 
strangers  are  now  shown  through  their  princely  arches.  In  the 
centre  is  the  arch  supposed  to  have  contained  the  ashes  of  the 
emperor,  and  the  vaulted  passage  that  leads  to  it  is  well  worthy 
the  notice  of  the  stranger. 

If  I  had  room  within  my  prescribed  limits,  I  might  describe 
the  tomb  of  the  Scipios,  and  some  others  of  minor  importance  ; 
these,  however,  must  be  omitted.  Nevertheless,  another  kind 
of  tomb  should  be  noticed,  as  being  the  more  common  sepul- 
chre among  the  ancient  Romans  i  it  is  called  Columbarium, 
from  its  resemblance  to  pigeon-holes  cut  in  dove-houses.  We 
went  into  one  of  these  lately  opened  in  the  Via  Latina,  near 


TOMBS  OF  THE  ANCIENT  ROMANS.  307 

• 

the  Latin  gate.  It  is  subterranean,  and  is  entered  by  a  steep 
staircase  to  the  depth  of  about  ten  or  twelve  feet.  Here  were 
apartments  with  the  walls  full  of  these  pigeon-holes,  of  the 
dimensions  of  eight  or  ten  inches ;  in  them  were  sunk  cinerary 
urns,  like  the  setting  of  kettles  in  an  arch.  This  was  the  only 
tomb  we  entered  which  had  not  been  rifled;  for  the  rage  of 
putting  everything  in  the  public  museums  has  robbed  temples 
and  dwellings,  tombs  and  sepulchres,  of  all  their  removable  con- 
tents. This  columbarium,  however,  was  still  possessed  of  most 
of  its  urns,  with  their  burnt  bones  and  ashes  all  in  them,  and 
also  the  sepulchral  tablets,  by  which  it  appeared  that  some  of  the 
deposited  remains  were  those  of  the  family  of  Augustus,  freedmen 
and  children.  Did  the  emperor  need  another  sepulchre  in  addi- 
tion to  the  colossal  one  in  the  Campus  Martins  ?  or  was  this 
erected  and  used  previous  to  the  erection  of  the  other  1 

It  was  customary  for  the  ancient  Romans  to  line  some  of  the 
principal  streets  leading  out  of  their  cities  with  tombs.  So  it  was 
at  Pompeii  in  the  Via  Appia,  and  so  it  was  at  Rome  in  this 
same  Via  Appia,  which,  perhaps,  was  the  greatest  thoroughfare 
leading  from  this  greatest  of  cities.  For  many  miles  out  of  the 
city  this  avenue  was  lined  with  these  mansions  of  the  dead,  many 
of  them  still  remaining  in  ruinous  decay.  But  these  ruins,  like 
most  others  in  Rome,  owe  their  dilapidated  condition  more  to 
violence  than  to  time.  The  larger  tombs  were  generally  built 
of  small  stones,  terra-cotta,  and  cement  in  the  interior,  and  en- 
closed by  a  massy  wall  of  hewn  travertine,  or  peperino*  marble. 
These,  in  the  middle  and  later  ages,  were  found  very  convenient 
building  materials :  hence  the  tombs  of  the  ancient  dead  were 
torn  down  to  erect  edifices  for  the  living.  The  central  parts, 
however,  remain,  ragged  and  broken  memorials  of  former  beau- 
ty and  elegance.  Following  out  this  road  three  or  four  miles, 
you  come  to  the  sepulchre  of  Cecilia  Metella,  the  wife  of  Cras- 
sus.  Crassus  was  one  of  the  first  triumviri,  and  attained  his 
standing  in  the  political  world  probably  by  his  immense  wealth, 
which  he  had  mainly  accumulated  by  trading  in  slaves.  Whether 
he  purposed  his  wife's  celebrity  mostly  by  this  monument,  or  his 
own,  we  cannot  say ;  it  seems,  however,  to  have  been  used  only 

*  Lapis  Albanus,  a  volcanic  production,  of  which  the  more  ancient  buildings  of  Rome 
were  constructed,  found  near  the  Lake  of  Albano. 


308  ITALY. 

for  his  wife,  whose  splendid  sarcophagus  was  found  in  the  centre 
as  the  sole  tenant,  and  now  lies  in  the  court  of  the  Capitol.  The 
walls  of  this  tomb  are  about  thirty  feet  thick,  and  the  interior 
concavity  perhaps  twenty  feet  in  diameter;  it  is  several  stories 
high,  and  has  a  castellated  top,  which  was  added  to  it  in  the 
middle  ages,  to  transform  this  also  into  a  military  fortress,  like 
that  of  Adrian.  The  outside  wall  of  this  tomb  was  composed  of 
immense  blocks  of  stone,  but  almost  all  from  one  side  have  been 
taken  away. 

In  describing  the  tombs  of  the  ancient  Romans  we  ought  not 
to  pass  by  the  Catacombs,  which,  in  the  later  periods  of  the  em- 
pire, were  used  extensively  for  burial-places,  although  it  is  gen- 
erally supposed  they  were  originally,  like  the  catacombs  of  Paris, 
quarries  for  building-stones.  They  were  more  particularly  de- 
voted to  purposes  of  burial  during  the  times  of  persecution ;  and, 
in  fact,  they  were  not  only  burial-places,  but  they  were  retreats 
for  the  Christians,  where  they  concealed  themselves,  and  espe- 
cially where  they  retired  for  their  religious  meetings  and  ordi- 
nances, for  they  were  obliged  to  hide  themselves  "  in  dens  and 
caves  of  the  earth."  These  catacombs  are  found  at  different 
places,  as  at  the  churches  of  St.  Lorenzo  and  St.  Agnes ;  but  we 
visited  them  at  the  church  of  St.  Sebastian,  not  far  from  the  tomb 
of  Cecilia  Metella.  This  church  is  one  of  the  seven  that  are 
called  basilica,  and  is  said  to  have  been  built  by  Constantino.  It 
has  an  ancient  portico,  and  some  other  parts  that  indicate  anti- 
quity, although  much  of  it  is  comparatively  modern.  From  this 
church  we  descended  into  the  subterranean  apartments,  and  were 
led  through  what  seemed  to  us  a  labyrinth  of  passages,  some- 
times ascending  and  sometimes  descending,  and  once,  at  least, 
passing  an  ancient  stone  staircase  of  some  twelve  or  fifteen  steps. 
Occasionally  we  came  to  little  chambers,  of  perhaps  five  feet  by 
eight,  and  here  they  had  their  altars,  and  perHaps  their  lodgings. 
In  the  sides  of  the  avenues,  which  were  generally  three  or  four 
feet  wide,  and  six  or  seven  high,  were  other  little  recesses,  from 
which  sarcophagi  had  been  taken ;  and  our  cicerone,  a  Capuchin 
monk,  pointed  out  numerous  places  from  which,  as  he  said,  the 
bodies  of  popes  had  been  taken.  We  were  glad  to  have  com- 
pleted our  tour  of  the  catacombs,  and  return  again  to  daylight. 
These  subterranean  passages,  it  is  said,  communicate  with  others, 


ST.    SEBASTIAN.  309 

with  the  city,  and  even  with  Ostia,  eighteen  miles  distant.     Our 
monk  told  us  there  was  a  direct  communication  between  this  and 
the  Mamertine  prison,  where  St.  Peter  was  confined  in  Rome, 
more  than  two  miles  distant,  and  that  St.  Peter  left  the  prison 
through  this  passage,  and  came  out  as  far  as  this  church ;  that 
here  he  met  with  Christ,  to  whom  he  said,  "Quo  vadis,  Domine  ?" 
(Whither  goest  thou,  Lord  ?)  And  Christ  informed  him  he  had 
come  to  let  him  know  that  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  he  (Peter) 
should  return  to  the  prison,  and  suffer  martyrdom  for  the  sake 
of  Christ ;  and,  having  delivered  his  message,  he  vanished,  but  not 
without  leaving  a  miracle  behind ;  the  stone  on  which  he  stood 
when  he  spoke  to  him  was  left  with  the  print  of  his  feet  upon  it ; 
and,  to  convince  us,  he  showed  us  the  stone  itself;  and,  truly,  there 
was  an  indurated  sandstone,  with  the  exact  impressions  of  the 
human  foot,  just  as  it  would  appear  if  a  man  should  step  into  a 
soft  clay  or  moistened  sand,   and  leave  the  full  impress  of  his 
foot.     Whether  these  tracks  had  been  artificially  made  in  the 
stone  by  the  chisel  of  the  artist,  or  whether,  like   some  other 
tracks   discovered  by  modern  geologists,  they  were  impressed 
upon  sand,  which  afterward  became  indurated,  I  am  unable  to 
say.    Of  course  we  gave  the  monk  but  little  credit  for  his  miracle. 
He  had  also  a  case  full  of  other  relics,  such  as  the  arms,  legs, 
heads,  &c.,  of  various  apostles,  popes,  and  saints,  all  covered  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  prevent  us  from  determining  whether  they 
were  wood,  stone,  or  bone.     As  this  church  was  consecrated  to 
St.  Sebastian,  we,   of   course,   had   many  relics   of   that   saint. 
Here  is  his  tomb ;  here  the  stone  pillar  to  which  he  was  bound 
when  they  shot  him  ;  and  here,  also,  they  have  one  of  the  arrows 
by  which  he  was  shot.     We  had  become  very  familiar  with  this 
saint,  for  he  is  a  favourite  subject  for  the  artist.    He  was  a  soldier, 
persecuted,  and  finally  martyred  by  his  fellow-soldiers   for  his 
religion,  which  was  done  by  binding  him  to  a  pillar,  and  shooting 
him  with  arrows.     He  is  always  represented  as  pierced  through 
his  body  and  limbs,  and  expiring  with  a  countenance  most  placid 
and  heavenly.     The  picture  galleries  and  churches  abound  with 
St.  Sebastians.     Wishing,  therefore,  to  learn  some  more  particu- 
lars of  his  history,  we  asked  the  monk  when  this  martyred  saint 
lived.      "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  three  or  four  hundred  years  before 
Christ !" 


310  ITALY. 

A  brief  notice  of  a  tomb  for  a  priest  shall  close  this  part  of  the 
subject.  This  is  that  of  Caius  Cestus,  supposed  to  have  lived  in 
the  time  of  Augustus.  It  is  a  pyramid,  one  hundred  and  thirteen 
feet  in  height,  and  sixty-nine  feet  square  at  the  base,  terminating 
in  a  point,  and  appears,  as  far  as  I  could  discover,  to  remain  as 
entire  as  when  it  was  first  erected.  It  stands  in  the  city  wall, 
near  the  Protestant  burying-ground  at  the  south  of  the  Aventine 
Mount. 

Another  class  of  ruins  in  and  about  Rome  are  the  aqueducts. 
These,  among  the  ancient  Romans,  were  numerous  and  splendid  ;* 
and  I  scarcely  saw  anything  more  picturesque  and  grand  than  the 
remaining  arches  of  these   stupendous  watercourses,  stretching 
across  the  Campagna  from  various  directions,  some  of  them,  by 
modern  repairs,  still  rolling  their  refreshing  streams  into  the  eter- 
nal city.     These  aqueducts  are  led  from  the  distance  of  twenty 
and  thirty  miles,  and  used  to  convey  into  the  ancient  city  five 
hundred  thousand  hogsheads  of  water  daily,  although,  at  pres^ 
ent,  only  about  one  fifth  of  that  amount  is  brought  into  the  city. 
Yet  Rome  is  still  full  of  fountains,  and  many  of  them  very  beau- 
tiful ;  indeed,  I  consider  the  fountains  of  Rome  one  of  its  most 
interesting  features.     The  three  aqueducts,  designated  by  Aqua 
Vergine,  Aqua  Felice,  and  Aqua  Paulina,  afford  the  principal 
supply  to  these  modern  fountains.    They  are  all,  however,  ancient 
aqueducts  repaired  and  restored,  the  first  by  Paul  IV.,  the  second 
by  Sextus  V.,  and  the  third  by  Paul  V.     The  second  cost,  it  is 
said,  a  million  of  dollars  to  repair  it ;  it  terminates  at  the  Fonta- 
na  di  Termini,  where  are  some  fine  and  appropriate  statuary  of 
Moses   smiting   the  rock;  of  Aaron  leading   the    Israelites   to 
quench  their  thirst ;  with  four  lions,  two  of  which  are  antiques 
from  the  Pantheon  .f    Aqua  Vergine  is  so  called  from  the  springs 
having  been  disclosed  to  some  famishing  soldiers  by  a  peasant 
girl :  it  was  brought  to  Rome  by  Agrippa,  and  now  empties  itself 
at  the  Fontana  de  Treve,  where   are  allegorical  figures,  rocks, 
cascades,  and  waterspouts  of  great  beauty,  and  reflecting  much 

*  In  the  part  of  the  city  near  the  Porta  Maggiore  remains  of  five  aqueducts  may  be 
tseen. 

t  These  lions,  spouting  water  from  a  fountain,  have  a  closer  relation  to  this  element 
than  appears  to  most  spectators.  They  were  originally  symbols  of  the  sun  in  the  sign  of 
Leo,  at  which  time  commenced  the  inundation  of  the  Nile. 


COLUMNS    AND    OBELISKS.  311 

credit  upon  the  artist,  Nicolo  Salvi.  The  Aqua  Paulina  is  from 
Trajan's  aqueduct,  and  extends  the  distance  of  thirty  miles,  and 
is  divided  into  two  branches,  one  of  which  supplies  the  Mount 
Janiculum,  and  empties  itself  principally,  in  copious  torrents, 
under  a  splendid  Ionic  colonnade  of  red  granite,  into  a  vast  mar- 
ble basin.  There  is  water  enough  poured  out  here  to  carry  sev- 
eral mills.  The  other  branch  goes  to  the  Vatican,  and  expends 
itself,  in  the  magnificent  piazza  of  St.  Peter's,  in  two  fountains, 
which  throw  up  the  water  in  foaming  columns  many  feet  into  the 
air,  whence  it  comes  down  in  copious  showers,  and  is  frequently 
carried  off  by  the  wind,  in  wreaths  of  spray,  to  the  distance  of 
many  yards.  The  main  body  of  the  water  falls  into  magnificent 
basins  of  oriental  granite,  fifty  feet  in  circumference. 

Columns  and  Obelisks. — Ancient  Rome  abounded  in  porticoes 
and  colonnades,  in  proof  of  which  it  need  only  be  mentioned  that 
a  great  portion  of  the  churches,  palaces,  and  other  edifices  are 
adorned  by  the  architectural  ornaments  of  the  ancient  city.  Some 
of  the  streets,  also,  of  the  modern  city  are  encumbered  with  the 
prostrate  columns  and  fragments  of  columns  of  ancient  Rome. 
Columns  that,  in  an  American  museum,  would  be  preserved  and 
exhibited  as  antique  relics  of  the  Augustan  age,  are  buried  in 
the  filth  of  the  streets,  or  thrown  by  into  back  courts  and  by- 
places  as  so  much  cumbersome  rubbish.  You  will  see  blocks  of 
beautiful  marble,  also,  piled  up  in  the  yards  of  the  lapidaries  and 
toy  manufacturers,  to  be  wrought  into  those  models  of  ancient 
sculpture  and  other  toys  that  employ  a  great  portion  of  the  in- 
dustry, and  form  quite  a  portion  of  the  revenue  of  Rome.  And 
then,  what  multitudes  of  these  works  of  art  are  still  buried  in  the 
unexcavated  ruins  and  covered  streets  of  the  ancient  city,  and  in 
the  choked  channel  of  the  yellow  Tiber !  Trajan's  pillar  has 
been  mentioned.  That  of  Antoninus  is  of  a  similar  construction, 
with  a  shaft  about  one  hundred  feet  high,  covered  with  bassi-re- 
lievi,  representing  the  Marcomannic  war.  The  ancient  Egyptian 
obelisks  are  numerous,  and  very  beautiful.  I  noticed  particularly 
eight  or  ten  of  these  Egyptian  monuments  in  some  of  the  princi- 
pal piazzas  and  before  some  of  the  principal  edifices,  most  of 
them  covered  with  hieroglyphics.  The  one  standing  in  the  piazza 
of  St.  Peter's  was  transported,  as  we  learn  from  Livy,  from  Heli- 
opolis  to  Ostia  (the  ancient  seaport  of  Rome),  and  thence  con- 


312  ITALY. 

veyed  to  the  city,  and  placed  in  Nero's  Circus.  It  is  a  single 
piece  of  red  oriental  granite,  seventy-six  Paris  feet  in  length)  and 
was  placed  in  its  present  position  by  order  of  Sextus  V.,  on  a 
pedestal  resting  upon  four  lions. 

The  obelisk  of  the  Piazza  del  Popolo  was  also  executed,  as  is 
supposed,  at  Heliopolis  for  an  Egyptian  monarch  five  hundred  and 
twenty-two  years  before  the  Christian  era.  This  has  a  shaft  of 
seventy-four  Paris  feet,  and  is  covered  with  hieroglyphics,  as  is 
also  the  one  on  Monte  Cavallo,  which  is  forty-five  Paris  feet  in 
height  exclusive  of  the  pedestal.  This  latter  has  on  either  side  a 
colossal  figure,  one  of  Castor  and  the  other  of  Pollux,  originally 
from  Athens,  and  executed,  as  is  supposed,  by  Phidias  and  Prax- 
iteles. They  are  standing  by  their  horses,  which,  however,  are 
modern. 

The  largest  obelisk  is  before  the  Church  of  St.  John  Lateran, 
being,  exclusive  of  its  pedestal,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  high 
and  nine  in  diameter.  It  was  brought  from  ancient  Thebes,  where 
it  was  placed  in  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  by  Ramises  ! ! 

With  all  the  labours  of  Champollion  and  others,  there  is  not  yet 
light  enough  shed  upon  these  dark  hieroglyphics  to  render  them 
legible  to  the  modern  reader.  If  this  were  done,  what  stores  of 
historic  facts,  and  what  knowledge  of  Egyptian  usages  and  wor- 
ship might  not  be  obtained  from  the  mysterious  characters  that 
adorn  these  ancient  monuments  !  One  of  them  is  supposed  to 
bear  date  one  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

A  GREAT  portion  of  the  most  interesting  antiquities  of  Rome 
and  other  ancient  cities  are  to  be  found  in  the  public  museums, 
especially  in  those  of  the  Capitol  and  of  the  Vatican  palace.  But 
who  will  undertake  to  describe  these  ?  A  volume  would  not  an- 
swer to  give  their  names  and  history,  to  say  nothing  of  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  articles  themselves. 

The  Vatican  palace,  so  called  from  its  situation  upon  the  Vati- 
can mount,  joins  upon  St.  Peter's  cathedral,  and  in  it  are  extensive 


THE    VATICAN    PALACE.  313 

galleries  appropriated  to  works  of  art,  and  especially  to  specimens 
of  ancient  sculpture.  Of  these  apartments  even,I  can  specify  but 
a  few,  and,  of  course,  I  cannot  begin  to  speak  of  their  contents. 

The  Museo  Chiaramonti  contains  a  gallery  of  ancient  inscrip- 
tions, monumental  tablets,  and  sarcophagi  almost  innumerable. 
On  one  side  are  the  pagan  monuments,  and  on  the  other  the 
Christian ;  many  of  the  latter  were  taken  from  the  catacombs, 
and,  by  their  rudeness,  show  that  they  were  not  the  workmanship 
of  the  Augustan  age  1  Another  division  of  this  gallery  contains 
seven  or  eight  hundred  specimens  of  ancient  statuary. 

At  the  farther  end  of  this  gallery  is  a  passage  to  the  left  into  a 
museum  of  Egyptian  antiquities,  discovered  mostly  a  few  years 
since  at  the  lower  cataract  of  the  Nile,  thought  to  be  among  the 
most  ancient  of  the  kind  now  extant. 

The  Museo  Clementina  is  up  a  staircase,  but  not  higher  above 
ground.  The  palace  climbs  the  hill,  so  that,  although  you  have 
ascended  several  long  flights  of  stairs,  you  now  can  pass  out  into 
an  open  court,  which  is  surrounded  by  a  beautiful  portico  and 
cabinets  of  the  richest  statuary.  Here  is  the  Belvid'ere  Apollo, 
thought  to  be  one  of  the  finest  statues  in  the  world ;  the  very  im 
age  of  manly  grace ;  the  almost  divine  personification ;  the  beau 
ideal  of  the  human  form  divine.  The  more  you  look  at  it,  the 
more  you  desire  to  look.  It  is,  of  course,  of  Greek  workmanship, 
and  was  found  at  the  city  of  Antium  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
Here  is  the  group  of  Laocoon  and  his  two  sons,  writhing  under 
the  crushing  coils  and  poisonous  fangs  of  the  two  serpents.  I 
had  seen  frequent  casts  and  copies  of  this,  one  of  the  former  de- 
scription in  the  museum  at  Philadelphia,  but  none  of  them  come 
up  to  the  original.  Its  painful  beauties  cannot  be  described.* 
This  was  brought  from  Greece  to  be  placed  in  the  palace  of 
Titus,  and  is  described  by  Pliny  as  the  production  of  the  joint 
labour  of  Agesander,  Apollodorus,  and  Athenodorus  of  Rhodes. 
Here  also  are  a  beautiful  mosaic  pavement,  numerous  baths  of 
splendid  materials  and  workmanship,  sarcophagi,  bassi-relievi, 

*  I  recollect,  several  years  since,  in  looking  at  the  plaster  cast  in  Philadelphia,  of  ob 
serving  to  an  English  traveller  whom  I  accidentally  met  there,  that  some  critics  thought 
the  artist  ought  to  have  thrown  into  the  countenance  of  the  father  more  paternal  solici- 
tude for  his  sons,  who  were  suffering  with  him.  "  But,"  says  the  Englishman,  in  reply, 
"  do  you  not  see  that  this  fellow,"  pointing  to  the  serpent,  "  has  got  him  by  the  side  ?" 
This  put  an  end  to  all  further  criticism  on  that  point. 

27  RR 


314  ITALY. 

&c.  One  cabinet  is  devoted  to  a  modern  artist,  the  celebrated 
Canova.  One  hardly  knows  which  pleases  most,  the  beautiful 
sculpture  which  stands  in  this  cabinet,  or  the  delicate  compliment 
by  which  he  is  admitted  to  companionship  with  the  unrivalled  art 
ists  of  antiquity.  With  all  the  advantages  of  the  ancient  patterns, 
and  with  all  the  improvements  of  the  kindred  arts,  the  moderns 
never  have  equalled,  and  probably  never  will  equal,  the  sculpture 
of  antiquity. 

The  Hall  of  Animals  is  full  of  beautiful  specimens  of  beasts 
and  birds,  fishes  and  reptiles,  principally  quadrupeds,  however, 
some  of  them  representing  ancient  fable,  as  Europa,  Mithras  stab- 
bing the  bull,  &c.  Others  represent  ravenous  beasts  taking  their 
prey,  as  a  lion  devouring  a  horse,  and  the  like.  It  is  generally 
thought,  however,  that  the  ancients  excelled  more  in  imitations  of 
the  human  form  than  of  the  lower  animals. 

We  next  came  to  an  extensive  gallery  called  the  Gallery  of 
Statues.  Here  is  a  fi»e  collection  of  beautiful  statues  represent- 
ing Apollo,  and  the  Muses,  and  Hermae,  which  are  portraits  of 
distinguished  Grecians,  each  having  his  or  her  name  upon  it. 
These  were  found  in  the  villa  of  Cassius  at  Tivoli,  and,  perhaps, 
constituted  his  private  gallery.  They  are  doubtless  correct  like- 
nesses, as  they  are  of  Grecian  workmanship.  You  may  see  here 
the  genuine  features  of  ^Eschines  and  Demosthenes ;  of  Aspasia 
and  Sappho ;  of  Solon  and  Lycurgus  ;  of  Sophocles  and  Euripi- 
des, and  a  host  of  others,  of  whom  to  think  is  poetry,  but  to  see  is 
almost  inspiration. 

In  the  centre  of  the  Circular  Hall  is  a  splendid  basin  of  por- 
phyry, forty-one  Paris  feet  in  circumference,  with  a  number  of 
elegant  busts  and  statues  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  other  great  char- 
acters. Then  comes  another  apartment,  in  the  form  of  a  cross, 
which  serves  as  a  vestibule,  but  filled,  nevertheless,  with  statuary. 
Here  you  ascend  an  elegant  staircase  to  a  rotunda,  where  you  see, 
among  other  things,  an  ancient  car  elegantly  sculptured  in  marble, 
with  two  horses  harnessed  to  it,  only  one  of  which,  however,  is 
ancient.  Here  is  also  another  extensive  gallery,  containing  splen- 
did candelabra,  cinerary  urns,  vases,  sarcophagi,  &c.  Some  of 
these  candelabra  are  very  elegant,  and  were  used  in  the  illumina 
tion  of  ancient  palaces,  temples,  &c. 

Many  of  the  rooms  of  these  apartments  are  superb  in  their  ar 


BASILICA.  .  315 

chitecture,  with  columns  of  ancient  marble  and  porphyry,  and 
frescoed  ceilings. 

Another  splendid  collection  of  antiquities  is  at  the  Capitol ;  but, 
as  these  are  similar  in  character  lo  those  already  described,  I  shall 
not  stay  to  mention  particulars.  It  may  be  noticed,  however,  that 
here  is  a  hall  containing  busts  of  a  great  portion  of  the  Roman 
emperors,  and  another  hall  of  philosophers,  and  another  of  Egyp- 
tian statues  found  at  Adrian's  villa. 

Many  of  the  antiquities  of  Rome  are  so  incorporated  with  mod- 
ern structures  that  it  is  difficult  to  describe  the  one  without  in- 
cluding the  other.  I  shall,  therefore,  disregard  any  further  clas- 
sification of  this  kind,  and  finish  what  more  I  may  say  of  Rome 
by  adopting  the  most  convenient  order  for  that  purpose. 

The  churches  of  Rome  are  perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature 
of  the  modern  city.  Many  are  constructed,  in  part  at  least,  of 
ancient  materials,  and  some  of  the  structures  themselves  are  co- 
eval with  the  age  of  Constantine.  Seven  of  these  latter  are  called 
basilica.  Basilica  anciently  seems  to  have  been  a  term  that 
distinguished  a  structure  of  a  particular  form  and  architecture, 
rather  than  a  designation  of  the  uses  of  the  edifice ;  and  these 
ancient ,  churches  are  supposed  to  be  so  called  from  their  having 
been  erected  on  the  site  of  these  ancient  public  halls,  and  from 
their  being,  in  some  respects,  like  them  in  architecture..  They 
had  double  side  aisles ;  or,  in  other  words,  they  had  four  rows  of 
columns,  dividing  the  whole  into  the  central  nave,  and  two  side 
arcades  on  each  side  of  the  nave.  These  columns  were  single, 
and  generally  without  an  entablature,  as  they  supported  arches 
springing  from  the  capitals.  Many  of  those  now  called  basilica 
churches,  however,  are  so  changed  by  alterations  and  repairs  that 
the  basilica  form  no  longer  exists. 

Another  reason  for  calling  these  churches  basilicas  might  have 
been  that  they  were  built  out  of  the  materials  of  former  basilicas. 
Constantine  built  all  his  edifices  of  plundered  materials.  Indeed, 
the  first  three  centuries  of  the  empire  seem  to  have  been  to  Rome 
what  the  geologists  of  the  present  day  represent  the  antemundane 
ages  of  the  world  to  have  been  to  the  world  as  it  now  is ;  mere 
periods  of  preparation,  in  which  were  elaborated  inexhaustible 
stores  for  the  use  of  all  subsequent  ages.* 

*  It  is  for  this  reason,  doubtless,  that  the  Gothic  style  was  never  introduced  into  Rome 


316  ITALY. 

At  the  head  of  these  basilica  churches  we  must  place  St.  Pe- 
ter's, which,  in  fact,  stands  at  the  head  of  all  churches,  if  not  of 
all  structures  that  now  exist,  in  point  of  architectural  elegance 
and  costliness  of  finish.  In  some  respects  the  edifice  is  unfavour- 
ably situated,  for  it  is  overlooked  on  the  one  side  by  the  towering 
pile  of  the  Vatican  palace,  elevated  on  the  rising  hill,  and  on  the 
other  side  it  is  flanked  by  uncouth  buildings.  But  these  defects 
are  measurably  remedied  by  the  splendid  and  spacious  piazza  in 
the  front,  and  especially  by  the  covered  galleries  that  wing  out 
from  each  side,  and  the  unrivalled  semicircular  triple  porticoes 
that  start  from  these  galleries,  and  sweep  round  the  open  piazza 
in  indescribable  grandeur.  These  porticoes  are  supported  by 
four  rows  of  Doric  columns,  giving,  in  each  wing,  two  side  and  a 
central  arcade,  the  latter  being  wide  enough  for  two  carriages 
abreast,  and  the  three  are  fifty-six  feet  in  breadth.  There  are 
two  hundred  and  eighty-four  columns  sixty-one  Paris  feet  in 
height,  surmounted  with  a  balustrade,  on  which  stand  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-two  colossal  statues.  In  passing  up  the  arcades 
you  enter  the  cloistered  galleries,  three  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in 
length,  and  these  bring  you  into  the  end  of  the  vestibule.  If  you 
go  up  the  right  portico  you  have  also  in  front  the  Scala  Regia, 
or  royal  staircase.  This  is  an  enchanting  position.  In  one  direc- 
tion the  staircase,  in  the  opposite  the  gallery  and  portico,  and  in 
another  this  grand  vestibule,  four  hundred  and  thirty-nine  Paris 
feet  in  length,  by  thirty-seven  in  breadth  and  sixty-two  in  height, 
with  its  vaulted  gilded  ceiling,  its  doors,  niches,  statues,  and  fount- 
ains receding  in  the  distant  perspective,  and  terminating  in  the 
equestrian  statue  of  Charlemagne.  This  noble  statue  is  placed 
as  the  guardian  genius  of  that  end  of  the  vestibule,  in  the  same 
manner  that  a  similar  one  of  Constantine  guards  this. 

But  we  must  say  a  few  things  of  the  interior  of  this  church,  to 
notice  which  minutely  would  take  a  volume.  The  lower,  or  sub- 
structure, still  remains,  with  additions  and  repairs,  as  it  was  built 
by  Constantine.  He  chose  this  spot,  which  was  formerly  the  site 
of  the  Circus  of  Nero,  because  it  was  said  St.  Peter  was  buried 
here.  This  ancient  church  stood  until  about  the  middle  of  the 

Not  only  were  her  patterns  of  a  different  character,  but  her  materials.  By  the  former 
she  was  allured,  and  by  the  latter  compelled,  not  to  alter  her  style.  I  do  not  recollect 
that  I  saw  a  symptom  of  the  Gothic  among  all  the  edifices  of  Rome. 


THE  BASEMENT  CHAPEL.  317 

fifteenth  century,  when  it  was  principally  removed,  and  the  pres- 
ent edifice  commenced  under  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas  V.  The 
new  structure  was  carried  on  under  different  pontiffs  and  a  suc- 
cession of  architects,  the  principal  of  whom  were  Rosellini  and 
Alberti,  who  commenced  it,  Bramante,  Raphael,  Sangallo,  and, 
above  all,  Michael  Angelo  Buonarroti,  who  planned  the  cupola, 
boasting  that  he  would  elevate  the  pantheon  to  the  top  of  the 
church.  This  has,  in  effect,  been  accomplished.  The  edifice, 
with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  ornaments  and  the  sacristy,* 
was  finished  in  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  Basement  Chapel,  with  its  ancient  ornaments,  sepulchres, 
altars,  and  shrines,  is  a  most  interesting  structure,  but  can  only 
be  seen  by  lamplight,  as  the  light  of  the  day  shines  not  here. 
The  principal  apparent  entrance  is  by  the  Sacra  Confessione^ 
which  is  surrounded  by  a  beautiful  balustrade  just  in  front  of  the 
high  altar,  and  surmounted  by  a  hundred  lamps  constantly  burn- 
ing. This  is  descended  by  a  double  flight  of  steps  to  the  tomb 
of  St.  Peter,  whose  mortal  remains  are  said  to  be  entombed  here. 
The  marble  statue  of  Pius  VI.,  however,  kneeling  before  the 
bronze  doors  that  lead  into  St.  Peter's  tomb,  guards  this  passage, 
and  spectators  descend  another  way. 

The  modern  church  is  of  gigantic  dimensions :  the  extreme 
length  of  the  nave  is  six  hundred  and  fourteen  feet ;  the  breadth 
of  the  church  two  hundred  and  seven.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  Latin 
cross,  and  the  breadth  of  the  cross  is  seventy-nine  feet.  The  diam- 
eter of  the  cupola  is  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  feet,  and  its  ex- 
treme interior  height  from  the  floor  of  the  church  three  hundred 
and  ninety-three  feet.  The  view  as  you  enter  the  church  is  one 
of  the  finest,  if  not  the  very  first,  taking  all  things  into  the  ac- 
count, that  can  be  obtained  in  any  position,  within  or  without, 
The  eye  traces  the  entire  length  and  height  at  a  glance  ;  a  glance 
that  kindles  in  the  soul  the  commingled  emotions  of  sublimity  and 
beauty,  heightened  by  the  overwhelming  surprise  and  astonish^ 
ment  that  so  much  of  grandeur  and  beauty  could  ever  be  thrown 
into  one  perspective  by  human  industry  and  genius.  One  of  the 
features  of  St,  Peter's  that  adds  much  to  its  effect  is  the  richness 

and  perfection  of  its  finish :  it  is  incrusted  with  marbles  of  vari- 

* 

*  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  the  essential  parts  of  the  architecture  were  completed  in 
1621.  The  sacristy  was  built  by  Pius,  VI.  in  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century. 

27 


318  ITALY. 

ous  kinds,  and  beautifully  wrought ;  its  pillars  are  elegant,  and 
seven  of  them,  it  is  said,  are  from  the  temple  at  Jerusalem. 

Another  feature  is  its  symmetry  and  exact  proportions.  These 
are  so  perfect  that  they  deceive  the  eye  as  to  the  dimensions  of 
everything  you  see.  The  statue  of  an  ordinary  cherub,  appearing 
about  the  size  of  a  well-grown  infant  in  his  mother's  arms,  is 
found,  on  examination,  to  be  gigantic.  No  one  would  suppose 
the  pillars  to  be  of  one  fourth  the  size  they  find  them  to  be  by 
actual  measurement.  Each  of  the  four  pillars  on  which  the 
cupolarests  is  two  hundred  and  six  Paris  feet  in  circumference;  rather 
a  large  pillar  this  to  come  down  in  the  centre  of  the  church,  and 
yet  four  of  these  dimensions  do  not  appear  to  take  an  undue  pro- 
portion of  room. 

Another  feature  which  calls  out  the  admiration  of  the  spectator 
at  every  turn  is  the  splendid  sepulchral  monuments,  and  the  pic- 
tures in  mosaic.  Here  are  the  tombs  of  the  popes,  of  princes, 
and  illustrious  characters.  Here  are  the  most  splendid  mosaics 
of  the  most  splendid  pictures  in  the  world,  all  gigantic  in  size,  and 
elegant  in  design  and  execution. 

Another  fine  view  is  in  or  near  the  centre,  under  the  cupola. 
The  interior  of  the  dome  is  incrusted  with  mosaics  ;  immediately 
under  it  is  a  splendid  baldacchino,  with  spiral  pillars,  supporting 
a  bronze  canopy  overshadowing  the  high  altar.  Beyond  this,  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  tribuna,  is  the  chair  of  St.  Peter ;  and  also, 
above  it,  a  transparent  painting  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  form  of  a 
dove.  But  I  must  break  off  abruptly  from  this  description  of  the 
edifice,  while  of  its  contents  or  of  its  services  I  can  say  little 
more  than  I  have  said  already  in  my  account  of  the  ceremonies 
of  Holy  Week.  At  the  south  end  of  the  cross  are  confessionals, 
where  priests,  in  all  the  different  languages  of  Europe,  officiate 
at  stated  hours,  each  box  having  over  it  the  name  of  the  language 
in  which  the  confession  is  heard.  When  the  priest  is  in  his  place 
a  long  rod  runs  out  obliquely,  with  which  he  touches  the  head  of 
any  individual  who,  passing  by,  chooses  to  kneel  to  receive  his 
benediction. 

Mr.  Lyman,  in  his  work  on  the  political  state  of  Italy,  gives  a 
catalogue  of  seventy-nine  sacred  relics  contained  in  this  church. 
Most  of  these  are  the  bones  of  saints.  Here,  also,  in  one  of  the 
chapels^  is  the  column  against  which  the  Saviour  leaned  when  he 


ST.  PETERS. 

was  disputing  with  the  doctors.  Here  are  the  cradle  and  hay  of 
the  manger  where  Christ  lay,  and  the  veil  of  the  blessed  Virgin ; 
the  mantle  and  girdle  of  Joseph ;  the  holy  sweat  of  our  Saviour ; 
and  I  know  not  what  else.  But  to  describe  the  relics  of  Rome 
would  take  a  large  volume :  some  of  the  churches  have  many 
more  than  St.  Peter's. 

You  ascend  St.  Peter's  by  a  gradual  ascent  to  the  base  of  the 
dome.  Here  you  may  go  out  upon  the  roof,  and  then  you  perceive 
you  have  never  before  had  any  just  conception  of  its  magnitude. 
The  roof  of  this  church  seems  of  itself  a  little  city,  covered  with 
towns,  cottages,  cisterns,  plains  and  hills;  slopes  and  precipices. 
Returning,  you  ascend  the  cupola  by  a  zigzag  staircase,  which 
goes  up  between  the  two  walls  of  the  canopy  of  the  cupola,  for  it 
has  double  walls,  to  the  top.  Thence  you  go  up  a  difficult  pas- 
sage through  a  narrow  throat  into  the  great  brass  ball  above  the 
dome,  which  from  below  looks  like  a  small  globe ;  but,  when  you 
reach  it,  you  find  it  will  contain  sixteen  or  twenty  men.  Females 
can  enter  this  with  some  difficulty.  Mrs.  F.,  anxious  to  get  to  the 
height  of  St.  Peter's,  succeeded  in  entering  the  ball.  The  heat, 
however,  is  almost  suffocating,  and,  in  very  hot  weather,  must  be 
insupportable.  We  were  glad  to  hasten  down.  The  entire  per- 
pendicular height  to  the  top  of  the  cross  over  the  ball  is  four  hun- 
dred and  forty-eight  feet. 

One  of  the  accessory  circumstances  which  adds  to  the  interest 
of  St.  Peter's  is  the  neat  and  cleanly  manner  in  which  it  is  kept; 
and  this  is  true,  in  fact,  of  most  of  the  Roman  churches.  They 
are  like  a  lady's  parlour.  Dr.  Johnson,  of  London,  in  his  remarks 
on  Italy,  says,  he  thinks  the  goddess  Cloacina  has  taken  her  flight 
from  Italy  and  the  Continent  across  the  British  Channel.  If  she 
has  she  avoids  the  churches  in  England,  and  still  looks  after  this 
part  of  her  duty  in  Rome.  Let  any  one  compare  the  cleanliness 
of  St.  Peter's,  or,  in  fact,  of  any  respectable  Roman  church,  with 
St.  Paul's  or  Westminster  Abbey.  Indeed,  no  lady  can  go  over 
one  of  these  churches,  and  especially  St.  Paul's,  and  keep  her  dress 
decent ;  it  needs  a  Hercules  to  turn  another  river  through  this 
augean  stable,  called  the  House  of  God,  especially  the  upper 
apartments.  In  St.  Peter's  the  statuary  was  bright  and  fresh  like 
a  chimney  ornament  in  a  lady's  drawing  room  ;  in  St.  Paul's  there 
were  accumulations  of  dust  so  as  to  deform  the  work  of  the  artist. 


320  ITALY. 

St.  John  Lateran  was  built  by  Constantine,  and  is  another  of 
the  basilicae.  It  is  a  magnificent  church,  and  is  called  the  mother 
church  of  Rome.  The  interior  architecture  is  heavy,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  enlargement  of  the  pillars  to  strengthen  the  edifice. 
They  now  contain  niches  in  which  are  placed  gigantic  statues  of 
the  twelve  apostles.  Near  this  church  is  a  baptistry,  in  which,  it 
is  said,  Constantine  was  baptized.  The  whole  edifice  almost  is 
made  of  borrowed  materials  ;  even  the  baptismal,  font  is  supposed 
to  be  an  ancient  sarcophagus. 

The  great  object  of  the  finish  in  the  Roman  churches  is  orna- 
ment, in  many  cases  excessive  ornament.  But  even  this  excites 
your  admiration  and  astonishment.  An  illustration  of  this  is  the 
basilica  of  St.  Maria  Maggiore.  This  church  is  on  the  site  of 
the  temple  of  Juno  Lucina,  on  the  Esquiline  Hill,  and  is  supposed 
to  have  been  built  about  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century.  This 
is,  perhaps,  the  most  richly-ornamented  church  of  Rome,  not  ex- 
cepting the  Jesuit's  church,  which  may  be  more  gaudy,  but  not  so 
magnificent.  I  can  give  no  idea  of  this  gorgeous  temple.  It  is 
richly  ornamented  and  gilded.  It  has  splendid  statuary  and  paint- 
ings by  the  first  masters,  a  baldacchino  over  the  high  altar  with 
antique  columns  of  porphyry.  Its  arches  and  .aapels  are  incrust- 
ed  with  mosaics,  precious  polished  marbles,  lapis  lazuli,  and  verd 
antique. 

From  St.  John  Lateran  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross  in  Je- 
rusalem the  approach  is  very  fine.  This  church  derives  its  name 
from  possessing  the  piece  of  the  true  cross  brought  by  St.  Helena 
from  Jerusalem.  Its  vestibule  is  antique,  and  supposed  to  be  an 
ancient  sessorium.  The  antiquity  of  this  church,  being  one  of  the 
basilica  built  by  Constantine,  its  vestibule  and  its  cross,  from  which 
it  takes  its  name,  constitute  its  principal  interest.  The  whole  of 
this  region  of  the  city,  which,  though  within  the  walls,  is  mostly  a 
waste,  is  becoming  more  and  more  subject  to  the  malaria,  and  for 
a  part  of  the  year  unsafe  as  a  place  of  residence.  How  long  be- 
fore this  invisible  foe,  who  appears  to  be  gaining  strength  yearly, 
will  desolate  this  boasted  city  ?  How  long  before  the  expelled 
citizens  will  revisit  their  city  in  the  winter,  to  hasten  away,  as  by 
stealth,  some  of  those  splendid  works  of  art  which  can  no  longer 
be  enjoyed  irt  this  empire  of  death  ?  Perhaps  never !  yet  this  is 
not  improbable. 


CHURCH    OF    ST.   LORENZO.  321 

The  three  other  basilicas  are  without  the  walls  of  the  city. 
St.  Sebastian's  has  already  been  mentioned.  That  of  St.  Paul  is 
represented  to  have  been  a  magnificent  edifice,  but  we  saw  it  only 
in  ruins.  It  fell  a  prey  to  fire  in  July,  1824.  The  fire  was  so 
intense  as  to  calcine  the  marble  and  granite  pillars,  and  brake  to 
fragments  the  columns  of  porphyry,  and  ruin  a  great  part  of  the 
edifice.  Some  parts,  however,  including  the  high  altar,  under 
which  repose,  as  they  would  have  us  believe,  the  mortal  remains 
of  the  chief  apostle  to  the  gentiles,  remain  uninjured.  The  edifice 
is  now  being  rebuilt  at  a  great  expense,  notwithstanding  his  holi- 
ness is  running  in  debt  yearly  for  the  current  expenses  of  gov- 
ernment. Beyond  this  church  is  another,  called  St.  Paul's  of  the 
Three  Fountains,  where  they  show  a  white  stone  on  which  they 
say  St.  Paul  was  decapitated. 

The  Church  of  St.  Lorenzo  is  one  mile  from  the  gate  of  the 
same  name,  and  is  the  last  of  the  seven  ancient  basilicas.  It  is 
constructed  upon  the  foundations  of  the  Temple  of  Neptune,  and 
has  adopted  most  of  the  pillars  from  that  edifice,  some  of  them 
evidently  standing  in  the  very  position  where  they  stood  in  the 
ancient  edifice.  This  appears  from  the  fact  that  the  lower  ex- 
tremities of  those  pillars  were,  until  lately  excavated,  buried  some 
six  or  eight  feet  in  the  rubbish  and  earth  below  the  pavement  of 
the  church.  Here  are  catacombs,  into  which  we  descended,  and 
saw  cords  on  cords  of  bones  laid  up  in  due  order  of,  as  the  priests 
say,  martyred  saints.  They  claim,  also,  to  possess  at  this  church 
not  only  the  body  of  St.  Lorenzo,  but  also  that  of  St.  Stephen. 
We  called  in  question  the  validity  of  their  claim  to  St.  Stephen, 
because  we  had  just  visited  the  Church  of  St.  Stephen  within  the 
walls,  where  they  claimed  to  have  the  body  of  this  first  Christian 
martyr.  Nay,  they  have  recorded  on  the  altar  the  account  of  the 
discovery  and  transportation  of  the  body  of  the  saint  from  Jerusa- 
lem ;  and  on  the  rail  of  the  circular  altar*  some  twenty  or  thirty 
instances  are  recorded  of  miracles  wrought  by  the  bones  of  this 
same  saint,  such  as  healing  the  sick,  raising  the  dead,  and  the 

*  This  church  is  of  singular  but  beautiful  construction.  It  is,  in  fact,  an  ancient 
temple  converted  into  a  church.  It  is  circular,  having  three  concentric  peristyles  of 
columns,  including  one  in  the  wall.  The  two  interior  are  insulated,  and  stand  up  in 
beautiful  grandeur  under  the  more  modern  roof  of  the  temple.  In  the  centre  is  the  circu- 
lar altar ;  and  all  over  the  walls  are  the  most  horrid  exhibitions  of  cruelties,  purporting 
to  represent  the  persecutions  of  the  saints,  that  my  eyes  ever  beheld. 

Ss 


322  ITALY. 

like ;  insomuch  that,  if  they  had  continued  to  keep  these  bones 
above  ground,  they  must  have  filled  the  earth  with  their  wonders. 
We  asked  these  priests  of  St.  Lorenzo  whether  they  meant  to  dis- 
pute the  question  with  their  brethren  of  St.  Stephen's,  or  whether 
one  of  the  miracles  of  this  saint  was  to  have  two  bodies.  The 
older  of  the  two  with  whom  we  were  conversing  seemed  inclined 
to  waive  the  subject ;  but  the  younger  insisted  that  the  other  was 
the  church  of  St.  Stephen,  but  "we  have  his  body."  As  the  set- 
tling of  this  question  did  not  belong  to  us,  we  left  it  for  the  priests 
and  monks  to  adjust  as  they  could,  and  hastened  back  to  the  city, 
because  that  afternoon  we  were  to  be  introduced  to  the  pope  ;  a 
brief  account  of  which  I  will  give  here  as  a  relief  to  this,  I  fear, 
tiresome  sketch  of  a  few  of  the  churches  of  Rome. 

Several  Americans  were  introduced  at  the  same  time  with  us 
by  our  consul.  This  was  by  a  previous  arrangement.  The  only 
forms  necessary  to  observe  were,  that  the  ladies  should  wear  veils, 
and  the  gentlemen  dress-coats,  and  slippers  instead  of  boots.  In- 
deed, no  man  is  admitted  into  the  presence  of  the  pope  at  the  re- 
ligious festivals  with  either  frockcoats  or  cloaks.*  So  much  for 
etiquette.  We  were  received  in  the  library  of  the  Vatican.  The 
officers  of  the  domestic  court  were  at  a  little  distance ;  the  pope 
himself  was  standing,  dressed  in  his  monk's  habit  of  close  cap 
and  white  stuff  robe,  faced  with  silk,  and  red  slippers,  with  the 
gold  cross  upon  the  top.  We  were  not  required,  however,  as  is 
generally  supposed  requisite,  to  kneel  or  kiss  his  slipper.  This 
is  not  expected  of  Protestants.  His  holiness,  on  learning  that  I 
was  from  America,  remarked  at  the  commencement  that  he 
thought  well  of  the  United  States  because  there  were  many  Cath- 
olics, and  they  all  enjoyed  equal  privileges  with  others.  I  replied, 
that  was  according  to  the  genius  of  our  government ;  we  had  no 
religious  establishment,  but  gave  liberty  of  conscience  and  free  tol- 
eration to  all.  The  pope  said  he  thought  "  true  toleration  to  con- 
sist in  leaving  every  one  at  liberty  to  worship  as  he  pleased  !"  He 
then  changed  the  conversation,  and  went  on  to  describe  the  fire- 
works that  should  have  been ;  and  finally,  after  a  little  time,  he 
bowed  for  us  to  retire,  at  the  same  time  requesting  us  "  to  remem- 
ber St.  Peter." 

*  The  Rev.  E.  T.  T.,  of  the  Mariner's  Church,  Boston,  informs  me  that,  by  dint  of 
perseverance,  he  was  admitted  to  the  presence  of  his  holiness  with  frockcoat  and  boots ; 
but  this  is  a  rare,  if  not  a  solitary  occurrence. 


I 


PICTURE-GALLERIES.  323 

The  next  morning  one  of  the  pope's  household  called  to  receive 
a  donation  from  us,  stating  that  it  was  customary  for  all  who  are 
introduced  to  his  holiness  to  make  a  present  to  the  members  of 
his  household.  We  asked  how  much  was  expected.  Why,  he 
said,  there  were  five  families,  and  they  expected  five  piasters  each 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  origin  of  this  custom,  it  certainly 
savours  of  a  meanness  altogether  unworthy  of  a  sovereign.  But 
the  blame  should  not  rest  exclusively,  nor,  perhaps,  chiefly  on 
the  pope.  It  is  the  general  custom  of  the  country.  If  any  gen- 
tleman makes  a  dining  party  or  soiree,  the  guests  will  find  the  ser- 
vants at  their  door  the  next  day,  each  expecting  a  buono  mano  for 
the  hospitality  of  their  master.  In  this  way  many  are  mostly  sup- 
ported. Others,  who  are  the  servants  of  princes  or  noblemen 
that  have  villas  or  palaces  furnished  with  galleries  of  antiquities 
or  paintings,  as  is  the  case  with  a  number  in  Rome,  obtain  a  very 
respectable  Roman  income  by  waiting  upon  the  strangers  who 
visit  them. 

A  great  deal  of  time  is  generally  spent  by  strangers  in  visiting 
these  palaces.  There  are,  at  least,  certain  palaces  that  every  one 
must  visit  if  he  would  not  be  a  heretic  in  taste ;  and  many  of 
them  are  certainly  a  rich  feast  to  the  lovers  of  painting,  as  they 
have  galleries  filled  with  the  productions  of  the  first  masters,  and 
some  of  them  have  celebrated  frescoes  upon  the  walls  and  ceil- 
ings ;  but  as  for  the  palaces  themselves,  few  indeed  are  worth  the 
time  and  expense  of  visiting.  They  have  cheerless  apartments, 
with  some  show  of  state  in  the  furniture,  with  no  fires  even  in  cold 
weather,  and,  for  the  most  part,  in  fact,  no  place  for  a  fire ;  with  no- 
thing very  interesting  in  the  architecture,  and  much  that  is  disgust- 
ing frequently  in  the  filth  of  the  court  and  the  neglected  staircase, 
which,  as  one  writer  has  well  said,  "  belongs  to  nobody  to  clean." 
Surely  no  one  would  be  disposed  to  spend  a  great  portion  of  his 
time  to  visit  Italian  palaces,  either  for  their  architecture  or  furni- 
ture— always  excepting  their  picture-galleries.  And  even  these, 
to  the  man  who  does  not  make  pictures  his  study,  soon  tire. 
There  is  an  endless  repetition  of  the  same  subjects,  some  of  them 
disgusting  enough,  and  others  lose  their  interest  where  we  judge 
of  everything  by  comparison,  and  where  a  few  transcendent  works 
shine  everything  else  into  the  shade ;  so  that,  at  last,  you  pass 
over  scores  of  pictures  which  are  mere  mediocrity,  or,  perhaps, 
somewhat  above  mediocrity,  and  fix  upon  here  and  there  one  as 


ITALY, 


alone  worthy  of  notice.  In  this  way  you  get  weary  in  running 
over  successive  galleries,  for  the  sake  of  saying  or  knowing  that 
you  have  seen  them,  and  especially  to  be  sure  that  nothing  of 
transcendent  merit  has  escaped  you.  But  there  is  such  a  propor- 
tion of  superior  works,  that,  with  all  the  weariness  of  routine  in 
going  from  palace  to  palace,  he  must  be  void  of  taste  who  does 
not  enjoy  much  pleasure  in  visiting  the  paintings  of  Rome.  It 
would  be  much  better  for  the  stranger,  certainly,  if  these  superior 
paintings  were  selected  from  the  mass,  although  it  might  not  be 
equally  showy  and  reputable  for  the  owner.  The  papal  gallery 
at  the  Vatican,  however,  is  formed  on  this  principle,  and  in  no- 
thing did  I  notice  the  prevalence  of  good  taste  more  than  in  this. 
Instead  of  a  wilderness  of  pictures,  that  might  have  been  expected 
in  accordance  with  the  prevailing  Italian  taste,  we  find  a  gallery 
comparatively  small,  but  filled  with  the  sublimest  achievements  of 
the  pencil.  No  wonder  that  this  gallery  is  crowded  every  day 
that  it  is  open ;  no  wonder  that  the  spectators,  absorbed  in  the  ex- 
hibitions before  them,  are  constantly  asking  pardon  for  treading 
upon  each  other's  toes  or  intercepting  each  other's  views. 

The  pope  has  another  splendid  palace  on  the  Quirinal  Hill, 
which  has  also  a  fine  gallery  of  pictures,  but  far  less  select  than 
those  of  the  Vatican,  and  also  a  suite  of  state  apartments  very 
well  furnished.  Some  of  the  other  palaces  are  the  Palazzo 
Rospigliosi,  which  contains  a  number  of  easel  pictures,  and  the 
Aurora  of  Guido  in  fresco,  supposed  to  be  the  finest  fresco  in 
Rome,  the  Palazzo  Borghese,  the  Palazzo  Sciarra,  Palazzo 
Doria,  Palazzo  Corsini,  all  rich  in  pictures  by  the  first  masters, 
such  as  Raphael,  Guido,  Rubens,  Titian,  Annibal  Caracci,  Do^ 
menfchino,  Caravagio,  Poussinboth  Gasparo  and  Nicolas,  Girelio 
Romano,  Carlo  Dolci,  Claude,  Salvator  Rosa,  Guercino,  Corre- 
gio,  Lanfranco,  Albano,  Andrea  del  Sarto,  and  a  host  of  others. 

After  a  little  study,  the  attentive  spectator  gets  such  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  different  styles  and  different  schools  of  painters,  that 
he  can  readily  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other ;  and  much  of 
the  interest  consists  in  the  comparisons  that  are  instituted  between 
those.  Emotions,  especially  if  they  are  strong,  must,  after  a 
little,  have  a  truce  ;  but,  after  these  subside,  from  satiety  or  weari- 
ness, the  power  of  comparing,  discriminating,  and  judging  re- 
mains, and  bears  you  onward  for  hours,  when  only  an  occasional 
and  superior  picture  can  call  into  transient  action  the  languid  and 


FRESCOES    AND    MOSAICS.  325 

exhausted  emotions.  In  this  way  day  after  day  is  spent  in  the 
picture-galleries  of  Europe,  and  especially  of  Italy. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  classes  of  works  of  art  in  Rome  are 
the  frescoes,  and  among  these  the  halls  in  the  Vatican  palace, 
called  the  Stanze  of  Raphael,  stand  prominent;  nay,  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  not  only  not  in  Rome  merely,  but  not  in  the  world, 
can  there  be  found  their  equals,  considering  their  extent,  their 
composition,  their  colouring,  and  general  execution.  These  halls 
are  four  in  number.  One  is  called  the  Hall  of  Constantine,  be- 
cause in  it  are  exhibited  the  principal  historic  events  of  that 
emperor's  life,  such  as  his  vision  of  the  cross,  his  battle  with  his 
rival  Maxentius,  his  baptism,  &c.  The  second  is  the  Hall  of 
Heliodorus,  so  called  because  the  principal  picture  represents  the 
vanquish ment  of  this  Syrian  general  in  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem 
by  two  angels,  &c.,  an  account  of  which  is  given  in  the  second 
book  of  the  Maccabees.  Here,  also,  is  the  miracle  of  Bolsena, 
which  is  no  uncommon  subject  for  the  artist  in  Italy.  It  is  a 
pictorial  representation  of  what  is  declared,  among  other  well 
authenticated  Roman  fables,  to  be  a  fact,  viz.,  that  a  priest  who 
had  his  doubts  on  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was  con- 
vinced, in  celebrating  the  mass,  by  the  dropping  of  fresh  blood 
from  the  wafer.  Against  such  proof  there  is,  of  course,  no  argu- 
ment. The  third  hall  is  the  School  of  Athens,  so  called  because 
the  artist,  with  admirable  skill,  has  brought  out,  in  all  their  appro- 
priate personal,  professional,  and  relative  characteristics,  all  the 
principal  philosophers,  poets,  artists,  and  other  authors  of  Greece. 
This  is  a  most  splendid  affair,  and  worth,  for  its  historical  asso- 
ciations and  biographical  delineations,  weej^s  of  study.  The  Hall 
of  the  Conflagration  is  the  last,  and  is  named  from  the  principal 
picture,  which  is  a  representation  of  a  fire  near  the  Vatican,  which 
occurred  in  the  pontificate  of  Leo  IV.  These  paintings,  how- 
ever, are  beginning  to  fade,  and  where  is  the  modern  artist  that 
will  have  the  courage  to  restore  them  ? 

Mosaic  work  is  much  wrought  in  Rome.  Allusion  has  already 
been  made  to  this  subject  in  describing  St.  Peter's.  The  princi- 
pal manufactory  of  this  kind  is  in  the  hands  of  government,  and 
conducted  in  some  of  the  lower  apartments  of  the  Vatican.  The 
shading  is  by  small  pieces  of  glass,  coloured  in  all  the  distinguish- 
able varieties  of  shade,  and  there  are  many  more  than  might  at 
first  be  imagined.  We  visited  the  establishment,  and  saw  the 
28 


326  ITALY. 

process  and  all  the  materials.  The  coloured  glass  was  all 
arranged  in  a  prescribed  order,  according  to  the  colours  and  vari- 
eties, to  the  number  of  twenty  thousand  different  shades.  Some 
of  these  pieces  are  extremely  small :  to  form  a  picture,  they  are 
all  set  in  a  case  prepared  according  to  the  size  of  the  picture,  and 
over  which  is  spread  a  composition  of  marble  dust,  fine  sand, 
gum,  oil,  and  the  white  of  eggs,  which,  being  at  first  soft,  receives 
readily  the  selected  particles  that  are  inserted  to  form  the  shades 
of  the  picture  ;  it  grows  harder,  however,  by  time  ;  and,  when  the 
picture  is  finished  and  sufficiently  indurated,  it  is  polished,  and 
thus  a  picture  is  transferred  from  the  surface  of  the  flexible  and 
fading  canvass  to  a  substance  as  hard  as  marble,  and  as  durable 
as  the  imperishable  materials  of  which  it  is  formed,  and  as  fade- 
less as  it  is  durable.  It  is  the  transferring  of  a  picture  to  the  very 
substance  of  a  manufactured  article,  like  tapestry ;  but  while  the 
latter  fades  and  decays,  the  former  endures  and  resists  the  assaults 
of  time.  Like  tapestry,  however,  it  is  a  slow  and  costly  process  : 
some  of  these  mosaic  pictures  cost  several  years  of  labour.  One 
picture  was  shown  us  which  employed  twelve  men  eight  years. 
All  that  is  wanting  as  an  artist,  or,  more  properly,  a  manufacturer 
in  this  department,  is  a  little  experience,  a  mechanical  exactness 
of  habit,  and,  as  the  phrenologists  would  say,  a  good  develop- 
ment of  the  organ  of  colour. 

There  are  also  many  private  manufactories  of  this  kind,  espe- 
cially in  ornamental  mosaics,  such  as  broaches,  pins,  rings,  &c. 
This  forms,  indeed,  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  revenue  to  the 
Roman  citizens ;  arid  the  United  States  contribute  not  a  little  in 
this  way  to  support  modern  Rome. 

"  There  are  only  three  departments  or  avocations,"  said  one  of 
the  citizens  to  me,  "  that  a  man  can  pursue  with  any  advantage 
in  this  city."  "  And  what  are  they  ?"  "  The  fine  arts,  the  law, 
and  the  priesthood,"  was  the  answer.  The  priests  certainly  ap- 
pear to  be  the  most  pampered  and  best  fed  class  at  Rome.  Their 
full  fresh  faces  formed  a  striking  contrast  to  the  great  portion  of 
the  population.  As  to  the  law,  I  doubt  whether  it  is  a  very  wide 
or  profitable  field  for  the  aspirant  to  fame  or  wealth.  For  public 
offices  in  Rome,  with  the  exception  of  a  few,  a  man  stands  the 
best  chance,  I  should  judge,  by  being  a  priest.  Omitting  those  of 
Tuscany,  the  Italian  courts  are  generally  with  closed  doors ,  and 
there  is  no  public  advocacy,  for  all  the  leadings  are  in  writing, 


THE    PROPAGANDA.  327 

of  which  several  copies  are  to  be  made  out,  making  a  great  amount 
of  manual  labour ;  and,  to  become  qualified  to  practise,  it  is  re- 
quired that  the  candidate  study  eight  years,  four  in  the  profes- 
sional school,  and  four  with  a  practising  lawyer.  The  Roman 
bar,  however,  is  said  to  be  very  respectable,  and  many  of  the  pro- 
fession are  raised  to  the  first  honours  in  the  state. 

There  are  a  number  of  very  respectable  libraries  at  Rome,  the 
most  splendid  of  which,  however,  is  that  of  the  Vatican.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  ascertain  the  number  of  books  in  this  library,  nor 
could  I  form  much  of  an  idea  from  passing  through  it,  as  many 
of  the  presses  containing  books  are  closed  by  doors.  The  manu- 
scripts, however,  are  said  to  be  forty  thousand,  and  many  of  them 
very  valuable.  Among  them  are  several  adorned  with  beautiful 
miniatures,  as  was  the  custom  in  the  middle  ages.  Of  these  is  a 
Virgil,  written  in  the  sixth  century,  with  miniatures  of  ^Eneas  and 
his  companions,  and  the  Latians,  in  their  own  appropriate  dresses  ; 
also  a  Terence  of  the  same  century,  and  a  Greek  Bible,  also  of  the 
same  age,  written  in  capital  letters ;  Acts  of  the  Apostles  in  golden 
letters.  But  it  is  useless  to  attempt  an  enumeration  of  even  the 
most  interesting.  These  manuscripts  are  in  a  part  of  the  library 
you  first  enter,  and  which  is  at  right  angles  with  the  principal 
gallery.  This  latter  is  nearly  a  thousand  feet  long,  and  the 
whole  is  beautifully  finished,  and  adorned  with  frescoes,  vases, 
candelabra,  busts,  porphyry  columns,  &c.,  making  a  suite  of  splen- 
did apartments.* 

In  the  convent  of  the  Church  of  St.  Maria  on  Minerva  is  the 
Casanateuse  library,  better  for  printed  books  than  that  of  the  Vat- 
ican ;  and  at  the  Augustine  church  another.. 

Of  all  the  institutions  of  Rome,  perhaps  no  one  of  so  simple  and 
definite  a  character  was  ever  better  planned  in  theory,  or  was 
ever  more  efficient  in  practice,  than  the  Propaganda.  This  in- 
stitution, the  object  of  which  was,  as  its  name  imports,  to  propa- 
gate the  papal  faith  throughout  the  world,  was  established  by 
Gregory  XV.  At  its  first  institution  it  had  not  a  college,  as  it 
now  has,  and  which  now,  in  fact,  constitutes  its  principal  strength. 
The  Propaganda,  in  order  to  have  the  suitable  agents  in  the  field 
to  direct  the  operations  of  the  society,  appointed  bishops,  arch- 

*  Besides  the  rooms  already  mentioned,  there  are  others  in  the  Vatican  containing 
tapestry,  and  various  others  too  numerous  to  mention. 


328  ITALY. 

bishops,  apostolical  missionaries,  and  apostolical  vicars  for  the 
different  parts  of  the  world;  for  Africa,  Asia  Minor,  Central  Asia, 
the  Indies,  China,  those  parts  of  Europe  that  had  become  Prot- 
estant, and  the  United  States  of  America.  Having  thus  marked 
out  the  field,  and  given  to  each  his  definite  work,  prefects,  curates, 
and  subordinate  missionaries  were  sent,  as  they  were  needed,  to 
fill  up  the  work.  These  missionaries  were  generally  selected 
from  the  secular  clergy,  that  is,  those  who  had  taken  no  monastic 
vows.  They  were  enjoined  not  to  intermeddle  with  secular  or 
political  affairs.  The  higher  grades,  however,  did  not  hesitate  to 
intermeddle  with  politics  and  government.  Indeed,  this  seemed 
to  be  a  part  of  their  office  and  duties.  As  they  were  scattered  all 
over  the  world,  and  were  skilled  in  all  the  literature  and  science 
of  the  age,  they  insinuated  themselves  as  teachers  and  officers  of 
government,  and  thus  gained  an  influence  wherever  they  could, 
and  became,  at  the  same  time,  by  their  correspondence  with  Rome, 
the  medium  of  communication  with  the  Catholic  court,  and,  indi- 
rectly, with  other  courts,  on  all  matters,  political,  religious,  scien- 
tific, geographical,  or  historical,  on  which  information  was  desired. 
For  this  purpose,  and  also  to  aid  in  the  transmission  of  funds  and 
all  things  else  necessary  to  keep  the  entire  system  in  operation, 
agents  or  purveyors  were  stationed  at  different  points  and  at  con- 
venient distances  in  every  part  of  the  extended  work.  These 
were  engaged  exclusively  in  the  secular  part  of  the  grand  system. 
Thus,  with  their  agents,  high  and  low,  secular  and  spiritual,  all 
acting  under  one  head  and  for  one  purpose,  they  became  the  spies 
of  the  world,  and  the  whole  meted  earth  became  subject  to  the 
espionage  of  the  Roman  court.  No  wonder  Napoleon  was  struck 
with  the  organization  and  efficiency  of  this  institution.  No  won- 
der he  thought  it  would  prove  a  good  instrument  in  his  hands  to 
carry  on  his  great  purposes  of  universal  domination !  "  Certain 
it  is,"  says  Carlo  Botta,  "  Napoleon  delighted  in  nothing  more 
than  in  the  Propaganda."  In  the  prosecution  of  its  prime  object, 
schools  were  established  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  viz.,  three 
in  Egypt,  four  in  Illyria,  two  in  Albania,  two  in  Transylvania,  one 
at  Constantinople,  together  with  numerous  others  in  the  Protest- 
ant countries  of  Europe,  all  supported  by  the  Propaganda.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  different  monastic  orders,  although  they  had 
schools  and  colleges,  and  raised  up  missionaries  of  their  ownj  yet 


tnrei 


THE    PROPAGANDA.  329 

they  were  all  made  subject  to  the  Propaganda,  and  received  from 
them  direction  as  to  the  place  where  and  the  manner  how  they 
should  dispose  of  their  labours.  And  that  nothing  might  be  want- 
ing to  concentrate  and  enlarge  the  influence  of  the  institution,  a  pa- 
rent college,  called  the  College  of  the  Propaganda,  was  established 
by  Urban  VIII.,  in  which  were  educated  natives  of  all  the  different 
countries  for  missionaries,  the  Roman  church  wisely  judging  that, 
if  they  could  get  natives  of  the  respective  countries  thoroughly  in* 
itiated  into  her  doctrines  and  policy,  an  initiation  that  could  be  ob- 
tained nowhere  else  so  well  as  at  Rome,  these  would  make  the 
most  successful  instruments  of  proselytism  among  their  own 
friends  and  countrymen.  These  youths  were,  of  course,  selected 
and  sent  to  Rome  by  the  apostolical  supervisors  who  were  al- 
ready in  the  field,  and  were  exactly  fitted  to  make  those  selec- 
tions which  would  best  serve  their  purpose.  Was  there  ever  a 
system  better  planned  or  more  efficiently  organized  than  this? 
especially  when  we  take  into  the  account  the  numerous  agents 
among  the  hosts  of  supernumerary  ecclesiastics  which  the  Church 
had  at  her  command ;  agents  which  were  bound  to  home  by  no 
family  ties  ;  encumbered,  for  the  most  part,  by  no  pecuniary  claims 
except  their  own  present  personal  wants  ;  forbidden  by  their  mo- 
nastic vows,  in  many  instances,  to  accumulate  wealth ;  and  pre- 
gared,  by  the  most  perfect  system  of  training,  to  sacrifice  every 
thing  for  their  object.  This  will  account  for  the  small  expense 
by  which  the  whole  machinery  was  kept  in  operation  ;  for  it  is 
said  their  annual  income,  at  the  time  of  their  greatest  prosperity, 
was  but  about  thirty-three  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety-six 
crowns. 

But  the  glory  and  power  of  the  Propaganda  are  in  a  great  meas~ 
ure  fallen.  Its  revenues  had  been  derived  from  banks,  from  trib* 
utes  paid  by  Naples  and  Venice,  and  by  various  religious  orders, 
and  by  fees  paid  by  each  newly-elected  cardinal.  These  sources, 
by  the  wars  of  the  French  and  the  revolutions  in  the  institutions 
of  the  country,  were  mostly  dried  up,  and  in  the  convulsions  and 
tumults  of  1 800  the  Propaganda  palace  itself  was  destroyed,  and 
the  operations  of  the  society  ceased.  Its  archives  were  carried  to 
Paris,  and  it  was  at  one  time  seriously  determined  to  carry  thither 
the  oriental  types, which  comprehended  the  characters  of  twenty- 
three  of  the  eastern  languages.  This  was  prevented,  however,  by 
28.  '  T  T 


330  ITALY. 

the  earnest  remonstrance  of  Degerando,  one  of  the  consulta  or 
administrative  council  who  had  been  appointed  to  manage  the 
government  in  accordance  with  the  decree  of  Napoleon,  dated  at 
Vienna,  May  17,  1810.  This  was  the  decree  which  annexed 
Rome  to  his  empire,  and  provided  for  its  government  as  an  impe- 
rial city.  It  was  through  the  representations  of  this  same  Dege- 
rando that  Napoleon  became  interested  in  the  Propaganda,  and 
promised  to  endow  it  from  the  imperial  treasury.  This,  however, 
he  was  prevented  from  doing  by  his  great  military  operations, 
which  finally  ended  in  his  overthrow.  The  Propaganda,  therefore, 
is  now  comparatively  poor.  Still  it  does  something;  and  the 
college,  especially,  is  kept  in  operation,  and  in  it  missionaries 
are  now  trained  for  the  United  States  and  for  other  parts  of  the 
world.  It  is  because  the  Propaganda  has  become  so  enfeebled, 
doubtless,  that  the  Leopold  foundation  has  been  established  in 
Austria  for  the  purpose  of  enlarging  the  funds  for  missionary  pur- 
poses. With  this  aid,  and  with  the  same  principles  of  organiza- 
tion, and  the  same  agents,  in  part  at  least,  to  help  on  the  work, 
the  Propaganda  may  yet  become  the  still,  but  certain  and  powerful 
instrumentality  for  spreading  Romanism  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
From  this  should  not  Protestants  learn  a  lesson  of  zeal,  of  self- 
denial,  of  efficient  organization,  and  religious  enterprise  ?  At  least, 
should  they  not  be  on  their  guard  against  the  influences  that  are 
in  operation  at  their  own  doors,  and  which  threaten  to  encroach 
upon  their  own  communities  ?  We  are  apt  to  look  upon  the  papal 
power  as  the  measure  of  the  strength  of  the  Catholic  church ;  but 
this  is  erroneous.  True,  the  pope,  as  a  temporal  prince,  is  fallen  ; 
his  voice  is  not  heeded  in  the  courts  of  nations ;  his  anathemas 
have  lost  their  power.  The  last  bull  of  excommunication  that  was 
ever  fulminated  from  the  throne  of  the  pontiif  was  that  against 
Napoleon,  by  Pius  VII.,  in  1809,  and  a  quenched  thunderbolt 
it  was,  a  brutum  fulmen.  Pius  himself  virtually  recalled  it  while 
in  his  captivity  at  Savona.  And  popes  have  now  learned,  doubt- 
less, that  neither  by  their  intrigues  in  courts  nor  by  their  spiritual 
anathemas,  much  less  by  their  secular  power,  will  they  be  able 
hereafter  to  retain  their  former  influence.  But  this  may  drive 
them,  nay,  has  driven  them,  to  other  means ;  the  only  means  in 
which  they  can  have  any  hope  of  ultimate  success.  They  have 
taken,  I  cannot  say  the  ground  of  fair  argument,  because  it  is  a 


THE    JEWS     QUARTER.  331 

ground  of  concealment  abroad,  and  of  exclusive  access  to  the  minds 
of  their  people  in  Catholic  countries  ;  yet  it  is  in  some  sense  the 
ground  of  argument,  and  by  education  and  direct  moral  and  re- 
ligious influence  they  now  hope  to  succeed.  Here  they  will  find 
the  Propaganda  of  immense  service  to  them  still ;  nay,  of  more 
service  than  ever.  It  is  from  this  source  that  our  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries and  teachers  are  chiefly  furnished  in  the  United  States. 
There  are  now  in  the  college  of  the  Propaganda  young  men  from 
the  United  States  preparing  themselves  to  return  and  labour  for 
the  cause  of  his  holiness  among  us. 

We  visited  repeatedly,  while  in  Rome,  the  Jews'  Quarter,  be- 
cause in  that  direction  are  some  of  the  finest  ruins  of  the  city,  and 
once  we  visited  the  synagogue  on  one  of  their  great  occasions,  viz., 
the  Passover.  The  Jews  amount  to  four  or  five  thousand,  and  are 
closely  crowded  up  in  a  portion  of  the  town  south  of  the  ancient 
Campus  Martius,  which  is  now  the  principal  part  of  the  city, 
and  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber.  It  is  called  Ghetto,  because 
ghet  is  the  term  used  to  express  their  act  of  divorcing  their  wives 
according  to  the  Hebrew  law,  Deut.  xxiv.,  1.  This  is  separated 
from  the  other  parts  of  the  city  by  walls  and  gates,  so  that  at  night 
they  are  shut  into  their  own  quarters.  They  appear  to  be  a  poor 
degraded  caste.  Their  portion  of  the  city  is  excessively  filthy  and 
crowded,  and  the  poor  sons  of  Abraham  look  like  the  outcasts  of 
creation.  Indeed,  they  seem  here  to  labour  under  greater  disabili- 
ties than  in  any  other  part  of  Italy.  In  Tuscany  they  have  much 
more  liberty,  and  many  of  them  are  landholders  and  merchants. 
In  that  duchy  it  is  said  there  are  eighteen  or  twenty  thousand  Jews. 
I  know  not,  in  fact,  that  they  are  confined  to  their  ghettoes  in  any 
Italian  city  except  Rome. 

Their  synagogue  was  large,  and  divided  into  three  or  four 
rooms  below,  and  as  many  above ;  their  women  worshipping  by 
themselves.  A  priest  officiated  in  each  room  in  a  kind  of  pul- 
pit, and  the  service  seemed  to  consist  in  chanting  certain  portions 
from  the  Old  Testament.  On  one  side  was  the  most  holy  place  : 
here  no  Gentile  must  approach.  I  undesignedly  gave  great 
oflence  by  standing  too  near,  and  leaning  upon  some  of  the  forms 
or  cabinets  connected  with  the  sanctum  sanctorum.  The  wor- 
ship was  the  most  clamorous,  the  most  irreverent  and  disgust- 
ing of  anything  I  had  ever  seen  bearing  the  name.  They  would 


332  ITALY. 

say  over  their  prayers  with  the  greatest  haste  and  carelessness, 
and,  when  they  had  got  through,  immediately  turn  to  each  other 
and  commence  talking  quite  loud  about  their  worldly  business. 
You  would  have  thought  you  were  in  a  market  rather  than  a 
place  of  worship.  The  money-changers  and  the  pigeon-dealers 
had  not  their  tables  and  merchandise  in  the  house,  but  in  all  other 
respects  they  seemed  to  defile  the  temple  with  their  secular  busi- 
ness as  much  as  in  the  days  of  Christ.  They  were  boisterous 
and  disagreeable ;  some  of  them  very  filthy ;  their  children  en- 
gaged in  play,  and  the  rooms,  with  all  this  motley  group,  very 
much  crowded.  And  this  is  the  worship,  thought  I,  of  the  de- 
scendants of  those  Jews  who,  in  the  days  of  David  and  Solomon, 
worshipped  Jehovah  in  such  order  and  beauty !  Truly,  "  it  is 
written  my  house  shall  be  a  place  of  prayer,  but  ye  have  made  it 
a  den  of  thieves." 

The  walls  of  the  city  are  about  seventeen  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence ;  but  it  has  already  been  intimated  that  a  good  part  of  this  is 
comparatively  uninhabited,  a  field  of  desolate  ruins.  That  part 
of  the  ancient  city  which  was  the.  last  to  be  included  in  the  walls, 
and  the  least  inhabited,  is  the  heart  of  the  modern  city.  It  is 
formed  from  a  bold  sweep  of  the  river,  first  to  the  right  and  then 
to  the  left,  leaving  a  rich  bow  of  land,  which  constituted  the  wheat- 
field  of  Tarquin,  from  which,  in  the  popular  tumult,  the  people 
carried  it  and  cast  it  into  the  river,  wUh  similar  feelings,  doubt- 
less, with  those  by  which  our  patriots  cast  the  tea  into  Boston 
harbour.  The  island  in  the  Tiber  formed  by  the  wheat  still  re- 
mains, and  forms  a  part  of  the  modern  city :  on  it  is  a  church, 
built  upon  the  site  of  the  ancient  temple  of  Esculapius,  who  vis- 
ited the  island,  it  is  said,  in  the  form  of  a  serpent,  and,  by  conse- 
quence, had  a  temple  erected  to  his  honour.  The  more  modern 
church  is  built,  in  part,  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  temple,  and  the 
image  of  the  serpent  is  still  preserved.* 

Four  of  the  seven  ancient  bridges  now  span  the  Tiber,t  and  the 
ruins  of  the  other  three  remain ;  some  of  them,  however,  are  vis- 
ible only  at  low  water. 

One  would  suppose  that  the  hills  of  the  eternal  city  would  be 

*  Is  not  the  brazen  serpent  of  Moses  the  origin  of  this  heathen  fable  ? 
t  That  is,  reckoning  two  at  the  island.    This,  however,  gives  but  three  entire  pas- 
sages across  the  Tiber. 


THE    PINCIAN    HILL.  333 

the  last  to  be  changed,  and  yet  these  have  undergone  almost  as 
much  change  as  anything  else.  This  has  already  been  noticed. 
But  who  would  expect  a  modern  hill  1  "  What  hill  is  that  ?"  said 
I  to  our  cicerone,  as  I  stood  at  the  Protestant  burying-ground, 
and  saw  a  respectable  mount  standing  to  the  southwest,  with  a 
cross  upon  the  top  of  it.  Luigi  shrugged  his  shoulders,  as  if  he 
thought  that  a  very  unimportant  question.  "  That  is  modern, 
sir  !"  he  replied.  I  suppose  he  meant  that  there  were  no  antiqui- 
ties upon  it;  but,  in  truth,  the  hill  itself,  compared  with  the 
"  seven  hills,"  is  modern.  It  seems  to  be  wholly  composed  of 
potsherds,  and  is  supposed  to  be  formed  of  the  refuse  of  the  pot- 
teries, which  was  carried  out  and  deposited  here.  It  is  nearly 
two  hundred  feet  in  height  and  six  hundred  in  circumference. 
Here  are  the  public  wine-vaults.  The  pieces  of  pottery  form 
such  a  loose  soil,  that  the  air  penetrates  it,  and  forms  a  noncon- 
ducting medium  for  the  heat,  and  this  it  is  that  renders  this  hill 
so  suitable  for  wine  cellars.  In  Horace's  day,  I  suppose  this 
hill  was  only  in  process  of  formation,  otherwise  it  would  have 
been  as  classic  as  his  old  Falerman  itself.  On  this  hill  they  have 
an  annual  festival,  not  unlike  the  ancient  Saturnalia,  of  which, 
doubtless,  it  is  a  remnant. 

But  the  loveliest  hill  now  in  Rome,  and  one  that  had  little 
ancient  celebrity,  and  was  by  no  means  ranked  with  the  seven,  is 
the  Pincian  Hill.  It  is  situated  in  quite  the  north  part  of  the 
city,  and  is  ascended  by  a  zigzag  road  from  the  Piazza  del  Popo- 
lo :  the  ascent  is  made  easy,  and  is  beautifully  ornamented,  pre- 
senting new  views  and  new  beauties  at  every  turn.  When  you 
reach  the  summit  you  have  a  commanding  view  of  the  town,  of 
the  surrounding  scenery,  and  of  the  distant  mountains,  not  ex- 
cepting old  Soracte  himself,  who  had  on  when  we  saw  him,  as  in 
the  days  of  Horace,  his  mantle  of  snow.  Here  are  gardens,  and 
planted  avenues,  and  cafes,  and  other  edifices ;  above  all,  as  the 
crowning  structure  of  the  mount  and  the  most  prominent  object 
in  the  city,  the  French  Academia  delle  belle  Arti,  where  the  fine 
arts  are  taught.  For  the  ornaments  of  this  hill,  as  well  as  for  the 
academy  itself,  Rome  and  the  world  are  indebted  to  the  French. 
It  is,  I  think,  on  the  whole,  the  most  beautiful  promenade  I  saw 
in  Europe. 

The  most  splendid  entry  into  Rome  is  at  the  foot  of  this  hill, 


334  ITALY. 

whether  we  consider  the  gate  itself,  with  its  proximate  edifices,  or 
the  magnificent  piazza  immediately  within  the  gate.  One  part  of 
this  piazza  is  an  oval,  adorned  with  fountains,  statuary,  and  an 
obelisk.  Here  the  city  is  narrow,  and  spreads  out  from  this  point 
in  a  fanlike  form,  giving  rise  to  three  streets  that,  starting  from 
this  common  point,  run  out  in  angles  of  such  divergency  as  to  in- 
clude within  their  area  most  of  the  city.  The  central  street  is 
the  Corso,  which  is  the  grand  thoroughfare,  losing  itself  near  the 
foot  of  the  Capitoline  Hill  at  the  south :  here,  every  pleasant 
afternoon,  and  especially  on  Sundays,  you  meet  all  the  noblesse 
and  fashion  of  Rome.  The  left  street  is  the  Strada  del  Babuino, 
which  courses  along  at  the  base  of  the  Pincian  Hill  to  the  noble 
Piazza  di  Spagna,  which  is  the  principal  resort  of  the  English 
and  Americans,  and  is,  in  fact,  the  most  courtly  and  fashionable 
part  of  the  city. 

Just  out  of  the  Porta  del  Popolo  is  the  elegant  drive  to  the  Bor- 
ghese  Villa.  These  grounds  are  most  delightful.  The  park  is 
three  miles  in  circumference,  and  adorned  with  avenues  and  fount- 
ains. The  villa  itself  contains  pain  tings -and  ancient  sculpture. 
But  the  richest  villa  in  ancient  sculpture  and  statuary  is  the  Villa 
Albani.  It  contains  a  splendid  collection  from  Adrian's  Villa 
and  elsewhere;  and  the  edifice,  with  the  adjoining  grounds  and 
structures,  display  great  classical  taste.  But  time  would  fail  me 
to  speak  of  all  that  is  interesting  in  and  about  Rome.  I  am  con- 
scious that,  for  my  own  sake  and  the  sake  of  my  readers,  I  ought 
to  leave  this  interesting  city ;  leave  it  with  a  thousand  objects  un 
described  which  are  worth  the  notice  of  the  traveller,  but  which 
would  appear  dry  in  the  details  of  description.  I  cannot  do  so, 
however,  without  first  giving  a  description  of  a  visit  to  Adrian's 
Villa,  which  will  be  found  in  the  following  letter 

To  G.  P.  Disosway,  Esq. 

Rome,  April  20, 183& 

MY  DEAR  SIR, 

I  have  been  long  looking  for  a  letter  from  you,  but  I  find  my 
self  disappointed.  Indeed,  I  am  greatly  disappointed  that  I  have 
heard  so  little  from  my  friends  since  I  left  America.  I  can  ex- 
cuse them,  however,  on  the  ground  of  their  various  duties ;  and, 
that  I  may  not  detain  them  too  long  by  my  complaints,  I  waive 


VISIT   TO   ADRIAN  S    VILLA.  335 

further  reflections  of  this  kind,  and  hasten  to  give  you  an  account 
of  a  late  visit  to  Tivoli. 

Tivoli,  as  you  know,  is  the  ancient  Tiber,  a  town  celebrated  in 
ancient  Roman  history  as  a  place  of  resort  for  the  citizens  of 
Rome,  both  for  pleasure  and  for  health.  Its  situation  upon  a 
mountain,  overlooking  the  Campagna  Romana,  and  commanding, 
in  the  distance,  the  view  of  the  capital  itself — the  distance  being 
about  eighteen  miles  from  the  great  city — the  healthiness  of  the 
position,  and  especially  the  wildness,  beauty,  and  romance  thrown 
around  the  scene  by  the  river  Anio,  in  its  shooting,  racing  cata- 
ract down  the  side  of  the  mountain,  all  rendered  it  a  favourite  ap- 
pendage of  Rome.  This,  therefore,  was  the  resort  of  men  of  let- 
ters, both  for  the  sake  of  retirement  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
scene  ;  it  was  the  resort  of  men  of  wealth  and  of  pleasure,  for  a 
pleasurable  country  residence  in  the  heat  of  summer ;  and,  finally, 
the  resort  of  the  emperor  himself  for  the  display  of  taste  and  of 
princely  magnificence.  All  its  glory  has  not  departed  even  in 
these  latter  days,  for  some  of  the  most  interesting  characteristics 
are  imprinted  by  the  God  of  nature  himself  upon  the  scenery  of 
the  place;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  its  historic  associations,  and 
the  splendid  ruins  in  its  neighbourhood,  shed  over  its  fallen  great- 
ness a  lingering,  melancholy  light,  mellowed  by  time  and  hal- 
lowed by  classical  recollections. 

We  left  Rome  by  the  Porta  Santo  Lorenzo,  April  18.  The 
present  road  is  mostly  on  the  same  route  with  the  ancient  Tiber- 
man  Way,  the  old  pavements  of  which  are,  in  some  places,  still 
visible.  The  first  object  of  special  interest  which  struck  our  at- 
tention was  the  Lago  de  Tartari,  a  small  body  of  water,  that 
derives  its  name  from  the  peculiar  property  which  the  water  has 
of  depositing  tartareous  and  calcareous  matter,  and  of  petrifying 
vegetables  and  other  substances  that  come  in  contact  with  it 
The  lake  is  now  small,  but  the  banks  around  bear  indication  of 
its  having  formerly  been  much  larger.  Almost  all  the  substances, 
for  a  great  distance  around,  are  in  a  state  of  petrifaction,  of  the 
kind  called  travertina,  the  same  material  with  that  of  which  the 
temples  of  Paestum  are  constructed.  This  stone  seems  to  be 
formed  not  only  by  a  petrifaction  of  vegetable  and  animal  substan 
ces,  but  also  from  the  water  alone,  sometimes  in  large  masses, 
and  sometimes  in  smaller  portions,  not  unfrequently  putting  on 


ITALY. 

the  shape  of  stalactites,  with  a  small  perfoiation  thiongh  the  cen- 
tre, as  if  the  formation  were  an  incrustation  around  a  stream  of 
water  These  stalactites  shoot  out  in  every  possible  direction, 
and  produce  fragments  of  the  most  fantastic  forms  ;  the  substance 
itself  is  that  of  a  very  hard  stone,  although,  in  some  cases,  as  po- 
rous as  a  honeycomb,  and  almost  bids  defiance  to  time.  This  it 
is  that  has  given  such  durability  to  the  ruins  of  ancient  Paestum, 
and  to  some  of  the  relics  of  ancient  Rome.  The  essential  ingre- 
dient of  the  formation  appears  to  be  lime.  The  substance  abounds 
in  this  region,  and  has  furnished  most  of  the  material  for  the  build- 
ing of  modern  Rome.  The  waters  of  the  Tiverone,  anciently 
called  the  Anio,  seem  to  have  filled  this  region  with  this  stone ; 
hence  one  would  suppose  that  the  waters  of  the  lake  and  those  of 
the  river  are  of  similar  properties. 

A  little  farther  on  we  came  to  the  canal  of  the  Solfatara,  a  most 
singular  stream,  of  a  size  sufficient  to  float  a  small  boat,  of  a  whi- 
tish colour,  and  strongly  impregnated  with  sulphur,  insomuch  that 
the  air  for  quite  a  distance  round  is  strongly  affected  with  the 
odour,  and  the  soil  adjacent  is  likewise  fully  saturated  with  the 
same  substance.  The  stream  comes  from  a  lake  about  a  mile 
from  the  road,  anciently  called  Aquae  Albulae,  from  the  whiteness 
of  the  waters.  That  this  lake  should,  for  twenty-five  or  thirty 
centuries,  continue  to  pour  out  such  a  current  of  sulphureous  wa- 
ter, is  a  surprising  fact  in  natural  history,  and  shows  that  the  ma- 
terial which  furnishes  the  solution  is  inexhaustible.  This  .canal 
discharges  itself,  after  a  short  distance,  into  the  Anio,  below  which 
no  fishes  are  found  in  that  river,  although  they  abound  above  this 
juncture. 

From  the  canal  we  proceeded  to  Tivoli,  winding  up  the  mount- 
ain by  a  new  road,  which,  within  a  few  years,  has  been  made  to 
facilitate  the  ascent.  The  view  over  the  Campagna  was  very 
good,  although  not  superior  to  many  others ;  and  if  this  were  all, 
the  labour  of  the  ascent  would  not  be  recompensed.  But  the  wa- 
ter scenery  is  the  great  object  of  interest  at  Tivoli.  The  river 
Anio  is  precipitated  from  the  top  of  the  marble  mountain  on  which 
Tivoli  stands  into  the  valley  below.  Formerly  the  natural  course 
of  the  river  down  the  mountain  side  was  by  a  cascade,  the  ruins 
of  which  only  remain.  The  action  of  the  water  and  an  unusual 
inundation  broke  through  the  rock  in  such  a  manner  as  to  destroy 


337 

the  beauty  of  the  cataract,  at  the  same  time  it  carried  away  the 
bridge  over  the  river.  His  holiness,  however,  in  spite  of  his  pov- 
erty, has  repaired,  or,  rather,  restored  the  bridge,  and  renewed  the 
cascade.  He  has  cut  a  grotto  through  a  part  of  the  mountain,  and 
conducted  a  portion  of  the  river  through  a  double  submontane  arch, 
and  precipitated  it  down  the  side  of  the  mountain,  our  guide  said, 
four  hundred  feet.  It  cannot,  however,  be  that  distance  from  the 
top  to  the  bottom  of  the  perpendicular  fall,  although  the  entire  de- 
scent might  possibly  amount  to  that.  The  road  you  pass  is  cut  into 
the  side  of  the  mountain  directly  over  the  pitch  of  the  water ;  you 
then  wind  round  the  mountain,  which  encompasses  the  vale  like  a 
huge  amphitheatre,  into  which  the  water  descends  ;  at  every  quar- 
ter of  which  you  get  a  new  aspect  of  the  cataract  and  the  surround- 
ing scenery.  When  a  quarter  round  you  have,  on  the  opposite 
side,  the  mouth  of  the  grotto  of  Neptune,  so  called,  which  was 
the  ancient  principal  channel  of  the  river,  where  it  shot  out  from 
under  natural  arches  of  marble  into  the  gulf  beneath  ;  and  above, 
crowning  the  precipice  on  the  side  of  the  town,  are  two  ancient 
temples ;  one  of  them  is  a  beautiful  temple  of  Vesta,  being  on  the 
side  seen  from  this  point,  in  a  good  state  of  preservation ;  the  other 
is  called  the  Temple  of  the  Sibyl,  who  used  to  inhabit  this  roman- 
tic spot,  and  who  had  a  grotto  also  in  the  glen  below.  A  little  far- 
ther on  we  had  a  distant  prospect  of  Rome,  with  her  crowning 
dome  of  St.  Peter's.  Half  round  we  had  the  cataract  full  before 
us,  and  the  former  channel  of  the  river,  in  which  direction  a  por- 
tion of  the  water  still  passes ;-  and  here,  also,  two  other  cascades 
are  brought  in  view,  less  extensive,  and  farther  to  the  west ;  one 
against  the  town,  and  another  beyond.  These  are  also  formed  by 
conducting  the  waters  of  the  river  out  of  their  natural  channel. 
They  are  both  divided  into  several  branching  spouts  and  sporting 
cascades;  sometimes  partially  concealed,  and  then  bursting  out 
anew  with  increased  rapidity.  Indeed,  this  whole  circuit  exhibit- 
ed a  continued  and  an  ever-varying  scene  of  picturesque  beauty, 
in  some  instances  verging  upon  the  grand,  if  not  upon  the  sublime. 
Here,  too,  we  found  the  site  and  some  of  the  remains  of  what  is 
called  the  Villa  of  Horace ;  and  we  were  shown  an  ancient  mo*- 
saic  floor,  in  a  church  built  upon  the  site  of  his  house,  which  is 
supposed  to  be  the  floor  of  his  study.  Surely  the  poet  could 
hardly  have  selected  a  place  better  calculated  to  feed  his  poetic 
29*  Uu 


338  ITALY 

vein,  and  kindle  up  the  spirit  of  song  in  his  soul,  than  this  en- 
chanting spot. 

On  returning,  we  descended  into  the  valley  by  a  zigzag  course, 
on  the  side  of  the  gulf,  between  the  present  principal  cascade  and 
the  old  bed  of  the  river.  The  path  is  cut  into  the  side  of  the 
mountain,  having  only  a  rustic  fence  on  the  precipice  side  a 
good  part  of  the  way,  to  defend  the  traveller  from  accident ;  for 
here  a  misstep  would  precipitate  him  upon  rocks  hundreds  of 
feet  below.  Some  of  the  way,  however,  we  were  carried  within 
the  crust  of  the  mountain  through  grottoes  cut  for  the  purpose. 
Low  down,  we  left  the  direct  route  to  descend  a  winding  gallery 
to  the  grotto  of  the  Sibyl.  This  originally  constituted  a  third  leap 
of  the  river,  and  the  last  before  it  reached  the  vale  below.  Here 
enough  water  still  plays  to  lull  to  repose  the  mystic  goddess  in 
her  cataract  cell.  The  view  through  this  grotto  is  indescribably 
fine.  A  small  but  bright  opening  at  the  farther  end  of  the  grotto 
conducted  the  vision  through  and  onward,  until  it  rested,  in  the 
distance,  upon  the  large  cascade  at  the  west,  just  at  that  point 
where  the  falling  torrent,  almost  dissolved  into  spray,  was  spanned 
by  a  rainbow !  To  conceive  of  this  with  any  approximation  to- 
wards reality,  you  must  see  it.  It  cannot  be  described,  nor  ever 
transferred  to  canvass. 

We  commenced  our  ascent  on  the  other  side,  but  soon  left  our 
donkeys  (for,  steep  as  are  the  sides  of  this  mountain,  the  path  was 
so  graduated  as  to  allow  of  this  mode  of  conveyance)  to  pass 
through  another  interior  gallery  in  the  side  of  the  mountain, 
lighted  by  frequent  windows,  to  visit  the  cave  or  grotto  of  Nep- 
tune. It  was  with  much  difficulty,  however,  we  could  get  a  view 
of  it  over  the  piles  of  ruins  caused  by  the  inundation  above 
alluded  to.  When  the  whole  body  of  water  rushed  through  this 
cavern  the  exhibition  must  have  been  grand.  We  found  here  the 
labourers  of  the  pope  blasting  the  rocks,  and  artificially  restoring 
nature ! 

We  finally  reached  the  summit  on  the  side  of  the  temples  of 
Neptune  and  Vesta  already  alluded  to.  The  former  was  a  quad- 
rangle, constructed  of  the  travertina  marble,  some  of  the  pillars 
of  which  still  remain  in  the  walls  of  the  church,  into  which,  after 
the  manner  of  the  modern  Romans,  the  temple  has  been  con- 
verted. The  temple  of  Vesta  is  near  by,  and  connected  by  an 


VISIT  TO  ADRIAN'S  VILLA.  339 

uncouth  modern  building  with  that  of  Neptune.  This  edifice  is, 
like  all  the  other  vestal  temples,  a  rotunda,  with  fine  fluted  col- 
umns of  the  composite  order,  and  an  interior  pyramid,  within 
which,  doubtless,  the  vestal  fires  were  kept ;  the  exterior  circle 
of  columns  were  an  open  piazza,  forming  a  beautiful  enclosure, 
and  supporting  a  canopy  for  the  sanctum  sanctorum  within. 
Some  of  these  columns  are  missing,  and  the  others  are  very  much 
defaced  by  time,  so  that  the  flutings  are,  in  some  cases,  scarcely 
visible,  although  the  material  was  of  the  hard  marble  or  travertina 
stone  already  mentioned.  Here  we  took  our  last  view  of  this 
romantic  scene,  on  the  like  of  which,  taking  it  all  in  all,  we  shall 
never  look  again.  Its  classical  associations,  its  ancient  ruins, 
its  romantic  grottoes,  its  varied  and  extraordinary  cascades,  its  el- 
evated situation,  set  off  by  the  still  higher  mountains  that  close 
in  around  it,  all  unite  to  render  the  entire  exhibition  peculiarly 
interesting.  « 

After  dining  at  the  inn,  we  descended  the  mountain,  and  fin- 
ished the  day  among  the  ruins  of  Adrian's  Villa,  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  about  one  half  mile  from  the  main  road.  This  villa,  as 
it  is  called,  must  have  been  almost  a  city,  for  it  had  theatres,  tem- 
ples, and  public  buildings  in  great  abundance.  It  must  have  been 
built  early  in  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era,  for  the 
Emperor  Adrian,  by  whom  it  was  designed  and  built,  died  in  117. 
It  is  the  most  interesting  collection  of  ruins  I  have  yet  seen.  I 
have,  indeed,  seen  individual  edifices  that  exceeded  any  one  of 
these ;  but  their  number,  their  solitude,  and  their  variety  all  con- 
spire to  heighten  the  effect.  The  location  of  this  villa  was  ex- 
ceedingly well  chosen,  being  near  the  mountains,  and  on  a  gentle 
elevation  above  the  surrounding  country. 

The  design  of  the  excellent,  talented,  and  tasteful  emperor, 
who  laid  out  and  adorned  these  grounds,  seems  to  have  been  to 
unite,  in  one  single  collection,  many  of  the  most  intellectual  and 
classical  associations  of  Greece,  and  something,  also,  of  Egypt. 
Hence  he  had  the  vale  of  Tempe,  the  river  Peneus,  the  Elysian 
Fields,  the  entrance  into  the  infernal  regions,  and  the  like.  For 
edifices  he  had  what  he  called  the  Lyceum,  which,  in  Greece, 
was  the  school  of  Aristotle,  the  Academia  of  Plato,  the  Prytane- 
um,  which  was  the  place  of  public  business  of  Athens,  the  Poecile 
of  the  Stoics,  and  the  Serapeon  of  Egypt,  &c.  The  Peneus  was 


340  ITALY. 

artificial,  being  a  portion  of  the  water  of  the  Anio  turned  down 
the  mountain  in  a  different  direction  from  its  present  course,  and 
made  to  pass  through  a  valley  that  intervenes  between  the  villa 
and  the  mountain.  Of  this  river  there  remains  nothing  but  the 
valley  through  which  it  ran,  and  a  very  small  rill  in  its  centre. 
The  Poecile  was  between  four  and  five  hundred  feet  in  length, 
of  an  oblong  figure :  one  of  the  long  walls  only  remains,  formed 
principally  of  tufa,  with  occasional  layers  of  terra  cotta.  But  this 
remnant  shows  what  a  magnificent  edifice  this  must  have  been, 
especially  as  it  was  entirely  fronted  by  a  spacious  portico,  form- 
ing a  stoa,  or  piazza  of  ample  dimensions,  like  that  in  Athens 
which  gave  name  to  the  sect  of  Stoics,  in  which  sages  and  phi- 
losophers might  walk,  and  philosophize,  and  teach. 

In  this  villa  were  a  Greek  and  a  Latin  library,  and  several 
splendid  temples,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still  seen.  The  temples 
are  generally  arched  over  at  the  tops,  like  the  Pantheon  at  Rome, 
and  frequently  have  chambers  and  other  apartments  adjoining  for 
the  accommodation  of  the  priests.  The  Temple  of  Serapis,  a 
great  portion  of  whose  massy  walls  still  remain,  is  an  edifice  of 
this  kind.  Behind  the  niches  where  the  statues  of  the  gods  were 
placed  is  a  vacant  space,  which  seems  to  have  been  entered  by  a 
secret  passage  from  the  top.  Here  it  is  supposed  the  priests 
were  accustomed  to  conceal  themselves,  to  give  responses  in 
answer  to  those  who  consulted  the  oracles,  by  which  the  ignorant 
multitude  were  deceived  into  the  idea  that  the  voice  came  from 
the  god  himself.  From  this  temple  much  of  the  Egyptian  statu- 
ary which  now  adorns  the  galleries  at  Rome  was  taken.  In 
fact,  the  works  of  art,  and  especially  the  sculpture  taken  from 
Adrian's  Villa,  have  enriched  more  than  one  gallery,  and  more 
than  one  city  or  state,  with  some  of  the  finest  specimens  of  an- 
tiquity. In  the  Temple  of  Venus  we  were  shown  the  very  niche 
from  which  the  celebrated  Venus  de  Medicis,  now  at  Florence, 
was  taken. 

In  addition  to  the  buildings  already  mentioned,  there  were  two 
theatres  and  two  amphitheatres.  The  latter,  however,  are  more 
generally  supposed  to  be  naumacJiia,  or  places  for  the  exhibition 
of  naval  combats  or  games  ;  these  were  supposed  to  be  filled  with 
water  at  pleasure  for  this  purpose,  and  around  one  of  them  are 
logia,  or  galleries,  still  standing,  where  the  spectators  were  placed 


341 

to  behold  these  exhibitions ;  and  underneath  these  logia  were 
shops,  still  in  a  state  of  fine  preservation,  where  they  sold  refresh- 
ments, £c. 

The  most  perfect  rooms  now  remaining  among  the  ruins  are  the 
Cento  Camerelle,  or  One  Hundred  Chambers,  as  they  are  called. 
They  were  the  military  barracks  or  lodges  of  the  Praetorian  guard. 
They  are  situated  on  the  side  of  a  declivity,  so  as,  by  the  addi- 
tional help  of  a  trench  in  front,  they  are,  on  that  side,  entirely  open 
and  above  ground,  while  the  top  is  on  a  level  with  the  surface. 
They  are  in  ranges  of  one,  two,  and  three  stories  in  different  parts, 
according  to  the  height  of  the  acclivity,  all  arched  over,  and  cov- 
ered with  earth  at  the  top  ;  and  the  rear  wall  made  double,  with 
an  intervening  space,  to  prevent  the  dampness  from  penetrating. 
These  are  mostly  in  a  perfect  state,  and,  with  a  little  repairing, 
might  still  serve  for  their  original  purpose. 

The  most  extensive  edifice,  or  rather  range  of  edifices,  was  the 
imperial  palace,  many  parts  of  which  still  remain  but  partially  im- 
paired ;  here  were  the  royal  chambers,  the  saloons,  the  courts,  the 
corridors,  the  gardens,  the  baths,  and  even,  in  one  part,  the  prisons, 
all  grand  and  majestic,  though  in  ruins.  The  entire  suite  of  archi- 
tectural ruins  belonging  to  this  palace  must,  I  think,  cover  a  num- 
ber of  acres.  One  of  the  courts  has  a  subterranean  corridor  quite 
round  it,  lighted  by  oblique  windows  slanting  outward  and  upward 
into  the  court ;  the  corridor  is  arched,  and  lined  with  a  coat  of 
stucco,  which  is  now  hard  as  marble.  But  I  must  not  dwell  upon 
these  ruins  in  detail ;  they  are  too  numerous  and  extensive  to  be 
minutely  described.  The  villa,  it  is  said,  extended  over  three  miles 
in  length  by  one  in  breadth  ;  and,  indeed,  what  less  could  we  ex- 
pect when  the  Elysian  Fields,  the  descent  to  the  infernal  regions, 
the  temples  of  the  principal  deities,  the  schools  of  the  philosophers, 
the  public  libraries,  theatres  and  amphitheatres,  and  the  imperial 
palace  and  gardens,  with  all  their  necessary  appendages,  were  to 
be  exhibited  in  connexion  ?  How  Adrian,  amid  all  his  other  duties 
and  studies,  could  find  time  to  plan  and  execute  this  work,  is  sur- 
prising, when  we  reflect  especially  that  he  spent  the  first  thirteen 
years  out  of  the  twenty-one  of  his  reign  in  travelling  over  his  vast 
empire,  from  Spain  and  the  British  Isles  in  the  west  to  Asia  in 
the  east ;  and  that,  in  the  remaining  eight  years,  he  was  diligently 
engaged  in  his  private  studies,  in  making  laws,  and  in  managing 
29 


342  ITALY 

the  affairs  of  his  empire.  He  was,  maeed,  a  most  extraordinary 
man,  both  in  physical  strength  and  in  intellectual  endowments, 
and,  I  might  add,  in  moral  virtues.  Hence,  in  wandering  among 
the  ruins  of  his  villa,  the  associations  and  historical  reminiscences 
afford  a  much  greater  pleasure  than  when  contemplating  the  ruins 
of  the  palace  of  the  Caesars,  and  of  the  golden  house  of  Nero  on 
the  Palatine  Hill  in  Rome.  You  feel  that  you  are  treading  in  the 
steps  of  a  virtuous  man,  as  well  as  of  an  illustrious  prince  and  a 
sage  philosopher.  As  you  pass  over  the  grounds  of  his  extended 
stoa,  you  say,  Here  he  walked  and  philosophized ;  and  at  the  li- 
braries, here  he  pursued  his  literary  studies;  and  here,  at  the 
temples,  he  worshipped.  It  is  true,  he  was  not  a  Christian,  but 
he  became  favourable  to  Christianity.  He  put  an  end  to  the  per- 
secutions that  had  raged  against  it  under  former  emperors  ;  and  he 
thought  so  favourably  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  he  had  serious  thoughts, 
it  is  said,  of  admitting  him  among  the  number  of  the  gods ! 

Another  circumstance  which  enhances  the  pleasure  of  contem- 
plating these  ruins  is  the  solitude  that  prevails  around.  In  Rome 
you  find  crowding  around  the  desolations  of  antiquity  the  busy 
multitude  of  a  modern  race.  The  Pantheon  and  various  other 
ancient  edifices  are  modern  churches ;  the  Temple  of  Antoninus 
Pius  is  a  custom-house  ;  the  Temple  of  Pallas  is  a  baker's  shop ; 
and  the  ancient  Forum,  with  its  nodding  columns  and  crumbling 
temples,  is  a  market-place  !  But  here  you  have  no  such  intrusions ; 
solitude  reigns  over  these  ruins  ;  not  even  the  farmer  with  his 
plough,  nor  the  gardener  with  his  spade,  is  allowed  to  break  in 
upon  the  wildness  and  solitude  of  the  scene.  The  wild  chamois 
may  feed  here,  and  "  the  fox  may  dig  his  hole  unscared."  Forest 
trees  have  sprung  up  in  every  direction,  overhanging  the  ruins  and 
giving  additional  gloom  to  the  picture.  Nothing  served  more  to 
impress  upon  the  mind  a  vivid  conception  of  the  antiquity  of  the 
ruins  than  the  sight  of  a  stately  pine,  from  two  and  a  half  to  three 
feet  diameter,  growing  in  the  centre  of  one  of  the  courts  of  the 
imperial  palace.  Others  of  the  same  character  are  seen  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  ground.  But  the  tree  that  best  chimes  in  with  the 
genius  of  the  place,  and  which  is  very  abundant  here,  is  the  tall 
perennial  cypress.  They  shoot  up  in  gloomy  majesty  in  different 
parts  of  these  grounds,  like  silent  sentinels  keeping  their  watch 
over  the  consecrated  ruins. 


DEPARTURE    FROM    ROME.  343 

We  hung  around  these  relics  of  former  grandeur  until  sunset ; 
the  shadows  of  the  broken  arches  were  deepened,  the  hollow  winds 
moaned  through  the  trees  ;  the  sensations  of  this  hour  were  inde 
scribable ;  it  was  the  deepening  of  feelings  that  had  long  been  gath- 
ering strength,  as  I  had  for  months  been  holding  communion  with 
the  ages  of  antiquity,  and  had  become  more  and  more  assimilated 
into  the  spirit  of  these  associations.  The  musings  of  that  hour 
were  a  kind  of  enchantment,  and  made  me  almost  wish  for  some 
lodge  in  this  "  lone  wilderness,"  this  extended  contiguity  of  ruins, 
where,  undisturbed,  I  might  muse  upon  the  fading  glories  of  a 
changing  and  a  transitory  world.  The  last  of  the  company,  and 
with  much  reluctance,  I  at  length,  as  the  shades  came  on,  broke 
away  from  the  attractions,  leaving  the  sighing  winds  to  chant 
through  another  night,  as  they  have  done  through  the  successive 
nights  of  by-gone  centuries,  the  melancholy  dirge  of  Adrian's 
Villa  in  Ruins. 

I  remain,  as  ever,  yours  in  affection, 

W.  FISK. 

We  spent  our  time  in  Rome  most  pleasantly,  and  formed,  while 
there,  many  interesting  acquaintances  with  our  own  countrymen 
as  well  as  others.  The  visitors  from  the  United  States  to  Rome 
are  growing  more  numerous  every  year.  The  present  year  there 
have  been  two  or  three  hundred.  Fifty  American  ladies,  I  was 
informed  by  our  consul,  were  in  the  city  during  Passion  Week. 
Very  soon  after  the  close  of  those  ceremonies,  however,  the  city 
was  comparatively  deserted.  A  part  lingered  a  little  longer  than 
usual,  in  hope  of  seeing  the  illumination  ;  but  when  it  was  found 
that  that  was  postponed,  almost  all  were  moving.  We  lingered 
a  while  to  finish  out  our  sight-seeing,  and  then  followed  the  other 
birds  of  passage,  who  were  hastening  to  a  more  northern  climate 
to  escape  the  heat  and  malaria  of  Central  Italy. 


341  1TALT. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Six  Americans  of  us,  in  one  berlin,  drawn  by  four  mules,  with 
a  postilion  more  mulish  than  the  mules  themselves,  left  Rome  for 
Florence,  April  25th.  Our  veturino  was  passionate  and  obstinate  ; 
his  mules  were  slow,  so  that,  to  accomplish  but  little  in  one 
day,  we  had  to  rise  early  and  travel  late.  The  distance  from 
Rome  to  Florence  by  the  Perugia  Route,  which  is  the  one  we 
travelled,  is  about  twenty-seven  posts,  in  travelling  which  we  were 
six  days  ;  at  the  close,  we  decided,  I  believe  unanimously,  that  we 
would  have  no  more  to  do,  if  we  could  avoid  it,  with  either  four- 
legged  or  two-legged  mules.  The  Sienna  Route,  as  it  is  called, 
is  nearer  the  sea,  and  one  day's  drive  shorter,  than  that  by  Peru- 
gia ;  but  the  latter  is  more  interesting,  and  has,  it  is  said,  better 
hotels.  Our  road  was  excellent,  but  hilly  ;  and  we  were  under 
the  necessity,  in  all  the  mountainous  parts,  to  have  our  team 
strengthened  by  oxen,  whose  snail-like  pace  tallied  well  with  the 
motion  of  our  mules.  But  whether  they  have  mules  or  horses, 
travellers  are  reinforced  by  oxen  up  the  mountains.  The  inns 
are  of  the  same  cheerless  character  with  those  already  described, 
and,  in  many  instances,  furnishing  but  indifferent  fare.  The  beds, 
however,  were  in  most  cases  comfortable,  save  that  the  sheets 
were  occasionally  damp,  an  occurrence  by  no  means  rare  in  Italy, 
although,  I  believe,  much  less  frequent  than  formerly.  Whenever 
this  is  the  case,  the  traveller  is  obliged,  if  he  would  preserve  his 
health,  either  to  have  a  fire  by  which  to  dry  them,  or  use  a  warm- 
ing-pan until  they  are  sufficiently  aired.  He  should  always  ex- 
amine them  before  he  goes  to  bed.  Some,  to  avoid  danger  from 
this  source,  carry  thick  flannel  bed-gowns,  by  which  they  de- 
fend themselves  against  the  deleterious  effects  of  the  dampness 
Great  care  is  certainly  necessary,  for  one  night  might  otherwise 
prove  fatal,  especially  to  an  invalid. 

The  route  was,  in  the  main,  the  same  with  the  ancient  Roman 
road,  called  the  Via  Flaminia,  but  not  entirely.  Leaving  the 
city  through  the  beautiful  piazza  and  Porta  del  Popolo,  you  soon 
pass  the  Tiber,  over  a  fine  bridge  called  Ponte  Molle.  Here  the 


CAMPAGNA,  345 

Via  Flaminia  bears  to  the  right,  to  Civita  Castillana ;  but  Pius 
VI.  made  a  more  direct  route  to  this  latter  place,  which  is  the 
one  now  mostly  travelled.  Civita  Castillanaw&s  our  first  Ipdging- 
place.  We  passed,  some  two  or  three  miles  out  of  the  city  of  Rome, 
a  huge  ancient  sarcophagus,  made  of  one  piece,  with  a  cover, 
which  they  call  the  Tomb  of  Nero.  Whether  it  be  really  Nero'a 
tomb  cannot  perhaps  be  certainly  determined.  It  is  about 
the  same  distance  from  the  ancient  city  as  was  Nero,  when  he 
was  driven  to  the  extremity  of  destroying  himself.  The  only 
wonder  is,  how  the  monster,  execrated  as  he  was  by  all  classes, 
should  find  one  who  would  give  him  a  decent  burial,  much  less 
excavate  for  him  such  a  sarcophagus.  We  passed  over  the 
Campagna  Romana,  and  found  it  in  this  direction  quite  barren, 
In  this  respect,  I  confess  I  was  disappointed ;  for  I  had  supposed 
the  whole  Campagna  of  a  very  rich  soil.  It  appeared,  however, 
like  soil  that  had  been  exhausted  by  excessive  tillage  ;  very  lit- 
tle of  it  was  under  cultivation ;  and  that  which  was,  did  not  ap- 
pear very  luxuriant.  Cultivated  it  cannot  be  safely,  on  account 
of  the  malaria ;  but  if  the  soil  were  fertile,  it  would  certainly 
produce  a  more  abundant  crop  of  grass  and  herbage.  There 
were,  however,  large  herds  of  cattle  and  sheep  upon  these  fields 
of  death  ;  and  the  herdsmen  who  tended  them,  showed  but  too 
clearly  that  they  inhaled  a  sickly  atmosphere,  and  were  hastening 
to  an  untimely  end.  The  appearance  of  these  shepherds,  as  I 
have  had  occasion  to  remark  before,  is  anything  but  poetical. 
Think  of  a  countenance  cadaverous  with  disease,  crisped  and 
discolored  by  the  sun  and  the  winds,  looking  either  stupid  or  fe- 
rocious, and  dressed  with  a  sheepskin  coat  with  the  wool  on — 
armed,  perhaps,  with  a  gun  or  a  long  pike,  and  then  say,  Is  this 
Meliboeus  or  Corydon  ? — to  say  nothing  of  Endymion  and 
Daphne,  and  other  shepherds  and  shepherdesses  who  inflamed 
the  love  of  gods  and  goddesses.  They  look  more  like  wolves  in 
sheep's  clothing,  or  like  banditti  of  the  desert ;  and  if  you  meet 
one  when  alone  upon  these  wide  wastes,  you  involuntarily  shrink 
as  from  the  presence  of  a  savage  brigand  whose  trade  is  death ; 
and  yet,  1  believe  it  is  seldom,  if  ever  known  in  modern  days, 
that  robberies  or  murders  are  committed  here.  For  miles  there 
were  no  dwellings,  except  occasionally  a  stone  structure,  as  a 
station  for  these  herdsmen  and  their  flocks,  with  a  stable  in  the 

Xx 


346  ITALY. 

lower  story,  and  a  lodging-place  above,  having  around  them 
filth  enough  to  breed  the  malaria,  in  an  otherwise  healthy  climate. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Campagna,  which  is  unlike  my 
preconception  of  it,  is  the  unevenness  of  the  surface.  There  are 
few  high  hills,  but  constant  inequalities,  like  the  surface  of  a 
rough  sea  in  a  storm  ;  this  is  in  fact  its  character  in  every  direc- 
tion from  Rome.  We  soon  reached  the  mountains,  however,  in 
the  present  route,  as  there  is  little  pains  taken  here  as  in  our 
country  when  passing  a  mountainous  route,  to  find  out  the  val- 
leys. You  are  sometimes  led  to  believe,  that  it  is  an  object,  in 
constructing  the  Roman  roads,  to  strike  the  first  spur  that  runs 
out  from  the  mountains,  and  then  mount  and  keep  upon  the  top 
as  long  as  possible.  This  is  very  impolitic  for  the  most  impor- 
tant purposes  of  a  road,  but  it  is  very  agreeable  to  the  tourist  who 
is  travelling  to  see  the  country ;  he  is  carried  from  mountain  top 
to  mountain  top,  in  delightful  visions ;  getting  new  views  from 
every  successive  observatory.  This  constitutes  one  of  the  charms 
of  travelling  in  Italy. 

The  second  day,  we  again  crossed  the  Tiber  on  a  bridge  built 
by  Augustus  Caesar.  We  passed  Otricoli,  anciently  Ocricu- 
lum,  and  Narni,  anciently  called  Narnia,  and  hastened  on  as  fast  as 
our  mules  would  carry  us  to  Term',  twenty  or  twenty-five  miles, 
without  stopping,  in  order  to  get  time,  the  same  day,  to  visit  the 
cascade,  called  the  Caduta  del  Marmore.  These  falls  are  four 
miles  from  Terni,  at  the  junction  of  the  Velino  with  the  Nar ; 
and  are  formed  by  the  waters  of  the  former,  being  precipitated  into 
the  latter,  from  an  elevation  of  between  four  and  five  hundred 
feet,  by  several  successive  leaps,  one  of  which  is  said  to  be  three 
hundred  feet.  We  ascended  the  mountain  on  a  road  cut  obliquely 
into  its  almost  perpendicular  side,  from  a  miserable  little  village,  in 
a  caleche ;  having  first  ordered  donkeys  to  meet  us  at  the  foot  of 
the  falls.  At  the  top  of  the  mountain  is  a  plain,  over  which  the 
water  is  conducted,  before  it  leaps  into  the  valley  below.  I  say  con- 
ducted, for  it  is  stated  that  some  time  before  the  Christian  era,  these 
waters  were  brought  by  Curius  Dentatus  in  this  direction,  with  a 
view  of  draining  the  country  above  of  its  standing  water.  The 
view  from  above  is  fine :  the  fall  is  so  great,  that  almost  the 
whole  body  of  water  seems  churned  into  foam,  and  quite  a  por- 
tion of  it  thrown  off  into  spray,  insomuch,  that  the  whole  declivity 


CADUTA    DEL    MARMORE.  347 

of  the  hill  around  is  constantly  wet,  as  by  a  falling  shower.  At 
a  proper  time  in  the  day,  when  the  sun  is  unobstructed  by  clouds, 
it  is  said  the  prismatic  colours  are  beautifully  reflected  from  the 
shower  of  spray  that  hovers  over  the  vortex  below.  Of  this, 
however,  as  the  sky  was  mostly  obscured,  we  obtained  but  an 
imperfect  and  transient  view  during  one  short  interval  of  sun- 
shine. There  were  several  stations  at  which  we  had  different 
views  of  this  beautiful  cascade  as  we  descended  the  mountain  ; 
and  the  only  interruption  or  annoyance  we  had  to  our  enjoyment, 
was  the  constant  importunity  of  beggars,  who  made  direct  appli- 
cation for  charity,  or  claimed  that  they  had  made  this  platform, 
formed  that  rustic  parapet,  where  we  stood  to  view  the  cascade ; 
or  had  repaired  the  road,  or  dug  out  the  steps  of  earth,  down 
which  we  passed  in  our  descent,  and  for  this  demanded  pay  ;  or 
they  assailed  us  with  an  importunity  that  no  positive  denial  could 
turn  aside,  with  minerals  or  curious  natural  formations,  which 
they  wished  us  to  purchase.  But  such  annoyances  are  so  com- 
mon in  Italy,  the  traveller  is  wearied  out  with  them  ;  and  possibly 
the  reader  is  weary  of  hearing  of  them  ;  and,  in  fact,  unless  he 
should  be,  he  would  not  have  a  correct  idea  of  travelling  in  Italy  ; 
and,  therefore,  would  read  a  book  of  travels  without  accomplish- 
ing the  object  of  reading,  which  is  to  be  able  to  form  a  tolerably 
.just  estimate  of  a  country,  through  which  the  tourist  conducts 
him  by  his  journal. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  this  cataract,  is  the  cu- 
rious formations  by  the  water,  of  stalactites  and  various  petrifac- 
tions. These  alone  would  repay  the  traveller  for  visiting  the  place. 
They  are  similar  to  the  formations,  already  noticed  at  Tivoli,  of 
travertine  marble.  But  there  are  also,  as  at  Tivoli,  depositions 
from  the  water  of  petrified  lime,  in  successive  strata,  resembling 
the  different  and  successive  grains  of  coarse-grained  wood.  This 
substance  takes  a  most  beautiful  polish,  and  is  wrought  by  the 
artists  into  various  handsome  works  of  taste  and  ornament. 

At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  we  found  our  donkeys  under  female  con- 
ductors, which  we  mounted  to  ascend  an  eminence,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  valley  opposite  to  the  falls,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
a  better  front  view.  Our  conductors,  as  usual,  commenced  pound- 
ing the  donkeys  with  clubs,  and  urging  them  forward  by  that 
peculiar  kind  of  grunt,  which  you  hear  all  over  Italy,  when  an 


348  ITALY. 

ass  is  to  be  driven,  and  which  to  be  understood  must  be  heard ; 
for  it  is  the  likeness  of  no  sound,  I  believe,  articulate  or  inarticu- 
late, to  which  the  ears  of  my  countrymen  are  accustomed.  It  is 
the  most  like  what  I  have  sometimes  heard,  when  a  man  is  chop- 
ping wood,  or  giving  a  heavy  blow  with  a  sledge,  and  probably  it 
had  its  origin  from  the  same  cause  ;  for  as  the  blow  and  the 
sound  naturally  go  together,  it  was  found  at  length,  that  the  grunt 
itself  would  sometimes  answer  the  purpose,  as  the  poor  donkey 
was  led,  when  he  heard  the  one,  to  expect  the  other.  But  neither 
blows  nor  sounds  accomplish  much  with  these  poor  little  insensi- 
ble animals.  After  I  was  well  mounted  and  began  to  hear  the 
blows  behind,  I  bade  my  conductress  desist;  but  she  told  me, 
if  she  did  not  bastinado  him  he  would  not  go.  But  I  was  de- 
scribing the  falls — and  yet  I  must  describe  them  as  I  saw  them, 
which  was  riding  upon  a  bastinadoed  donkey.  We  had  a  fine 
view  of  the  cascade,  from  this  opposite  side  at  several  different 
positions ;  and  then  returned  through  a  delightful  valley  down 
the  bank  of  the  sporting  stream,  with  overhanging  rocks  on  one 
side,  and  a  lofty  mountain  on  the  other.  At  the  little  village 
where  we  ordered  our  donkeys  we  resumed  our  carriage,  amid 
the  cries  of  beggars  and  the  vociferation  of  guides,  donkey-wo- 
men, &c.,  &c.,  clamouring  for  more  buono-mano,  some  of  whom 
followed  our  carriage  for  some  rods,  after  we  started.  It  is  thus 
that  almost  every  where  in  Southern  Italy,  the  traveller  is  pounced 
upon  by  a  cloud  of  harpies,  that  seem  ready  to  devour  him,  and 
who  never  have  enough. 

We  lodged  at  Terni.  The  next  day  dined  at  Spoleto,  an- 
ciently Spoletium.  Here,  after  the  battle  of  Lake  Thrasymenus, 
Hannibal  was  repulsed,  and  an  ancient  gate  still  bears  an  inscrip 
tion,  recording  this  event.  Here  also  is  a  beautiful  aqueduct  carried 
across  a  valley,  three  hundred  feet  high.  From  this  place  a  most 
lovely  valley  extends  to  Foligno,  the  ancient  Fulgineum — in  travel- 
ling over  which  we  passed  an  ancient  temple,  supposed  to  be  the 
Temple  of  Clitumnus,  situated  near  the  source  of  the  river  of  that 
name — passed  the  next  morning  near  the  birthplace  of  Francesco, 
in  the  town  of  Assissi — and  near  by,  visited  a  church  and  monastery 
that  were  being  repaired,  or  we  might  say,  rebuilt — for  they  were 
destroyed  four  years  ago,  by  an  earthquake,  a  calamity  which 
affected  all  this  section  of  country — at  Foligno  the  houses  and 


THE    CATHEDRAL  349 

public  edifices  were  terribly  shaken — some  demolished  and  many 
injured.  In  this  church,  we  found  the  sanctuary  of  St.  Francesco, 
and  the  room  where  he  resided,  and  the  closet  for  his  books, 
and  the  door  through  which  he  was  accustomed  to  pass,  all 
preserved  in  their  original  form,  forming  a  kind  of  sanctum 
sanctorum,  within  the  house  of  God.  All  the  region  around 
swarmed  with  Franciscans.  The  next  day  we  were  drawn  by 
oxen  up  the  mountain  to  Perugia ;  although  a  road  might  have 
been  made  so  as  to  avoid  the  mountain,  but  you  may  be  almost 
sure  that  you  will  be  taken  over  the  mountain,  if  there  is  one  in 
the  route ;  and  this  especially,  because  the  cities  of  Italy  are 
mostly  built  on  hills  and  mountains.  At  Perugia,  called  an- 
ciently Augusta  Perusia,  we  visited  the  cathedral,  where  we 
saw  nothing  interesting,  except  the  deposition  of  a  dead  priest, 
who  had  been  elevated  upon  a  bed  of  state,  or  stage  of  exhibition, 
where  he  had  lain  the  usual  time,  and  was  now  taken  down 
for  sepulture.  There  was  much  ado  in  getting  him  down  ;  and 
when  they  had  succeeded,  they  stretched^  him  out  upon  the  dirty 
pavement  of  the  church,  where  he  remained  until  we  left,  (al- 
though we  lingered  some  time  to  see  what  disposition  would  be 
made  of  him,)  surrounded  by  boys  and  youths,  some  of  whom 
had  on  the  ecclesiastical  hat,  who  were  jesting  and  laughing  over 
the  dead  priest,  in  a  manner  the  most  repulsive.  From  Perugia, 
we  descended  to  the  Perugian  lake,  or  as  it  was  anciently  called, 
Lake  Thrasy menus,  where  the  great  battle  was  fought  between 
the  Roman  consul  Flaminius,  and  Hannibal,  in  which  the  former 
was  defeated  and  slain,  and  almost  his  entire  army  exterminated. 
The  lake  is  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water  in  the  midst  of  surround- 
ing hills,  and  sprinkled  with  islands.  We  lodged  at  a  miserable 
little  village  which  was  almost  crowded  into  the  lake  by  the 
mountain,  called  Passignano,  from  its  being  the  only  southern 
pass  from  the  vale  beyond,  where  the  abovementioned  battle  was 
fought. 

Lake  Thrasymene,  however,  furnished  us  with  a  delightful 
supper  of  fish,  and  we  had  a  comfortable  bed.  Another  voiturier, 
which  was  in  company  with  us  most  of  the  way,  stopped  at  the 
same  inn,  and  we  might  have  been  crowded  as  to  our  quarters, 
but  a  Frenchman,  with  his  daughter,  about  twenty-five  years  of 
age,  always  took  one  chamber  for  both,  to  save  expense,  and  this 
30 


350  ITALY. 

gave  us  an  additional  chamber.  The  French,  and  indeed  the 
European  continental  nations  generally,  have  very  different  no- 
tions about  such  matters  from  those  of  the  English  or  Americans. 
They  think  nothing  of  passing  each  other's  lodging-rooms  to  get 
to  their  own  beds.  Indeed  a  very  common  method  of  building, 
is  to  have  a  long  suite  of  apartments  in  one  range  all  enfiladed 
by  the  doors,  and  entered  by  passing  successively  through  the 
intervening  chambers.  We  often  found  it  difficult  to  get  lodging- 
rooms  where  our  ladies  were  not  subjected  to  this  inconve- 
nience. 

The  next  morning  we  passed  the  famous  battle-ground.  It  is  a 
vale  setting  back  from  the  lake  perhaps  two  miles,  and  surround- 
ed by  hills,  so  as  to  form  an  amphitheatre,  with  only  two  narrow 
vomitorii,  or  outlets,  at  either  end,  on  the  shores  of  the  lake. 
Into  this  place  Hannibal  decoyed  his  enemy  by  stratagem — 
placing  a  good  part  of  his  army  upon  the  heights  near  where  the 
Romans  entered,  while  he  with  the  other  portion  of  his  army 
occupied  the  opposite  heights  ;  when  the  Romans  had  entered 
the  pass  and  filled  the  amphitheatre,  the  concerted  signal  was 
given — the  ambuscade  from  the  rear  fell  upon  the  Roman  army, 
and  they  found  themselves  surrounded.  The  elements  favoured 
the  Carthaginians ;  for  it  was  sunshine  on  the  hills,  but  a  dense 
fog  settled  down  upon  the  vale  :  weapons  from  unseen  enemies 
were  showered  upon  the  astonished  and  terror-struck  Romans. 
It  was  a  bloody  day — and  a  critical  one  for  Rome.  A  small 
number  cut  their  way  through  to  the  neighbouring  heights  ;  but 
the  greater  part  perished.  We  passed  a  rivulet  called  Sangui- 
netto,  from  its  waters  having  been  discoloured  by  the  blood  of  the 
slain.  This  battle  gave  Hannibal  the  ascendancy  in  Italy ;  and 
had  not  the  luxury  and  licentiousness  of  the  Campania  been  more 
fatal  to  his  army  than  Roman  arms,  he  might  have  subdued  and 
overwhelmed  the  nation,  and  Carthage  and  Rome  might  have 
changed  characters  in  the  great  drama  of  the  world.  As  it  turned, 
however,  Rome  has  gained  the  appellation  of  the  Eternal  City, 
and  Carthage  was  destroyed,  and  no  traces  of  its  site  or  existence 
remain,  save  on  the  page  of  history. 

The  next  day  we  reached  Florence.  From  the  top  of  the 
high-lands,  several  miles  distant,  we  had  a  most  enchanting  view 
of  the  city  and  its  surrounding  villas.  It  was  environed  in  the 


DEPARTURE  FROM  FLORENCE:  351 

distance  by  mountains  embowered  in  vineyards  and  verdure, 
elegantly  reposing  on  the  banks  of  the  Arno,  and  wafting  up  the 
mountain-side,  to  welcome  our  approach,  the  fragrant  incense  of 
an  Italian  spring.  What  a  change  in  a  place  is  effected  by  the 
weather  and  the  season  of  the  year  !  Florence  had  certainly 
gained  much  by  exchanging  the  drenching  rains  and  chilling 
winds  of  January  for  the  balmy  breath  of  May. 

We  revisited  the  galleries  ;  called  on  our  old  friends  ;  inquired 
after  the  schools,  and  found  them  all  flourishing.  We  learned 
also  that  the  Swiss  heroine  of  the  infant-schools  was  meditating 
a  new  enterprise  full  of  interest,  and  so  far  as  we  could  learn,  of 
promise  also  :  but  in  a  country  where  a  heretic  is  suspected  even 
when  doing  good,  it  may  not  be  proper  to  publish  her  operations 
to  the  world — especially  when  the  agents  of  the  propaganda  in 
our  country  convey  to  Rome  all  that  is  passing  or  is  published 
here  affecting  the  interests  of  the  Holy  See.  We  raised  a  few 
crowns  among  our  countrymen  and  fellow-travellers  for  the  enter- 
prise, and  could  do  no  more  than  follow  her  with  our  good  wishes 
and  prayers. 

After  a  few  days'  rest  and  preparation,  we  found  ourselves 
ready  to  recross  the  Apennines,  which  we  had  determined  to  do 
in  the  direction  of  Bologna,  to  try  if  possible  to  reach  Venice. 
From  the  beginning  I  had  hoped  to  see  Venice,  but  had  been  upon 
the  point  of  relinquishing  the  object,  from  the  discouraging  reports 
of  prevailing  cholera  and  consequent  quarantines.  In  this  matter, 
as  in  many  others,  we  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  any 
satisfactory  information.  However,  we  thought  the  nearer  we 
approached,  the  more  definite  would  be  our  intelligence. 

Our  departure  was  attended  with  several  painful  circumstances. 
One  was  that  our  interesting  and  kind  fellow-travellers  were  to 
return  in  another  direction,  not  choosing  to  take  Lombardy  in 
their  route.  It  was  like  breaking  up  a  family,  rendered  the  more 
painful,  because  we  were  in  a  foreign  land.  Mrs.  F.  and  myself 
were  to  proceed  alone.  But  what  was  still  more  painful  was,  that 
one  of  our  company,  Mr.  W.  already  mentioned,  was  declining 
so  fast  that  we  feared  we  should  see  him  no  more.  His  case  had 
been  one  of  painful  interest  for  many  days.  Sometimes,  while 
in  Rome,  he  was  able  to  go  out  with  us  and  view  those  ruins 
which  accorded  too  painfully  with  the  ruins  of  his  own  once 


352  ITALY. 

vigorous  constitution,  wasting  under  the  consuming  touch  of  a 
resistless  disease.  Occasionally,  his  buoyant  mind  seemed  to 
catch  inspiration  from  the  scenes  around  him,  and  he  would  forget 
his  own  weakness  in  the  rhapsodies  of  the  poets  and  the  legends 
of  Roman  mythology.  Again,  he  would  be  prostrated — and 
think  and  talk  of  home — pray  not  to  be  buried  in  Italy — and 
speak  of  the  comforts  which  a  sick  man  foregoes  by  leaving  the 
bosom  of  friends  to  court  health  in  a  more  genial  clime.  He  that 
has  never  been  sick  abroad,  knows  not  the  hundredth  part  of  the 
meaning  that  is  contained  in  this  reflection !  In  the  main,  Mr. 
W.  was  cheerful,  and  it  was  some  time  before  he  could  be  per- 

• 

suaded  that  journeying  by  land  injured  him,  and  that  his  best 
course  was  to  go  to  Leghorn  and  take  ship  for  New -York.  At 
length  he  became  satisfied  that  this  was  his  only  hopeful  course- 
Having  been  so  long  the  object  of  our  solicitude,  it  was  painful  to 
leave  him.  We  parted  with  the  usual  tokens,  but  without  words, 
for  anguish  choked  utterance.* 

We  left  for  Bologna  en  voiturier,  6th  of  May.  A  sick 
fellow-passenger,  was  taken  so  ill  he  was  obliged  to  stop. 
We  left  him  in  great  distress  in  a  solitary  inn  upon  the 
Apennines.  After  this  we  had  the  entire  coach  to  ourselves, 
and  our  veturino  having  got  rid  of  a  part  of  his  charge  without 
any  loss  of  fee,  made  an  effort  to  barter  us  off  also  upon 
another,  who  was  going  in  our  direction ;  but  not  feeling  disposed 
to  be  traded  off  in  that  style,  and  having  the  staff  in  our  own 
hand,  he  was  obliged  to  carry  us  through,  or  go  home  without 
his  pay. 

Our  route  was  over  the  desolate  Apennines,  with  but  few  trees 
or  shrubs,  and  very  little  verdure,  I  should  judge  at  best.  At  this 
time  they  were  still  sprinkled  with  snowbanks,  and  the  chill  of 
winter  lingered  here.  There  are  some  sublime  views,  however, 
and  at  one  point  you  may  see  the  Mediterranean  on  the  one  side 

*  It  was  the  final  separation  until  the  Great  Day.  He  embarked  at  Leghorn,  and 
during  the  voyage  his  health  seemed  rather  to  improve,  until  the  vessel  reached  the 
Banks  of  New  Foundland ;  and  here  the  fogs  hastened  his  disease  to  a  speedy 
maturity.  Difficulty  of  breathing,  delirium,  and  death  ensued.  In  all  probability,  if 
he  had  taken  a  more  southerly  passage,  he  might  have  lived  to  breathe  his  last  with 
his  friends.  Let  the  consumptive,  who  thinks  of  going  to  Italy  to  recover  his  health, 
remember  the  sufferings  and  solitary  death  of  the  intelligent  and  estimable  Wm.  J. 
Webb.  For  the  comfort  of  his  friends,  I  will  add,  we  have  hope  in  his  death. 


BOLOGNA.  353 

and  the  Adriatic  on  the  other.  We  passed  the  Monte  di  Fo,  a 
small  volcano,  which  constantly  sends  forth,  (it  is  said,)  a  clear 
flame,  spreading  out  a  number  of  feet,  and  burning  brightest, 
or  more  properly  perhaps  appearing  brightest,  as  all  flames  do,  in 
cloudy  weather. 

Bologna  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  river  Reno,  at  the  base 
of  the  Apennines,  and  on  the  skirt  of  that  most  extraordinary  and 
lovely  vale  of  Lombardy — extending  from  the  base  of  the  Alps 
on  the  west  to  the  Adriatic  on  the  east,  and  from  the  Apennines 
on  the  south  to  the  Rhoetian  Alps  on  the  north — watered  by  the 
Adige  and  the  Po,  with  their  numerous  branches.  It  was  the 
Cisalpine  Gaul  of  the  ancient  Romans,  and  has  been  the  seat  of 
more  wars,  and  the  scene  of  more  battles,  probably,  than  any 
other  part  of  Europe.  For  no  other  reason,  perhaps,  than  that 
God  hath  blessed  it  with  peculiar  fertility  and  beauty  ! 

The  city  of  Bologna  contains  about  seventy  thousand  inhab- 
itants, and  is  about  five  miles  in  circumference.  A  peculiarity  in 
the  streets,  is,  that  all  the  principal  ones  are  lined  with  arcades,  or 
continued  porticoes,  which  rest  on  single  columns,  and  which,  by 
narrowing  the  streets  and  excluding  the  light,  give  a  sombre 
appearance  to  the  city.  This  is  certainly  a  great  improvement, 
however,  to  a  city  in  a  country  especially  so  exposed  to  intense 
heat  as  is  Italy.  To  such  an  extent  does  this  taste  prevail  at  Bo- 
logna, that  an  insulated  arcade,  or  covered  portico  extends  from  the 
city  to  the  church  of  Maria  di  St.  Luca,  three  miles  perhaps 
from  the  town ;  and  a  branch  of  it  turns  off  to  the  Campo  Santo, 
a  mile  from  the  city.  The  length  of  these  arcades  must  interest 
the  stranger,  and  must  be  an  accommodation  to  the  citizens, 
whether  they  wish  to  visit  their  most  interesting  cemetery,  rich 
in  the  variety  of  its  apartments  and  monuments,  or  their 
patroness  saint,  Maria  di  St.  Luca ;  and  it  is  certainly  an  accom- 
modation to  the  saint  herself — for  once  a  year  she  has  to  make  a 
visit  to  the  city  where  she  remains  to  be  adored  three  days,  and 
these  are  high  days.  All  the  world  around,  city  and  country, 
rush  in  to  pay  their  devotions  at  the  shrine  of  the  goddess. 
Fortunately  for  us,  we  arrived  just  in  time  to  be  sharers  in  this 
great  religious  fete.  Her  madonaship,  I  believe,  arrived  in  town 
the  morning  of  the  same  day  in  which  we  arrived  in  the  evening. 
We  found  the  church  and  all  the  streets  around  it  crowded 
30 


354  ITALY, 

But  the  next  day,  which  was  the  Sabbath,  was  the  great  day  of 
the  feast.  The  city  was  full  of  the  country  costumes,  the  church 
was  decorated  and  crowded,  the  ceremony  and  service  were  long 
and  tedious,  and  amidst  it  all,  collectors  were  going  among  the 
crowd,  shaking  their  boxes  and  calling  upon  the  people  to  honour 
the  saint  by  contributing  to  the  support  of  the  shrine.  So  it 
seemed,  that,  although  public  veneration  and  worship  were  among 
the  objects  of  the  saint  in  coming  to  the  city,  yet  her  principal 
design  was  to  make  a  collection.  This  jargon  of  sounds,  com- 
pounded of  the  thousands  around  you,  muttering  over  their  own 
private  devotions  and  prayers,  independent  and  disregardful 
entirely  of  the  public  service ;  the  chanting  of  the  service  by 
the  priests  and  by  the  organ,  and  the  rattling  of  coppers  in  the 
boxes  of  the  collectors,  were  to  me  a  queer  and  not  very  profitable 
exercise.  Perhaps  it  was  because  I  did  not  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  devotion.  But  how  could  I,  when  the  centre  of  attraction  and 
the  only  object  of  worship,  seemed  to  be  an  image  placed  over 
the  altar.  To  say  their  prayers  and  to  supplicate  her  fa- 
vour, seemed  to  be  the  great  object  of  the  multitude,  and 
this  the  priests  themselves  sanctioned  by  worshipping  most  de- 
voutly at  her  shrine.  I  tried  to  obtain  a  view  of  the  saint,  but  she 
was  so  embowered  in  flowers  and  finery,  I  could  not  get  a  sight 
of  her  divine  face.  It  seems  to  be  thought  the  more  they  can 
dress  up  these  images,  the  more  they  honour  them.  Hence  it  is  a 
very  common  thing  to  find  the  images  of  the  Virgin,  and  other 
saints,  profusely  ornamented  and  dressed  out  in  tawdry-coloured 
silks,  gauzes,  and  ribands  ! 

Bologna  abounds  with  towers,  some  of  them  carried  up  very 
high,  and  all  of  them  leaning.  We  ascended  the  highest  in  the 
city,  called  the  Asinelli.  This  was  built  in  1109,  and  inclines 
four  feet  from  a  perpendicular  line.  Its  height  is  said  to  be  three 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  Paris  feet ;  at  any  rate  we  found  it 
sufficiently  high  to  give  a  splendid  view  of  the  surrounding 
country,  and  to  enable  us  to  look  down  into  the  streets  and  courts 
of  the  little  town  below  us,  which  was  spread  out  and  checkered 
like  the  divisions  of  a  chessboard,  only  it  lacked  regularity. 

The  palaces  and  galleries  of  Bologna  are  principally  celebrated 
for  their  pictures.  The  school  of  painting  here  was  second  only 
in  Italy,  that  is  to  say  in  the  world.  Here  were  the  three  Car- 


BOLOGNA.  355 

accis  ;  Ludovico  the  eldest  of  the  three,  and  cousin  and  instructer 
to  the  two  brothers  Augustino  and  Annibale.  These  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  Bolognese  school,  but  Annibale  was  the  most 
celebrated.  Both  he  and  his  brother,  however,  hastened  their 
death  by  dissipation  and  debauchery.  After  these  were  Guido, 
whose  fame  needs  no  panegyric,  but  whose  love  of  gaming  ruined 
him  in  fortune  and  in  mind  :  Domenichino,  who,  though  so  slow 
his  companions  called  him  the  Ox,  yet  so  persevering  he  became 
one  of  the  first  masters :  Guercino,  whose  eminent  talents  were 
adorned  by  a  virtuous,  charitable,  pious  life :  Lanfranco,  who 
was  a  native  of  Parma,  but  studied  under  Augustino  Caracci ; 
Francisco  and  Jean  Baptiste  Albano — the  former  of  whom  made 
his  most  beautiful  and  accomplished  wife  the  model  of  his 
Venuses,  Nymphs,  and  Graces,  and  her  twelve  lovely  children 
the  originals  of  his  Cherubs  and  Cupids — with  many  others  of 
less  note.  All  these  were  first  rate  painters  ;  and  whoever  passes 
through  Europe  will  find  their  works  in  every  important  picture 
gallery  he  visits.  Bologna  was  full  of  them,  but  many  are  gone 
and  more  are  going  from  this  city  of  the  arts.  We  visited  several 
galleries,  the  pictures  of  which  were  almost  uniformly  on  sale  ; 
and  the  time  is  at  hand,  it  would  seem,  when  there  will  be  less 
of  the  paintings  of  Bologna  in  the  city  of  the  Caraccis,  than  in 
most  other  cities,  if  we  except  the  splendid  frescoes — which  also 
would  be  sold  if  they  could  be. 

What  has  happened  to  the  school  of  the  arts  has,  though  not 
to  so  great  an  extent,  befallen  also  the  school  of  letters — the 
ancient  and  celebrated  University  of  Bologna.  This  once  con- 
tained six  thousand  students  and  seventy-two  professors.  In 
1819,  it  had  only  four  hundred  and  thirteen  students,  according  to 
Mr.  Lyman  ;  but  at  this  time  it  is  said  there  are  eighteen  hundred. 
A  great  portion  of  these  are  in  the  study  of  medicine,  for  which 
they  have  an  excellent  museum  of  specimens  in  healthy  and 
morbid  anatomy,  and  of  natural  history.  They  have  also  a  good 
cabinet  of  instruments  for  physical  science,  and  a  good  library 
This  is  one  of  the  most  ancient,  nay,  I  believe  the  very  first 
University  founded  in  Italy.  Some  date  it  back  as  early  as  the 
fifth  century. 

There  are  many  other  things  of  interest  in  this  city,  but  I  must 
omit  them — save  that  I  should  hardly  be  pardoned  if  I  did  not 


356  ITALY. 

mention  the  fountain  of  Neptune,  which  is  very  fine — the  work 
naanship  of  Giovanni  di  Bologna.  There  is  also  a  natural 
curiosity  near  the  city,  on  what  is  called  Monte  Paduno.  It  is 
a  substance  which  emits  phosphorescent  light,  and  is  called  the 
phosphorescent  stone.  I  bought  two  boxes  to  bring  home ;  but 
long  before  I  arrived  the  light  went  out.  They  will  retain  their 
phosphorescent  quality  but  a  short  time  after  they  are  taken  from 
their  location. 

Our  next  stage  was  to  Ferrara.     This  was  the  residence  o* 
Ariosto :  his  house   still  remains  as  a  monument  of  the  poet's 
modesty  or  poverty,  or  both.     It  is  said,  when  he  was  inquired 
of  why  he,  who  described  such  magnificent  palaces,  had  made 
his  own  house  so  small,  that  he  replied  :  "  Words  are  put  together 
cheaper  than  stones."     The  Ferrarese  seem  proud  of  having  his 
house  and  his  remains  with  them.     They  have  erected  his  tomb 
in  their  library,  where  they  show  his  chair,  inkstand,  and  some 
of  his  handwriting.     In  this  same  library  is  the  original  manu- 
script of  Gerusalemme  Liberata  by  Tasso,  and  of  Pastor  Fide 
by    Guarini.     Of  these  three  great  poets  only  the  last  was  bora 
in  Ferrara.     The  first  was  a  native  of  Reggio  ;  and  Tasso  was 
born  at  Sorrento,  near  Naples.     By  the  residence  of  the  other 
two  Ferrara  was  honoured  ;  but  Tasso  was  there  a  prisoner  for 
several  years — a  lovesick  crazy  poet.      Having  fallen   in  love 
with  the  sister  of  the  Duke  who  was  his  patron,  he  was  hurried 
away  by  his  passion  beyond  all  bounds,  and  in  a  crowded  assem- 
bly embraced  his  lovely  Eleonora.     The  Duke  pronounced  him 
mad,  and  ordered  him  into  confinement.     We  visited  his  prison. 
It  was  a  dreary  stone  arch  of  heavy  masonry  in  the  Hospital  of 
St.  Anne.     When  Lord  Byron  was  here  he  spent  four  days  in 
this  cell — whether  for  the  purpose  of  sympathizing  with  Tasso's 
spirit  and  to  catch  his  inspiration,  or  because  like  Tasso  he  was 
himself  a  mad  poet,  I  cannot  say.     Byron  left  his  name  engraved 
upon  the  wall ;  and  our  valet  informed  us  that  while  he  was 
undergoing  his  poetic  penance,  he  used  to  carry  him  his  food 
from  the  hotel  near  by,  in  which  we  also  lodged.     It  seems  they 
both  had  eccentricity  and  disappointment  enough  to  make  them 
great  poets,  but  not  moral  principle  and  virtue  enough  to  govern 
their  passions.     Tasso's  disappointment,  as  well  as  Byron's,  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  last :  for  when  the  former  was  about  to  receive  the 


FERRARA.  357 

laurel  crown,  and  be  honoured  with  a  triumph  by  Pope  Clement, 
VIII.  at  Rome,  he  suddenly  died,  and  his  triumphal  procession 
was  changed  into  his  funeral  obsequies.  His  body  was  entombed 
at  Rome. 

Bologna  and  Ferrara  both  belong  to  the  pope ;  much,  how- 
ever, to  the  discontent  of  the  people.  In  no  part  of  Italy  did  I 
hear  as  much  complaining  of  the  government  as  in  these  dutchies. 
The  pope  could  hardly  be  mentioned  without  a  shrug  or  a  sneer. 
But  Austrian  bayonets  are  a  substitute  for  affectionate  attach- 
ment ;  and  these  they  have  in  abundance.  Since  the  disposition 
to  revolution  manifested  at  the  time  of  the  Paris  Revolution  of 
July,  they  have  been  guarded  with  greater  strictness.  It  is  evi- 
dent, however,  that  only  a  favourable  opportunity  is  wanting  to 
kindle  up  the  flames  of  civil  war,  for  the  spirit  is  there. 

The  court  of  Ferrara  was  once  the  seat  of  learning  and  emi- 
nent men.  It  was  also  a  city  of  some  note  among  the  baronies 
and  little  republics,  of  which,  at  one  time,  it  is  said,  there  were 
thirty  in  Lombardy.  It  might  have  contained  one  hundred  thou- 
sand inhabitants ;  but  now  grass  is  growing  in  the  streets,  and 
the  edifices  are  going  to  decay.  Twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand 
is  the  limit  of  its  population,  and  its  business  seems  insufficient 
to  sustain  these. 

In  passing  from  Ferrara  we  crossed  the  Po  and  the  Adige  on 
a  Pout-volant,  .or  flying  bridge.  In  these  rivers  also  we  saw 
mills  carried  by  the  current ;  for  falls  there  are  none.  Two  large 
scows  or  boats  are  fastened  by  strong  cables  in  the  current  at  a 
convenient  distance  from  each  other,  over  which  is  the  structure 
for  the  mill,  and  between  which  is  the  water-wheel  for  carrying 
the  machinery.  The  water-wheel  is  rolled  round  by  the  natural 
force  of  the  current,  and  as  the  water  rises  and  falls,  the  boats, 
mill  and  all  of  course,  rise  and  fall  with  it,  and  thus  the  wheel 
is  kept  immersed  at  all  times  in  the  same  depth  of  water. 

The  second  day  we  passed  the  Euganean  Hills,  which  rise  up  in 
picturesque  beauty  in  the  midst  of  an  otherwise  unbroken  plain, 
as  if  on  purpose  to  afford  a  lodge  for  a  poet,  and  scenery  to  in 
spire  his  muse.  We  had  learned  that  the  tomb  and  last  residence 
of  Petrarch  were  near  our  proposed  route,  but  the  tameness  of 
the  flat  sandy  plain  over  which  we  passed,  and  which  seemed 
bounded  only  by  the  sensible  horizon,  led  us  almost  to  doubt  the 


358  ITALY. 

truth  of  the  guide-book  on  this  subject.  Truly,  Petrarch,  who 
once  rhapsodized  in  the  vale  of  Vaucluse,  could  not  have  chosen 
this  Boeotian  plain  for  his  final  residence  !  Who  ever  heard  of 
a  poet,  and  I  had  almost  asked,  of  a  patriot,  in  a  country  of  an 
unbroken  level  ?  But  as  we  approached  the  place  a  change  came 
over  us,  which,  in  our  measure,  I  suppose,  is  not  unlike  that  which 
kindles  the  poet's  eye  into  a  "  fine  phrensy,*"  and  works  up  his 
heart  into  all  the  palpitation  of  poetic  rhapsody.  By  an  extra  fee 
we  persuaded  our  veturino  to  take  us  up  among  the  hills  to  this 
poet's  tomb,  in  the  little  village  of  Arqua.  We  found  the  house 
as  he  left  it,  with  a  female  cicerone,  who,  I  doubt  not,  accumulates 
a  good  rent  for  the  edifice,  although  it  remains  unoccupied.  Here 
is  the  furniture  of  the  poet — his  study — the  balcony  from  which 
he  was  wont  to  gaze  upon  the  surrounding  scenery — and  here 
were  painted  in  fresco  upon  the  walls,  the  poet  and  his  Laura,  in 
a  great  variety  of  relations.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill,  below  the 
house,  stands  an  humble,  rustic  church,  and  in  its  front-yard  rises 
the  marble  tomb  of  the  celebrated  Petrarch,  the  father  of  modern 
poetry.  He  was  bom  at  Arezzo  in  1304,  was  crowned  with  the 
poetic  crown  at  Rome  on  Easter-day,  1341,  and  died  at  Arqua 
in  July,  1374,  aged  70. 

We  reached  Padua  the  same  evening.  This  is  the  birthplace 
of  the  historian  Livy,  and  was  a  city  of  ancient  renown,  having 
been  built  as  some  suppose  by  Antenor,  soon  after  the  fall  of  Troy. 
Its  ancient  name  was  Potavium,  and  it  is  said  to  have  been  once  the 
most  flourishing  town  in  Northern  Italy.  In  the  middle  ages,  under 
the  feudal  chiefs  it  was  a  town  of  note,  and  it  is  still  a  respecta- 
ble and  strongly  fortified  town — has  some  very  good  edifices, 
especially  its  university  which  was  built  by  the  great  architect 
Palladio,  the  modern  Vitmvius.  The  churches  of  St.  Anthony 
and  Justina  are  both  interesting  edifices.  At  the  former  was  held 
the  day  after  we  arrived,  a  splendid  anniversary  fete,  in  honour 
of  St.  Anthony,  who  appears  to  be  in  great  repute  in  Padua. 
All  were  in  their  gala-dresses,  and  as  is  usual  on  such  occasions 
the  whole  country  were  flocking  to  the  town.  In  these  fetes  there  is 
some  religion,  but  more  frolic  and  fun.  If  they  can  go  to  the  church 
and  say  their  prayers,  that  satisfies  the  conscience  of  the  most 
scrupulous ;  the  rest  of  the  time  is  for  amusement.  This  church 
of  St.  Anthony  is  full  of  tombs  and  of  bassi  relievi.  We  crowded 


VENICE.  359 

around  among  the  devout  as  well  as  we  could  to  see  these 
splendid  ornaments,  as  we  were  aware  no  other  opportunity  would 
be  afforded  us.  But  it  does  not  trouble  these  devotees  to  see  the 
curious  stranger  moving  round  to  the  pictures  and  monuments 
while  they  are  saying  their  prayers.  For  as  they  pray  by  the 
book  or  from  memory,  and  the  merit  consists  in  the  number 
repeated,  they  can  look  at  you  if  they  choose  and  pray  on. 
Knowing  this,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  universal  experience  in  this 
country,  led  on  by  our  cicerone  we  passed  round  the  church. 
Rarely  indeed  have  we  seen  so  many^/me,  "  immoderately  fine," 
sepulchral  ornaments  as  here.  Among  others,  is  the  tomb  of 
Cardinal  Bembo,  the  learned  and  licentious  secretary  and  instru- 
ment of  Leo  X.,  a  cardinal  and  a  bishop.  But  when  popes 
turn  infidels  and  sell  the  privilege  of  sinning  for  money,  we 
cannot  wonder  that  their  bishops  and  cardinals  should  follow  in 
their  suit. 

The  University  of  Padua  once  had  18,000  scholars,  but  like 
all  the  other  Universities  of  Italy,  it  is  greatly  fallen.  It  has  able 
professors,  however,  and  lectures  in  the  different  departments, 
with  a  library  of  100,000  vols.  The  most  prominent  department 
is  that  of  medicine. 

There  is  a  beautiful  public  square  in  this  city,  surrounded  with 
statuary,  all  of  which  is  now,  from  an  extraordinary  cause,  in  a 
very  mutilated  state.  In  1835,  there  was  a  violent  hail-storm  of 
stones  large  as  cannon-balls  which  fell  in  twenty-seven  minutes 
to  the  depth  of  one  foot  and  a  half.  It  broke  in  the  tiles  of  the 
roofs  of  a  great  many  edifices,  made  great  havoc  of  the  trees,  and 
broke  off  the  fingers,  arms,  noses,  &c.,  of  this  extensive  company 
of  statues. 

We  arrived  at  Venice  on  the  evening  of  the  great  festival  of 
St.  Mark,  the  patron  saint  of  the  city.  This  was  the  day  on 
which,  in  the  times  of  the  Republic,  the  Doge  was  accustomed 
to  wed  the  Adriatic  Sea.  The  ceremony  consisted  in  going  out 
in  a  galley,  in  great  state,  taking  up  some  of  the  water,  casting  a 
ring  into  the  sea,  and  going  through  certain  other  forms,  to  indi- 
cate the  espousals  between  this  city  and  the  waters  of  the 

Ldriatic.  Well  might  Venice  cherish  this  sea,  as  a  spouse  which 
brought  to  her  beloved  a  rich  dower.  It  was  in  her  bosom 

lat  the  city  rested  in  safety,  when  all  Italy  besides  was  desolated 


360  ITALY. 

by  the  barbarians  of  the  North,  and  by  the  mutual  wars  of  the 
feudal  chieftains  who  succeeded  the  conquerors.  It  was  on  her 
bosom,  that  commerce  wafted  her  golden  treasures  into  the  city 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  city  itself,  in  short,  reposed  as  it 
were,  upon  the  sea ;  her  streets  are  canals,  her  squares  are 
Lagunas  wrested  from  the  waves ;  and  almost  her  entire  founda 
tions  rest  upon  the  shoals  of  the  Adriatic.  This  ceremony, 
therefore,  was  a  significant  one,  and  far  more  tolerable  than  many 
other  Italian  fetes  and  anniversaries,  that  are  still  crowded  into 
almost  every  day  in  the  year.  At  present,  however,  the  nuptials 
are  not  celebrated,  except  that  the  religious  ceremonies  for  the 
festival  of  St  Mark,  are  still  observed.  There  is  good  reason  for 
dispensing  with  the  celebration  of  the  nuptials  now ;  for  in  the 
first  place,  the  independence  of  Venice,  and  the  liberties  of  the 
city,  are  gone ;  so  also,  to  a  very  great  degree,  the  trade  and  the 
wealth  of  the  city,  have  departed  together.  The  Adriatic  bears 
no  Venetian  navy,  to  make  all  the  shores  and  the  islands  of  the 
Mediterranean  tremble.  She  has  also  joined  herself  to  other 
lovers ;  and  Trieste,  and  Ancona,  and  others  are  sharing  in  those 
favours  and  exulting  in  those  caresses  that  used  to  be  reserved 
for  Venice  alone ;  much  to  the  mortification  and  scandal  of  her 
former  husband  and  lord.  On  this  account  we  regretted  less, 
that  we  were  a  few  hours  too  late,  to  witness  the  festivities  of  the 
day.  After  passing  over  about  five  miles,  the  distance  from 
Fusina  to  Venice,  in  a  gondola,  we  landed  upon  the  threshold  of 
the  Hotel  Royal  of  Signior  Danieli,  where  we  took  lodgings, 
during  our  short  stay  in  the  city. 

I  shall  proceed  to  give  some  general  notion  of  this  remarkable 
city,  and  of  the  things  most  worthy  of  notice  in  it,  without  pre- 
suming to  attempt  a  full  description  of  Venice,  either  as  a  whole 
or  in  parts.  Indeed  I  know  not  how  to  describe  it ;  to  be  properly 
conceived  of,  it  must  be  seen.  If  any  one  should  ask  me,  if 
Venice  was  beautiful,  I  could  hardly  say  yes  or  no.  But  it  is 
interesting — it  is  an  historical  curiosity — it  is  an  architectural 
curiosity — its  physical  constitution  is  a  curiosity — you  know  not 
whether  to  say  it  belongs  to  the  land  or  the  water.  It  is  in 
fact  neither,  and  it  is  both — it  is  amphibious.  It  is  a  mermaid, 
or  a  sea-nymph — the  lower  part  is  a  fish,  but  above  the  form  is 
human.  Like  Venus,  it  sprang  up  self-creative  from  the  froth  of 


VENICE  361 

the  sea,  and,  like  her,  it  subsequently  ruled  both  the  sea  and  the 
land,  until  its  day  of  rule  was  over,  and  its  sceptre  and  its  glory 
departed  together.  Venice  lives,  however,  in  history  still — nay, 
more,  she  lives  in  the  splendour  of  her  achievements,  in  the  mag« 
nificence  of  her  temples,  the  wealth  of  many  of  her  palaces,  the 
productions  of  her  artists,  and  the  peculiar  physical  characteris- 
tics of  her  unique  construction,  although,  as  Byron  has  well 
expressed  it, 

*  The  soul  of  the  city  is  fled." 

Think  of  a  city  rising  up  from  the  sea,  five  or  six  miles  from 
the  main  land,  having  for  its  commencement  a  few  islets,  on  which 
fishermen  might  erect  their  cabins  and  spread  their  nets.  Think 
of  this  marine  asylum,  becoming  the  resort  of  the  enterprising, 
the  afflicted,  the  friends  of  liberty,  and  of  the  lovers  of  adven- 
ture. Think  of  its  growth  to  a  population  of  two  hundred 
thousand,  of  its  independence  for  fourteen  hundred  years,  of  its 
immense  wealth,  and  the  spoils  brought  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  to  enrich  and  adorn  it.  Conceive  of  its  having  neither 
horse-power  nor  carriage ;  but  its  coaches  are  gondolas,  and  its 
locomotive  power  the  oarsman.  Conceive  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-nine  canals  winding  their  way  through  all  parts  of  the  city, 
crowded  by  boats,  and  spanned  by  three  hundred  and  six  arched 
bridges  of  marble,  over  which  pass  the  footpaths  or  streets,  that 
in  general  are  not  wider  than  sidewalks,  and  amount  to  two 
thousand  one  hundred  and  eight  in  number ;  and  you  will  per- 
haps have  some  faint  idea  of  the  general  appearance  of  Venice. 
There  is,  however,  one  feature  that  must  not  be  left  out  of  the 
account,  and  that  is  the  grand  or  principal  canal.  This  is  per- 
haps from  thirty  to  sixty  yards  wide,  is  in  form  somewhat  like  the 
letter  S,  and  in  its  serpentine  course,  divides  the  city  into  two 
parts,  leaving  however  much  the  largest  on  the  northeast  side. 
Over  this  canal,  there  is  but  one  bridge,  and  that  is  called  the 
Bridge  of  the  Grand  Rialto.  This  bridge  is  a  high  arch,  and  is  in 
part  a  regular  staircase  of  considerable  height,  consisting  of  one 
central  and  two  side  flights,  the  latter  being  separated  from  the 
former  by  a  row  of  twelve  shops  on  either  side. 

t  Another  peculiar  feature  of  Venice  is  the  architecture,  which 
mostly  of  a  style  peculiar  to  the  middle  ages.     It  is  a  mixture 
the  Gothic,  with  the  most  redundant  ornamental  Arabic. 
81 


362  ITALY. 

You  have  capitals,  and  architraves,  and  friezes,  fantastically  orna- 
mented, in  connexion  with  Gothic  arches  and  other  features  of 
the  rustic  style  of  architecture.  You  look  at  it  with  mixed  feel- 
ings of  pleasure  and  dissatisfaction  ;  you  feel  it  to  be  an  outrage 
upon  all  architectural  taste  of  the  present  day,  and  yet  you 
would  not  wish  to  see  it  otherwise  ;  and  you  only  regret  that  it 
has  the  most  decisive  appearance  of  hastening  rapidly  to  decay. 
Some  of  the  most  expensive  palaces  are  all  but  forsaken,  and  the 
edifices  are  beginning  to  exhibit  a  desolate  and  ruinous  aspect. 
Perhaps  all  the  buildings  have  a  foot  as  well  as  a  water  passage. 
In  passing  round  or  through  the  Great  Canal,  I  perceived  that 
most  of  the  palaces  fronted  upon  the  water  (which  came  up  at 
high  water-mark  to  the  very  threshold  of  the  front  door),  with 
painted  posts,  to  which  to  fasten  a  gondola,  and  a  step  to  pass 
into  it.  Just  as,  in  our  country,  you  see  near  the  yard  a  stake 
to  which  you  may  hitch  your  horse,  and  a  block  from  which 
to  mount  him.  At  the  back  door  there  is  a  foot  passage 
leading  out  and  branching  off  to  different  parts  of  the  city. 
There  is  also  at  the  west  end  an  open  space  of  several  acres, 
covered  with  green  sward,  and  occupied  as  a  parade-ground,  or  a 
Campus  Martins,  formed  entirely,  as  I  was  informed,  of  the  mud 
dug  from  the  bed  of  the  canals  ;  and  on  the  east  side  are  gardens 
planted  with  trees  and  laid  out  in  gravel  walks  of  considerable 
extent.  There  are  also  several  squares  and  market-places,  the 
largest  of  which  is  the  piazza  of  St.  Mark ;  and  as  this  is  the 
great  public  centre,  and  the  place  in  which  the  greatest  interest 
is  concentrated,  I  will  rest  here  a  moment,  to  describe  some  of 
the  principal  objects  around  it. 

Here  are  the  church  of  St.  Mark,  the  ancient  palace  of  the 
Doges,  the  imperial  palace,  &c.  The  firstmentioned  edifice  is 
on  the  east  end  of  the  square,  having  the  ducal  palace,  or  the 
palace  of  the  Doges  between  it  and  the  quay.  This  most  singu- 
lar and  interesting  edifice  was  commenced  in  976,  and  finished 
in  about  one  hundred  years.  It  consists  of  all  orders  of  architec- 
ture, and  is  in  fact  without  order.  It  is,  however,  rich  in  marbles, 
mosaics,  statuary,  and  other  ornaments,  both  within  and  without ; 
having,  it  is  said,  five  hundred  columns  of  porphyry,  serpentine, 
veined  and  other  precious  marbles.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  Greek 
cross,  and  measures  two  hundred  and  twenty  Venetian  feet  in 


VENICE.  363 

length,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  in  breadth — measuring  from 
one  end  of  the  transverse  nave  to  the  other — and  presenting  a 
fa$ade  front  of  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  feet.  There  are 
splendid  mosaics  over  the  front  doors,  and  the  interior  is  entirely 
encrusted  with  mosaics;  so  also  is  the  floor  of  the  church.* 
Over  the  front  door  on  a  gallery,  too  elevated  to  give  a  good 
effect,  are  the  four  bronze  horses  that  have  been  such  great  trav- 
ellers, and  are  so  much  and  so  justly  admired  for  their  antiquity 
and  beauty.  Of  the  origin  of  these  horses  there  have  been  dif- 
ferent opinions  ;  but  the  most  probable  and  that  which  has  gained 
pretty  general  credence,  I  believe,  is  that  they  are  Grecians, 
being  the  work  of  Lysippus,  and  appertained  to  the  chariot  of  the 
sun  in  Corinth.  They  were  brought  to  Rome  when  the  Romans 
conquered  and  plundered  Greece,  and  from  Rome,  after  the  trans- 
fer of  the  seat  of  the  empire  to  Constantinople,  they  were  conveyed 
thither  in  the  fifth  century  ;  and  when  Constantinople  was  taken 
by  the  Venetians,  they  transported  them  as  trophies  to  Venice, 
where  they  continued  until  Venice  was  conquered  by  the  French 
in  1797,  when  they  were  conducted  to  Pans;  at  the  restora- 
tion of  legitimacy  they  were  restored  to  Venice,  and  with  great 
pomp  introduced  into  the  city  and  placed  in  their  present  position. 
If  the  hypothesis  of  their  origin  be  correct,  they  must  have  been 
made  more  than  three  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  as 
Lysippus  was  contemporary  with  Alexander  the  Great,  who  died 
three  hundred  and  thirty-three  years  before  Christ.  They  were 
originally  gilt ;  and  a  portion  of  the  gilding  still  remains,  although 
the  greater  part  has  been  worn  off  by  time  and  service.  They 
are  certainly  of  most  exquisite  proportions  and  workmanship,  and 
bid  fair  to  survive  the  city  which  they  have  so  long  honoured  with 
their  presence  ;  and  most  probably  at  some  future  day  may  again 
cross  the  Alps  and  honour  some  more  northern  city  with  their 
residence :  perhaps  St.  Petersburgh  may  yet  see  these  southern 
coursers,  for  they  follow  in  the  train  of  conquest  and  of  power, 
and  these  attributes  seem  at  present  to  be  tending  by  a  strong 
current  towards  the  northern  pole. 

South  of  the  church  of  St.  Mark,  and  between  it  and  the  quay, 

*  The  materials  of  which  this  church  was  built,  like  those  of  the  Duomo  at  Pisak 
and  many  other  Italian  buildings  of  that  age,  were  the  spoils  of  enemies,  and  were, 
mostly  taken  from  the  Saracens.  So  also  were  many  of  its  decorations. 


364  ITALY. 

is  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Doges.  It  is  built  round  a  court 
which  serves  as  an  exchange,  and  has  in  it,  it  is  said,  several 
hundred  apartments.  This  also  is  of  various  styles,  but  mostly 
of  the  Arabic,  and  therefore  highly  ornamented.  The  capitals  of 
the  columns  are  decorated  with  leaves,  animals,  and  various  sym- 
bolical figures,  and  the  whole  constructed  of  fine  marble.  This 
edifice  is  extremely  interesting  both  from  its  architecture  and 
paintings,  and  also  from  its  historical  associations.  It  has  two 
fronts — one  upon  the  quay,  presenting  to  the  harbour  a  beau- 
tiful fagade  of  two  hundred  and  five  feet,  divided  into  seven- 
teen arches ;  and  the  other  upon  the  smaller  square  which 
connects  the  grand  piazza  of  St.  Mark  with  the  quay,  two  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  feet  in  length,  and  divided  into  eighteen  arches. 
These  are  surmounted  by  another  row  of  arches  half  as  large, 
and,  of  course,  double  the  number,  forming  a  beautiful  gallery  on 
both  fronts :  above  these  the  walls  are  in  diamonds  of  bricks  of 
different  colours.  It  was  commenced  early  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  but  a  long  time  in  being  finished ;  and  was,  of  course, 
directed  by  various  architects  in  successive  generations. 

The  interior  is  decorated  by  a  great  number  of  splendid  paintings 
of  the  Venetian  school,  many  of  them  of  fine  workmanship  and  of 
most  magnificent  dimensions.  They  are  by  Tintoretto,  Titian, 
Bonifacio,  Paul  Veronese,  Bassano ;  many  others  also  of  the  Vene- 
tian school  of  painting  have  contributed  to  the  ornaments  of  these 
apartments.  The  ceilings  as  well  as  the  walls  are  covered  with 
easel  paintings  ;  although,  from  their  size  and  their  peculiar  adapt- 
ation to  the  walls  of  the  apartments  to  which  they  belong,  they 
are  often  mistaken  for  frescoes  :  even  some  of  the  guide-books 
have  fallen  into  this  error,  and  describe  paintings  for  frescoes 
which  are  really  tableaux,  or  paintings  upon  canvass. 

I  cannot  speak  particularly  of  these  works  of  art ;  but  to  give 
the  reader  some  idea  of  their  size,  I  will  notice  one  or  two.  In 
the  saloon  of  the  grand  council,  now  the  library  of  St.  Mark,  is  a 
painting  by  Tintoretto,  representing  the  glory  of  Paradise.  It  is 
thirty  feet  in  height,  and  its  greatest  length  is  seventy-four  feet, 
entirely  covering  one  end  of  the  hall.  In  this  hall  (and  the  one 
adjoining)  are  other  paintings  of  enormous  size,  representing 
mostly  remarkable  events  in  the  history  of  Venice.  Indeed,  it 
may  be  remarked  of  the  paintings  generally,  that  they  are  more 


VENICE.  365 

decidedly  historical  than  those  of  any  other  city  which  I  have 
visited.  This  is  as  it  should  be.  If  painting  ever  flourishes  in 
our  country,  I  hope  it  will  be  in  this  form.  That  the  art  should 
be  so  much  prostituted  to  the  celebration  and  illustration  of  the 
cruelties  and  the  licentious  loves  of  ancient  fable,  corrupting  the 
heart  and  inflaming  the  strongest  passions,  through  the  medium 
of  the  imagination — as  is  the  case  in  almost  all  the  schools  of 
painting  and  sculpture,  ancient  and  modern — can  only  be  accounted 
for  on  the  ground  of  the  universal  depravity  of  the  human  heart — 
a  depravity  which  the  arts  themselves  have  greatly  aggravated  by 
the  licentious  manner  in  which  they  have  pandered  to  the  gratifica- 
tion of  a  corrupt  taste.  The  most  sublime  efforts  of  these  arts — the 
most  exquisite  productions  of  the  bright  geniuses  who  have 
excelled  in  them,  have  sanctioned  the  exhibition  of  the  strongest 
and  most  corrupting  incentives  to  licentiousness  and  crime.  In 
the  almost  superhuman  exhibitions  of  the  art,  we  pardon  the 
offence  against  moral  purity,  and  while  we  admire,  the  more 
triumphant  the  achievement,  the  more  insinuating  the  poison, 
which,  unperceived,  is  drunk  in  and  nourished  by  the  mixture  of 
sweets  that  disguises  it,  until  the  moral  sense  is  blunted  and  the 
heart  is  seduced  by  the  fascinating  spell.  It  is  on  this  account 
especially  that  I  fear  for  our  own  comparatively  moral  country- 
men. As  wealth  increases,  the  number  of  travellers  will  increase, 
especially  among  the  young,  who  are,  of  course,  the  most  in 
danger.  These  may  not  all  become  corrupted  themselves; 
although  I  frankly  confess  that  I  deem  it  next  to  impossible  for 
a  youth  to  visit  Italy,  and  the  continent  of  Europe  generally, 
without  suffering  loss  in  the  discriminating  power  and  purity  of 
his  moral  feelings.  It  must  be  a  miracle  of  grace  alone  that  can 
preserve  him.  But,  in  addition  to  this — for  I  should  hope  there 
would  never  be  so  great  a  number  corrupted  among  the  tourists 
of  our  countrymen  as  to  affect  materially  the  morals  of  the 
nation — there  is  to  be  dreaded  more  than  anything  else,  the  intro- 
duction into  our  country,  through  the  medium  of  wealthy  travel- 
lers and  travelling  artists,  the  corrupting  causes  themselves  of 
moral  principle.  Already,  through  the  medium  of  artists  and 
amateurs,  paintings,  engravings,  and  statuary  of  a  character  that 
will  contribute  nothing  to  the  purity  of  our  youth,  are  finding 
their  way  into  our  country ;  and  as  wealth  increases  among  us 

ai 


366  ITALY. 

these  works  of  art  will  be  multiplied.  They  will  not  be  openly 
and  publicly  exhibited  at  first ;  but  gradually  as  that  nice  delicacy 
Which  now  characterizes  public  taste  with  us  shall  become 
blunted,  we  shall  see,  I  fear,  naked  Loves  and  Venuses  as  fre- 
quent in  our  galleries  and  public  gardens  as  they  now  are  in 
Europe  :  we  shall  have  our  groups  of  Leda  and  the  Eagle,  of 
Love  and  Pscyhe,  and  all  the  rest,  rendered  more  tolerable,  be- 
cause they  are  either  the  original  or  the  copies  of  the  most 
splendid  works  of  art,  and  are  consecrated  by  the  incense  of  their 
classical  associations.  Nay,  there  are  many  now,  very  many,  of 
our  travelling  and  untravelled  countrymen  who,  if  these  remarks 
ever  meet  their  eye,  will  doubtless  sneer  at  the  squeamishness, 
and  superstition,  and  vulgar  destitution  of  taste,  which  could 
object  to  these  exhibitions.  It  is  becoming  fashionable  with  us 
to  affect  the  European  taste ;  and  there  are  many  who  would  not 
dare  be  so  uncourtly  and  vulgar  as  to  manifest  any  scruples  of 
delicacy  and  moral  feeling  on  this  subject.  Be  it  so.  I  must  do 
my  duty  in  the  case,  whether  it  effect  little  or  much ;  and  I 
therefore  am  constrained  to  raise  my  feeble  voice  against  this 
fascinating  manner  of  sapping  the  principles  of  public  virtue, 
and  would  especially  warn  and  entreat  the  rising  generation 
against  this  influence ;  and,  if  I  might  be  permitted,  I  would 
entreat  my  fellow-citizens — that  class  of  them  especially  whose 
standing  in  society  gives  them  influence — to  adopt  the  only 
course  which,  in  my  opinion,  can  resist  the  bad  consequences 
here  depicted,  and  that  is,  while  they  discountenance  the  intro- 
duction of  works  of  art  which  have  a  licentious  tendency,  to 
encourage  as  much  as  they  may,  by  their  patronage,  the  pure 
and  chaste  productions  of  the  pencil  and  chisel.  For  these  pro- 
ductions, no  subjects  are  more  suitable  than  the  historic  events 
of  a  free  country  ;  and  by  American  artists,  the  example  already 
set  by  Trumbull  should  be  followed  up  and  improved  upon, 
until  every  important  event  in  the  settlement,  progress,  and  inde- 
pendence of  our  country  be  transferred  to  canvass,  as  it  has  been 
already  recorded  on  the  page  of  history.  Such  has  been  the 
course  pursued  by  Venetian  artists  with  great  success.  It  is 
true,  the  history  of  Venice  is  too  much  interwoven  with  war  and 
bloodshed.  This  grew  out  of  the  character  of  the  times  and  of 


VENICE.  367 

the  nation  :  and  in  this  respect  our  country  would  have  a  great 
advantage  in  the  humanizing  and  moral  effects  of  its  history  on 
canvass.  Its  wars  have  not  been  those  of  conquest  or  of  individual 
aggrandizement,  but  of  self-defence  ;  and  for  the  maintenance  of 
those  great  principles  of  national  and  social  rights,  which  were 
never  so  well  understood  as  at  the  present  day,  and  never  con- 
tended for  with  so  much  purity  and  success,  as  by  the  United 
States  of  America. 

But  to  return  to  the  description.  I  confess  myself  not  so  great 
an  admirer  of  the  style  of  paintings  in  the  Venetian  school  as  in 
some  others.  I  have  rarely  undertaken  to  make  critical  remarks 
on  paintings  in  the  course  of  my  journal,  for  the  reason  that  I 
have  not  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  art  to  be  a  critic ;  and  as 
for  adopting  the  sentiments  of  others,  an  immense  number  of 
which  are  stereotyped  to  my  hand,  and  retailing  them  for  my 
own,  I  can,  in  such  a  course,  see  no  credit  to  myself  and  no  profit 
to  the  public.  I  know,  and  hold  myself  at  liberty  to  say,  what 
pleases  me.  Although  the  subjects  of  this  school  please  me  in 
general  better  than  many  others,  yet  the  style  and  the  execution 
are,  in  my  opinion,  by  no  means  to  be  compared  with  those  of 
the  Caraccis  and  Domenichino  of  Bologna — much  less  can  they 
compare  with  Carlo  Dolciy  Guercina  and  Andrea  del  Sarto,  and 
the  few  who,  in  Dolci's  manner  (none  can  equal  him),  threw  the 
sweetness  of  angels  and  the  softness  of  paradise  over  the  forms 
and  scenes  of  earth.  Sweet  is  the  name  of  Dolci,  and  sweet  are 
the  touches  of  his  pencil.  While  I  live  I  shall  carry  with  me 
the  impressions  that  his  fascinating  pencil  has  melted  into  my 
heart.  With  such  a  pencil  and  such  a  genius,  consecrated  to  vir- 
tue and  religion,  what  might  not  a  man  accomplish  ?  Raphael 
surpasses  him  in  strength  and  sublimity.  Salvator  Rosa  can  paint 
human  nature  rough  and  rude  as  savages,  and  cruel  as  pirates  or 
banditti — and  the  wildest  scenes  of  nature  also  stand  forth  ex- 
pressive of  reality  from  the  dark  conceptions  of  his  mind  and 
strokes  of  his  pencil ;  but  give  me  a  cabinet  of  pictures  by  Carlo 
Dolci,  and  I  will  be  satisfied. 

The  Venetian  school,  however,  stands  high ;  and  Titian  is 
sometimes  remarkably  fine.  He  and  Jacobus  Tintoretto  painted 
so  much,  they  could  not  always  excel.  Not  only  did  they  fill 


368  ITALY. 

the  public  halls  of  Venice,  but  the  churches  and  palaces,  also, 
with  their  works ;  and  they  are,  in  fact,  in  every  part  of  Italy 
and  all  over  Europe.  Many  paintings,  doubtless,  bear  their 
name,  that  these  artists  never  saw ;  but  still  they  painted  much. 
We  were  shown  one  palace  (the  palace  Barbarigo)  in  Venice, 
where  Titian  painted  forty  years,  and  in  the  school  of  St.  Roc, 
T.  Tintoretto  painted  thirty  years.  He  was  seven  years,  it  is 
said,  painting  the  paradise  of  the  Ducal  palace.  Titian  lived  to 
a  great  age,  and  painted  till  late  in  life.  In  the  church  of  St. 
Marie  dela  Salute  I  saw  a  picture — the  subject,  the  descent  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  which,  it  is  said,  he 
painted  when  he  was  sixty-four  years  old.* 

The  library  of  the  Ducal  palace  contains,  it  is  said,  eighty-five 
thousand  volumes.  We  were  shown  also  the  chamber  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ten,  and  the  Council  chamber  of  the  Inquisition.  Here,  also, 
is  the  small  aperture  at  the  side  of  the  door  leading  to  a  box  within, 
into  which  the  informers  used  to  put  their  secret  accusations. 
Wo  to  the  man  who  had  the  misfortune  to  be  thus  reported  to 
the  secret  tribunals  of  the  state  and  the  church.  After  the  intro- 
duction of  an  hereditary  aristocracy  in  Venice,  the  character  of 
the  government  was  more  democratic  in  name  than  in  reality. 
In  fact,  although  the  government  of  Venice  was  at  first  a  pure 
democracy,  it  verged  more  and  more  towards  absolute  power,  up 
to  the  time  of  the  French  conquest  in  '97.  And  this  state  is  a 
surprising  instance  of  a  progressive  and  peaceable  movement 
in  a  direction  opposite  to  popular  rights  and  immunities.  It  is 
no  singular  thing  in  history  that  democracies  should  become 
absolute  monarchies  ;  but  this  change  has  generally  been  effected 
by  usurpation  and  violence,  but  not  so  in  Venice.  From  causes 
which  cannot  be  fully  understood,  perhaps,  and  which,  at  any 
rate,  this  is  not  the  place  to  examine,  the  Venetians  changed, 
first,  their  executive,  and  then  their  legislative  power,  by  their 
own  peaceably  expressed  act  and  deed,  so  as  to  throw  the  whole 
almost  entirely  out  of  their  hands.  First,  the  executive  power 
was  vested  in  Tribunes  annually  elected  ;  and  this  continued  from 
the  foundation  of  the  government  early  in  the  fifth  century  up  to 

*  In  the  grand  hall  are  also  the  portraits  of  seventy-six  doges  in  regular  succes* 
aion,  beginning  with  the  ninth  doge,  Obelerio,  in  the  year  804* 


BRIDGE    OF    SIGHS.  369 

697,  when  the  constitution  was  so  altered  as  to  vest  the  execu- 
tive power  in  the  hands  of  one  man,  who  was  elected  for  life, 
under  the  title  of  Doge.  In  1172,  a  legislative  assembly  or 
council  of  four  hundred  and  seventy  members,  elected  annually 
from  among  the  citizens  and  by  the  citizens,  was  wisely  sub- 
stituted for  the  popular  assemblies.  But  in  1297  the  constitution 
was  so  modified  as  that  this  council  was  constituted  solely  and 
exclusively  of  members  from  an  aristocratic  class  in  the  commu- 
nity, by  which  all  other  citizens  were  thrown  out  of  all  direct 
participation  in  the  affairs  of  government ;  and  now  it  was  that  a 
system  of  espionage  commenced,  which,  aided  by  official  in- 
formers and  secret  tribunals,  became  one  of  the  most  cruel  en- 
gines of  tyranny  ever  known,  perhaps,  under  any  government. 
No  man's  life,  or  liberty,  or  property  was  secure.  When  any 
fell  under  suspicion,  they  were  privately  arrested,  and,  in  most 
cases,  they  were  heard  of  no  more.  Everything  was  conducted 
with  the  most  profound  secrecy — the  accused  victim  knew  not 
the  secret  tongue  that  betrayed  him,  or  the  secret  hand  that  stab- 
bed him.  Near  the  palace,  and  separated  only  by  a  canal,  is  a 
prison  ;  this  prison  is  connected  with  the  palace  by  a  high  cov- 
ered bridge,  called  the  Bridge  of  Sighs*  This  bridge  has,  or 
had,  for  it  is  now  closed  up,  two  passages  :  one  leading  from  the 
prison  into  the  council  chambers,  and  another  leading  to  other 
more  private  apartments  and  dungeons  under  the  palace  itself. 
These  dungeons  were  also  accessible  from  the  palace  by  a  secret 
passage,  which  was  unknown  to  the  public  until  the  arcana  of 
these  apartments  of  death  were  laid  open  by  the  French.  In 
deed,  it  is  said,  that  the  citizens  generally  did  not  know  of  the 
existence  of  these  wretched  cells.  Here  the  trembling  victims 
were  led  to  the  torture  and  to  death.  We  visited  these  gloomy 
prisons  ;  they  were  dark  as  night,  and  consisted  each  of  one  arch 
of  heavy  masonry,  with  a  single  hole  for  purposes  of  respira- 
tion, &c.  They  had  been  generally  lined  with  wood  ;  but  Napo- 
leon permitted  the  citizens  to  enter  and  tear  out  all  that  was 
moveable  in  these  horrid  cells.  Here  was  a  grated  window 
where  the  victims  used  to  be  strangled.  They  were  seated  on  a 

*  Because  across  this  bridge  the  accused  were  led  for  their  mock  trial  to  the  secret 
tribunals,  where  the  sighing  prisoner  had  little  hope  of  justice. 

3A 


370  ITALY. 

block  within,  and  a  rope,  fastened  at  one  end,  passed  through  the 
grate  and  round  the  neck,  and  out  again  to  a  machine,  by  the 
turning  of  which  the  head  and  shoulders  were  drawn  up  to  the 
grate,  and  the  poor  wretch  was  strangled  by  the  cord  that  passed 
round  his  neck.  Another  place  was  fitted  up  for  decapitation, 
like  a  guillotine.  The  heavy  knife,  fixed  to  a  frame,  was  raised 
by  machinery  to  the  proper  distance,  (the  victim  being  fixed  in  the 
right  position,)  when  it  fell  and  struck  the  head  from  the  body, 
and  a  trench  in  the  stone  and  holes  made  for  the  purpose,  con- 
veyed the  blood  down  into  the  waters  below.  All  this  was  done 
by  night,  and  with  the  utmost  privacy ;  and  here  was  the  little 
arches  in  the  wall,  where  the  executioner  placed  his  lamp  while 
he  performed  his  bloody  work.  The  whole  was  made  so  real 
and  brought  so  near  by  the  associations  around  us,  that  the  blood 
was  almost  chilled  with  horror ;  and  we  were  glad  to  leave  those 
gloomy  vaults  where  thousands  had  languished  out  years  of  soli- 
tary confinement,  or  perished  miserably  by  the  hand  of  the  exe- 
cutioner.* 

Such  was  the  government  of  Venice,  up  to  the  time  when  the 
French  revolution,  backed  by  the  armies  of  the  republic,  came 
down  upon  Italy  like  a  tremendous  tornado,  which  hurled  kings 
from  their  thrones — broke  up  the  foundations  of  nominal  repub- 
lics— unsettled  the  feudal  aristocracies,  that  had  for  fourteen  cen- 
turies pressed  upon  the  social  system,  and,  what  all  must  approve, 
unlocked  the  prison-doors  and  let  the  prisoners  go  free.  This 
was  literally  true,  at  Venice  and  elsewhere ;  we  saw  one  cell 
from  which  a  prisoner  was  liberated,  who  had  been  confined  four- 
teen years.  Soon  after  his  liberation  he  became  blind,  from  the 
effect  of  the  light  upon  eyes  that  had  for  fourteen  years  been  ac 
customed  only  to  the  darkness  of  a  dungeon. 

In  this  building  also  is  the  library  of  St.  Luke,  which  formerly 
was  in  the  east  end  of  what  is  now  called  the  Imperial  Palace — 
it  consists  of  about  eighty-five  thousand  volumes. 

Directly  opposite  to  this  palace  is  the  Imperial  Palace — the 
property,  at  present,  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria.  We  were 
shown  in  this,  an  extensive  suite  of  state  apartments,  furnished  in 

*  In  the  time  of  the  persecution  of  the  heretics  by  the  Inquisition,  the  capital  punish- 
ment was  generally  by  drowning.— See  Reform  in  Italy,  p.  267. 


THE  IMPERIAL  PALACE.  371 

a  plain  way  for  an  Emperor's  palace.  One  room,  which  was 
formerly  the  hall  of  the  library  of  St.  Luke,  contains  some  fine 
pictures,  and  at  the  opposite  end,  in  the  part  that  forms  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  piazza  of  St.  Mark,  additional  apartments  were 
in  progress  of  completion,  one  of  which,  nearly  finished,  was  a 
splendid  public  saloon  for  company,  dancing,  &c.  This  palace 
forms  two  sides  of  the  splendid  square,  and  fronts  the  harbour, 
between  which  and  the  palace,  are  gardens  laid  out  and  deco- 
rated by  the  French.  In  this  square  also  is  the  Campanile,  or 
tower  of  the  church  of  St.  Luke,  separate,  according  to  a  prevail- 
ing custom  of  the  age  in  which  it  was  erected,  from  the  church 
itself.  Here  also  is  the  tower  of  the  clock,  as  it  is  called,  or  the 
Horological  tower,  containing  the  city-clock  and  a  bell,  with  two 
large  bronze  human  figures,  who  with  huge  hammers,  regularly 
strike  the  hours.  At  the  time  we  were  there,  and  it  is  said  the  same 
is  repeated  for  fourteen  days  in  succession,  at  the  same  season 
every  year,  there  was  a  regular  mechanical  procession  at  the 
striking  of  every  hour.  Midway  up  tjie  Horological  tower  sits  a 
noble  bronze  gilt  image  of  the  Virgin  and  the  infant  Jesus,  with 
an  open  gallery  in  front  of  her,  facing  the  square.  On  each  side, 
is  a  door  opening  into  the  interior.  At  the  striking  of  the  clock, 
these  doors  fly  open,  and  several  persons  move  out  in  succession  ; 
the  first  is  a  trumpeter,  who  raises  his  trumpet  to  his  mouth  as 
he  comes  in  front  of  the  Virgin ;  then  follows  three  others  in  suc- 
cession, dressed  like  eastern  sages,  and  one  of  them  a  person  of 
colour.  They  all  pass  in  front  of  the  Virgin  round  to  the  other 
side,  bowing  as  they  pass,  and  then  halting  a  moment,  they 
straighten  up,  and  entering  the  other  door,  disappear.  The  whole 
is  very  well  done,  except  that  in  straightening,  there  is  an  unnatural 
spasmodic  jerk  of  the  head,  which  shows  that  the  machinery  is  not 
quite  perfect  in  its  imitation  of  muscular  motion.  This  is  called 
the  visit  of  the  Magi.  Perhaps  I  have  dwelt  sufficiently  long  on 
this  piazza  and  its  local  associations,  but  I  cannot  omit  saying  here, 
that  this  spot,  so  full  of  interest  to  the  citizens  generally  and  to 
strangers,  is  also  one  of  great  interest  to  all  the  doves  of  the  city 
— for  here,  regularly,  at  two  o'clock,  the  bell  rings  to  call  them 
together  to  be  fed.  They  come  in  clouds,  and  from  a  high  win- 
dow a  woman  throws  out  corn,  &c.,  which  they  are  so  eager  to 


372  ITALY. 

obtain  they  darken  the  window  and  hover  over  the  corn  as  it  falls, 
and  devour  it  all,  the  moment  it  strikes  the  ground.  This  public 
feeding  of  the  pigeons  of  the  city  is  the  result  of  a  legacy  left 
by  a  benevolent  lady,  the  avails  of  which,  are  to  be  appropri- 
ated in  perpetuity  for  this  express  purpose.  Habit  has  enabled 
them  to  calculate  the  time  so  exactly  that  a  little  before  two  they 
collect  in  great  numbers  and  sit  upon  the  neighbouring  roofs,  wait- 
ing for  the  signal.  I  fear,  however,  that,  as  is  too  often  the  case, 
these  heirs  are  cheated  by  their  guardians,  for  their  dinners  seem 
to  me  altogether  too  stinted  for  so  great  a  number. 

There  are  a  number  of  very  interesting  churches  in  Venice, 
which,  if  my  limits  would  permit,  might  well  merit  a  particular 
notice.  I  can,  however,  only  make  some  general  remarks,  and 
notice  a  few  particulars.  Many  of  the  churches  are  richly  fur- 
nished with  pictures  from  the  pencils  of  the  Venetian  school, 
already  named.  They  are  generally,  however,  the  usual  sub 
jects,  taken  from  the  history  of  Christ  and  the  legends  of  the 
saints.  In  every  Italian  city  there  is  a  patron  saint.  St.  Mark 
answers  for  Venice,  of  whose  life  they  seem  not  to  have  found 
so  many  miracles,  as  in  some  more  modern  saints,  hence  their 
painters,  after  all,  are  obliged  to  introduce  other  saints  more  fre- 
quently upon  the  canvass.  They  have  St.  Roch,  who  was 
brought  from  France,  and  performed  wonders,  in  time  of  the 
plague.  He  has  a  church  dedicated  to  him,  and  here,  it  is  said, 
are  his  remains.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  churches,  both  in 
Venice  and  elsewhere  in  Italy,  is  an  attempted  representation  of 
the  Eternal  Father — an  attempt  which  I  never  witness  without 
feeling  a  kind  of  horror  like  that  which  comes  over  me,  on  hearing 
the  name  of  God  blasphemed.  But  so  common  is  it  with  the 
Catholics  to  give  everything  appertaining  to  our  religion,  a  sensi- 
ble form,  that  nothing  scarcely  is  more  common  than  this  giving 
a  visible  body  to  God  the  Father.  This  church  was  erected  after 
the  time  of  the  plague  in  1630,  in  the  fulfilment  of  a  vow.  This 
plague  swept  off  forty-four  thousand  of  the  inhabitants.  Another 
church  called  St.  Marie  Des  Frari  is  particularly  noticeable  for 
the  monuments  it  contains.  Among  others  a  rich  mausoleum  to 
Jaques  Pesaro,  who  was  Bishop  and  General,  and  died  in  1547, 
and  another  to  a  Doge  of  the  same  family.  This  family  was 


CHURCHES    IN    VENICE.  373 

very  rich,  and  by  a  legacy  from  one  of  them,  given  for  that  ex- 
press purpose,  prayers  are  to  be  made  for  his  soul  every  day, 
while  the  world  stands ;  as  this  is  a  cheap  way  of  securing  the 
income  of  the  legacy  to  the  church,  this  is  regularly  attended  to ; 
the  prayers  prescribed  were  being  offered  up  while  we  were  in 
the  church — poor  man !  he  expected  to  lay  in  purgatory  a  great 
while,  and  seemed  to  fear  that  the  prayers  of  the  living  would 
never  avail  in  his  behalf.  What  a  miserable,  fearful  hope  is  this 
to  a  dying  man ;  and  yet,  unsatisfactory  as  it  is,  how  natural  that 
those  who  are  taught  to  trust  in  it,  should  perfer  to  live  in  sin  for 
their  own  gratification,  provided  they  may  buy  their  redemption 
in  the  end,  by  a  portion  of  their  wealth. 

In  this  same  church  lie  the  remains  of  that  great  artist,  Titian 
Vicellio,  He  died  at  the  time  of  the  plague,  in  1575,  (not  by  the 
plague,  but  of  old 'age,)  and  this  calamity  prevented  the  proper 
attention  to  his  memory  at  the  time.  He  was,  therefore,  deposited 
under  the  church,  with  a  simple  inscription  (which  may  still  be 
read)  on  the  marble  pavement,  indicating  that  Titian  was  buried 
there.  It  was  subsequently  proposed  to  raise  a  monument  to  his 
memory ;  and  Canova,  before  his  death,  had  already  proposed  a 
design  for  the  purpose  ;  but  the  funds  were  not  raised,  and  on  the 
death  of  Canova,  in  1827,  the  plan  that  he  had  designed  for  Titian, 
was  taken  for  his  own  monument,  which  has  since  been  admirably 
executed  by  his  scholars,  and  placed  in  the  same  church ;  on  the 
side  opposite  to  Titian.  The  expense  of  this  work  was  met  by 
subscription,  made  throughout  Europe.  In  this  monument  is  de- 
posited the  heart  of  the  artist — his  right  hand  is  at  the  monument 
erected  to  his  memory  at  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts,  in  Venice, 
and  his  body  rests  in  his  own  native  village.  This  cutting  up  the 
body  of  a  great  man,  to  scatter  it  about  among  his  admirers,  is  a 
revolting  barbarity,  and  a  species  of  superstitious  materialism, 
that  ill  becomes  a  rational  believer  in  the  immateriality  and  im- 
mortality of  the  soul.  This  is  in  perfect  accordance,  however, 
with  that  rage  for  relics  so  common  in  Catholic  countries,  and  which 
makes  up  so  great  a  portion  of  their  feeling  of  devotion  and  vene- 
ration, instilled  into  the  mind  by  education.  This  feeling  shows 
itself  in  different  ways.  In  the  religionist,  it  is  vented  upon  the 
toe  of  a  saint,  or  upon  a  nail  or  a  splinter  of  the  real  cross,  &c., 
32 


374  ITiLY. 

but  in  the  man  of  intellectual  culture  it  is  seen  in  his  veneration, 
and  almost  adoration,  of  the  body,  the  hand,  or  the  heart  of  an  il- 
lustrious author  or  artist ;  and  in  the  soldier  it  is  called  into  action 
by  the  relic  of  a  general  or  a  hero.  Venice  has  an  Academy  of 
Fine  Arts,  which  I  cannot  now  describe,  and  a  splendid  arsenal 
and  shipyard.  The  arsenal  contains  specimens  of  all  the  armour 
of  the  middle  centuries,  and  is  a  place  of  great  interest.  The 
shipyard  also  shows  to  what  an  extent  naval  architecture  was 
once  conducted  at  Venice,  although  but  little,  comparatively,  is 
now  done  there. 

The  Venetians  are  a  very  religious  people,  and  such,  I  believe, 
has  ever  been  their  character.  It  is  true,  they  have  been  warlike, 
cruel,  and  lovers  of  this  world  ;  but  all  this  they  may  be,  and  still  be 
very  religious  in  their  way.  If  a  Venetian  were  hastening  to  as- 
sassinate his  enemy,  he  would  stop,  and  cross  himself,  and  say 
his  Ave  Maria  to  the  image  of  the  Virgin ;  and  this  is  true  not 
merely  of  the  Venetians,  but  of  the  Italians  generally.  Instances 
have  been  known  of  banditti  that  have  been  scrupulously  exact  in 
their  religious  services.  Nay,  while  their  hands  have  been  reek- 
ing with  the  blood  of  the  murdered,  for  which  they  felt  no  com- 
punction, the^y  have  checked  themselves  with  great  fear  and  hor- 
ror of  conscience  on  the  recollection  that  they  have  neglected  some 
ceremony  or  observance  that  appertained  to  their  superstition.  I 
do  not  b^this  mean  to  charge  upon  Romanism  that  it  justifies 
these  crimes,  but  that  the  religion  itself  is  of  such  a  character  as 
to  lead  its  votaries  to  think  they  are  very  religious  if  they  attend 
to  the  prescribed  forms,  although  they  may  live  in  constant  and 
enormous  sins.  I  have  known  a  postillion  swear  most  blasphe- 
mously in  the  name  of  his  Maker,  and  the  next  moment  raise  his 
hat,  and  perhaps  mutter  his  prayer,  in  passing  the  image  of  the 
Virgin.  Of  the  connexion  between  Catholicity  as  taught  in  Italy 
and  the  effects  here  alluded  to  I  have  spoken  elsewhere. 

As  in  other  parts  of  Italy,  so  here,  the  worship  of  the  Madonna 
is  the  leading  trait  of  devotion,  and  not  of  the  Madonna  merely, 
but  of  some  image  of  her,  painted  or  graven.  These  images  are 
not  only  in  all  the  churches,  but  they  are  by  the  streets,  in  little 
shrines  fitted  up  for  the  purpose  in  every  part  of  the  city,  and 
especially  in  the  more  public  places.  These  shrines  seem,  in 
some  instances,  to  be  a  kind  of  Madonna  shops,  fitted  up  by  the 


SUPERSTITION   OF    THE    ITALIANS.  375 

side  of  the  streets,  where  relics,  candles,  beads,  &c.,  are  kept  for 
sale  by  some  mercenary  devotee,  who  sits  there  continually  to 
watch  the  image  and  sell  his  sacred  wares.  Whether  any  man 
may  fit  up  his  shrine  in  this  way  who  chooses,  or  whether  some 
government  sanction  and  license  are  necessary,  I  did  not  learn.  It 
was  very  evident,  however,  that  some  shrines  of  this  kind  were 
more  popular  than  others.  I  recollect,  among  a  number  of  these 
shrines  that  I  noticed  along  the  quay  in  Venice,  one  which  ap- 
peared to  be  particularly  popular ;  the  image  of  the  Virgin  was 
covered  with  votive  offerings,  such  as  little  hearts  of  tin,  and  the 
like,  together  with  little  scraps  of  paper,  with  a  name  or  some 
sentiment  written  thereon,  left  by  the  devotees  for  special  pur- 
poses. All  that  passed  raised  their  hats,  and  generally  turned 
round,  crossed  themselves,  muttered  a  prayer,  and  not  a  few 
bowed  the  knee,  and  this,  too,  where  a  crowd  was  continually  pass- 
ing. Lamps  are  kept  burning  before  these  images  day  and  night. 
Very  often  these  shrines  and  images  appear  to  be  fitted  up  and 
lighted  at  individual  expense  before  houses,  and  over  the  doors 
of  palaces  and  other  edifices,  as  a  kind  of  a  defence  or  talismanic 
charm  against  all  physical  arid  demoniacal  evils.  Indeed,  it  ap- 
pears to  me  that,  in  a  great  proportion  of  cases,  the  attention  paid 
to  the  Virgin  is  a  superstitious  ceremony  to  defend  them  against 
physical  evils.  Nay,  it  is  my  solemn  opinion,  if  hearts  could  be 
laid  open,  and  the  whole  secret  disclosed  at  this  moment  in  Italy, 
it  would  be  seen  that,  where  there  was  one  who,  with  a  penitent 
heart,  paid  his  respects  to  the  Virgin  or  her  image  in  view  of  his 
sinfulness,  and  with  a  desire  to  obtain  grace  that  he  might  be 
more  holy,  scores  do  this  to  obtain  worldly  prosperity  or  to  avoid 
some  dreaded  evil.  It  is  a  kind  of  charm  to  keep  off  evil.  The 
traveller,  as  he  passes  the  numerous  images  and  shrines  which 
are  erected  by  the  highway,  thinks  if  he  does  not  raise  his  hat 
he  will  have  bad  luck,  and  he  performs  this  ceremony  just  as  he 
sticks  up  a  cross  in  his  field  or  upon  his  building,  many  of  which 
may  be  seen  in  all  parts  of  Italy,  viz.,  to  keep  off  evil  spirits,  and 
mildew,  and  lightning,  and  all  mischief;  and  for  a  similar  cause, 
in  fact,  with  that  for  which  the  American  sailor  nails  a  horseshoe 
to  his  mast.  And  the  more  conscious  a  man  is  that  he  is  living 
in  constant  violation  of  the  laws  of  God,  the  more  necessary  he 
feels  it  to  be  scrupulous  in  his  religious  observances,  for  in  thia 


37(5  ITALY, 

way  he  drives  a  profitable  barter  trade  with  his  conscience,  and 
avoids  not  only  temporal  evils,  but  also  eternal  death,  by  being, 
in  all  matters  of  religious  faith  and  observances,  a  good  Catholic 

Venice,  as  has  already  been  observed,  is  in  a  state  of  decline. 
It  is  melancholy  to  pass  round  her  canals  with  one  who  is  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  families,  and  hear  him,  in  pointing  out  many 
of  the  once  splendid  palaces,  say,  "  The  family  who  own,  or  who 
did  own  this,  were  once  rich,  but  are  now  reduced  to  poverty  '? 
a  fact  that,  in  many  instances,  needs  no  other  attestation  than  ,1 
sight  of  the  edifices  themselves,  crumbling  to  decay  as  they  are7 
and  forsaken.  There  are  still,  it  is  true,  many  wealthy  families 
in  Venice,  but  much  fewer  than  formerly,  and  their  number  is 
diminishing.  It  is  not  with  them  as  with  flourishing  cities,  where, 
if  one  wealthy  family  declines,  several  rise  up  to  take  its  place. 
The  canals  themselves  seem  to  be  going  to  decay,  and  the  entire 
business  of  the  city  falling  off.  It  is  true,  Venice  is  yet  a  free 
port,  and  there  are  still  quite  a  number  of  water-craft,  of  different 
kinds,  in  her  harbours ;  and  so  long  as  the  government  of  Lom- 
bardy  remains  as  it  is,  this  great  valley,  watered  by  the  Po  and 
the  Adige,  and  their  branches,  will  draw  their  foreign  resources 
through  Venice  or  some  other  city  in  its  neighbourhood.  Nev- 
ertheless, it  is  evident  that  the  very  existence  of  such  a  city  as 
Venice,  in  its  present  locality,  was  not  a  natural,  but  a  constrained 
occurrence,  growing  out  of  an  unnatural  state  of  things,  and  hence 
it  will  be  a  struggle  against  nature  to  sustain  it ;  a  struggle  which 
will  be  less  likely  to  succeed,  as  the  causes  which  originated,  ele- 
vated, and  'enriched  the  city  have  altogether  ceased.  Many  of 
the  Venetians  attribute  their  adversity  to  the  destruction  of  their 
republic  and  the  loss  of  their  independence.  This  may  have  has- 
tened and  aggravated  their  decline,  but  it  by  no  means  originated 
it.  The  first  cause  was  the  loss  of  the  trade  of  the  east,  resulting 
from  various  circumstances,  but  mostly  from  the  improvement  of 
the  art  of  navigation,  and  the  discovery  of  the  southern  passage  to 
the  East  Indies  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  proximate  ef- 
fect of  this  upon  several  other  nations,  and  especially  upon  Eng- 
land and  Holland,  was  to  greatly  increase  their  marine,  and  ulti- 
mately give  them  the  supremacy  at  sea.  The  Venetians,  in  the 
mean  time,  true  to  the  Italian  character,  were  slow  to  adopt  any 
ef  the  modern  improvements  in  trade  and  navigation.  I  say  true 


DECLINE    OF   VENICE.  377 

to  the  Italian  character,  for  it  would  surprise  a  native  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  who  before  knew  nothing  of  the  state  of  things  here, 
to  see  how  inflexible  are  the  habits  of  the  people  in  almost  every- 
thing. You  can  trace  to  this  day,  in  Italy,  a  thousand  exemplifi- 
cations of  ancient  usages  in  their  agriculture,  their  commerce,  their 
social  intercourse,  domestic  habits,  &c.  I  have  before  remarked 
that  it  may  well  be  said  of  Italy,  "  As  your  fathers  did  so  do  ye." 
This  was  especially  exhibited  in  Venice.  Her  naval  architecture, 
her  military  tactics,  her  system  of  finance,  were  all  falling  back 
in  the  scale  of  comparison  with  other  nations.  These  causes, 
connected  with  that  imbecility  and  effeminacy  which  are  naturally 
engendered  by  wealth  and  the  loss  of  patriotism,  which  the  op- 
pression of  the  government  had  superinduced,  broke  the  spirit  and 
rolled  back  the  tide  of  prosperity  of  the  nation.  Its  population 
had  already  declined  from  one  hundred  and  ninety  to  one  hundred 
and  forty  thousand,  and  its  wealth  and  national  spirit  had  sunk  in 
a  much  greater  proportion,  when  the  French  army  subjugated  a 
great  part  of  Italy,  and  almost  all  the  Venetian  states,  in  1796; 
and  finally,  on  the  12th  of  May,  1797,  the  legitimate  council  of 
the  nation  solemnly  sanctioned  the  dissolution  of  th©  government ; 
the  doge,  the  last  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  who,  in  succession, 
had  governed  Venice  for  one  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years,  abdicated  his  chair,  and  the  French  forces  entered  the  city. 
Since  that  time  its  fall  has  been  more  rapid.  It  became,  of 
course,  under  the  French,  a  component  part  of  the  Italian  Re- 
public, with  which  France  flattered  Italy  and  amused  herself; 
and,  subsequently,  when  Napoleon  assumed  the  supreme  power 
in  France,  and  erected  the  countries  east  of  the  Alps  into  the 
Kingdom  of  Italy,  Venice  still  formed  a  part  of  this  Bonapartean 
transalpine  realm,  of  which  Milan  was  the  capital,  and  Venice  only 
a  second-rate  city  ;  and  in  the  same  connexion  it  passed  over  to 
Austria,  in  the  new  distribution  of  Europe  made  by  the  allied 
powers  in  1814,  to  be,  not  a  second,  but  a  third-rate  city,  under  a 
government  which  is  fostering,  but  just  across  the  head  of  the 
Adriatic,  a  rival  city,  which  combines  the  advantages  of  nature 
with  the  patronage  of  a  powerful  empire  for  commercial  pur- 
poses. Trieste,  therefore,  must  increase,  and  Venice  must  de- 
crease. The  latter  has  already  fallen  down  to  a  little  more  than 
32  3B 


378  ITALY, 

ene  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  and  still  its  march  is  retrograde. 
The  winged  lion*  of  St.  Marc  still  crouches  upon  the  towers  and 
minarets  of  his  ancient  city,  but  he  no  longer  flies  upon  his  prey, 
nor  brings  home  the  spoils  of  the  mighty.  Yea,  he  cowers  in  his 
own  lair,  and  feebly  succumbs  to  the  triumph  of  his  rivals ;  and 
the  time  will  come,  perhaps,  when  the  two-headed  eagle\  of  Aus- 
tria will  pick  out  his  eyes,  and  cast  his  carcass  into  the  Adriatic. 
In  the  nature  of  things  it  will  be  long  before  the  accumulated 
wealth,  the  congregated  works  of  art,  and  the  historic  associations 
will  permit  Venice  to  be  swept  from  its  site,  and  the  waste  of 
waters  resume  their  former  dominion  over  the  lagunes  of  the 
Adriatic  Gulf ;  but  I  see  not  why  that  time  will  not,  must  not 
ultimately  come.  Whether  this  event  will  be  hastened  by  a 
physical  cause,  which  seems  to  threaten  the  city  at  some  future 
day,  will  depend  upon  circumstances  which  cannot  now  be  fully 
foreseen.  The  cause  I  allude  to  is  the  gradual  rise  of  the  level  of 
the  sea.  The  place  St.  Marc  was,  by  an  extraordinary  tide  in  1732, 
buried  under  the  water,  in  consequence  of  which  the  quay  has 
been  elevated  one  foot ;  and  I  noticed,  at  the  time  of  high  water,! 
that  the  sea  came  up  to  the  very  threshold  of  many  of  the  houses. 
These  were  not  built  so  near  the  surface,  but  the  water  has  grad- 
ually risen.  By  the  examinations  that  have  been  made  by  scien- 
tific men  in  Venice,  it  is  calculated  that  this  rise  is  about  three 
and  a  half  inches  in  a  century ;  some  calculations  make  it  even 
more  than  this.  According  to  this  calculation,  it  will  not  be  very 
long  before  the  lower  floors  of  many  of  the  houses  will  be  under 
the  water.  This,  if  the  city  was  prosperous,  might  only  lead  to 
an  elevation  of  the  floors,  and  a  remodelling  of  the  lower  stories 
of  the  buildings ;  but  with  the  little  inducements  which  are  now 
held  out  to  make  extra  exertions  to  save  a  sinking  city,  it  is  be- 
lieved that,  when  Neptune  comes  up  into  their  palaces  to  reclaim 
his  lost  dominions,  the  inhabitants,  weary  of  the  unequal  struggle^ 
will  abandon  their  dwellings,  as  they  abandoned  their  government 
at  the  approach  of  the  French,  take  to  their  gondolas,  and  flee  to 
the  shore. 

*  The  ensign  of  Venice  is  a  winged  lion, 
t  The  Austrian  ensign  is  a  two-headed  eagle. 

t  As  near  as  I  could  judge,  the  tide  varies  here",  between,  high  and  low  water,  mor* 
than  two  feet. 


INCONVENIENCES    OF   A   DILIGENCE.  379 

The  above  reflections,  together  with  the  interest  which  I  had 
felt  in  the  peculiarities  and  history  of  this  extraordinary  city,  caused 
me  to  leave  it  with  mingled  emotions  of  mournful  pleasure.  As  I 
retire,  her  image  dwells  with  me  still.  I  see  her  sitting  upon  the 
waters  like  a  dethroned  princess,  dignified  and  courtly  even  in  her 
decline.  I  see  her  turrets  rising  from  the  sea,  indicative  at  once 
of  her  former  wealth  and  skill  in  the  arts.  I  mark  her  labyrinthian 
canals,  and  see  the  shining  steel-beaked  gondolas,  and  the  oars- 
man bending  himself  upon  the  stern  with  all  the  lightness  and 
grace  of  a  Mercury.  The  vision  fades  in  the  distance,  and  finally 
sinks  in  the  wave.  Venice  !  farewell  for  ever.  I  shall  see  her 
no  more,  but  the  poetic  feeling  with  which,  as  before  remarked,  I 
have  been  accustomed  to  think  of  Venice,  has  not  been  destroyed, 
but  rather  increased,  by  the  sight  of  the  reality.  In  addition  to 
my  former  images  of  her,  I  shall  hereafter  associate  with  my  con- 
ceptions of  the  city  a  prospective  fate  like  that  which  has  actually 
befallen  Tyre,  the  Venice  of  ancient  times,  which,  from  being  the 
most  wealthy  of  the  nations  and  the  glory  of  the  world,  was  swept 
by  the  wave  of  desolation  that  rolled  over  it,  and  is  now  only 
known  as  the  place  where  the  fisherman  dries  his  net  and  the  sea- 
bird  whistles  in  the  wind. 

Left  Venice  on  the  evening  of  the  16th  May,  by  boat,  of  course, 
to  Mestre,  and  thence  by  diligence.  A  diligence  ride  is  always 
disagreeable,  inasmuch  as  they  prefer  the  night  to  the  day,  and 
are  sure  to  travel  by  night  even  if  they  lie  by  by  day.  This 
was  our  present  lot.  It  was  said  to  be  the  mercantile  line,  and 
so  it  seemed,  for  we  had  wares  and  merchandise  on  board ;  but, 
what  was  worse  than  all  else,  we  had  overhead  a  box  of  fresh 
fish,  which  was  conveyed  from  the  Adriatic  to  Milan,  put  down 
in  ice,  which  the  hot  sun  melted,  and  the  water,  after  it  soaked 
through  the  fish,  run  down  the  sides  of  the  coach,  and  occasionally 
into  it ;  against  this  annoyance  to  our  clothes  and  olfactories  we 
remonstrated  with  our  conducteur  to  no  purpose.  In  addition  to 
this,  he  delayed  some  five  or  six  hours  each  day  in  the  different 
towns  for  business,  &c.,  but  at  night  could  give  us  no  time  to  stop 
and  rest.  Our  route  was  through  Padua,  Vienna,  Verona,  and 
Brescia,  with  numerous  intermediate  towns  which  it  is  unnecessary 
to  mention,  twenty-four  posts  or  about  one  hundred  and  forty  miles. 
In  accomplishing  this  we  were  forty-eight  hours,  including  stops. 


360  ITALY. 

Padua  has  already  been  noticed.  Vicenza  is  the  same  with  the 
ancient  Vicentia.  It  is  pleasantly  situated,  and  contains  about 
thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  Polladio,  the  great  architect  who  de- 
signed so  many  of  the  public  buildings  in  Lombardy  and  the  Ve- 
netian states,  was  born  here,  and  has  left  in  his  native  city  some 
of  the  finest  specimens  of  his  genius. 

The  next  town  of  importance  was  Verona,  which  is  situated  on 
the  river  Adige,  formerly  called  the  Athesis,  in  the  midst  of  a  most 
delightful  arid  fruitful  valley.  It  was  an  ancient  town,  and  the 
birthplace  of  several  eminent  men,  among  whom,  of  the  ancients, 
were  Catullus,  the  Roman  poet,  and  Cornelius  Nepos,  the  biogra- 
pher, and  Vitruvius,  the  architect  of  the  Augustan  age  ;  of  the 
moderns,  Paul  Veronese,  the  painter,  was  born  here.  The  greater 
portion  of  English  readers  know  this  city  best  as  being  the  scene 
where  Shakspeare  has  laid  two  of  his  most  celebrated  plays,  viz., 
"  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,"  and  "  Romeo  and  Juliet."  The 
latter  story  is  a  matter  of  record  in  the  historic  remains  of  the 
beginning  of  the.  fourteenth  century,  and  the  tomb  of  Juliet,  as  it 
is  affirmed  to  be,  is  still  preserved.  We  went  to  visit  it,  a  short 
distance  beyond  the  walls  of  the  town.  It  was  certainly  as  well 
arranged  for  a  sarcophagus  of  a  living  person  as  one  of  that  di- 
mensions could  well  have  been.  There  was  at  one  end  an  eleva- 
tion, on  which  her  head  rested  ;  at  one  side  was  a  place  fixed  for  a 
lamp,  and  a  hole  perforated  in  the  side  near  the  bottom  for  the 
admission  of  fresh  air.  All  things  were  so  far  well  ordered  and 
arranged  to  effect  the  contemplated  object  of  conveying  her  away, 
under  the  influence  of  her  soporific  draught ;  but  the  despair  and 
precipitancy  of  poor  Romeo  broke  up  the  plot  and  destroyed  the 
unfortunate  lovers.  The  rage  for  relics  has  made  great  depreda- 
tions upon  the  sarcophagus,  for  it  has  been  broken  off  and  carried 
away  by  piecemeal,  until  it  was  put  under  a  custode,  and  further 
fractures  forbidden.  The  English,  our  guide  told  us,  had  done 
this ;  indeed,  they  seem  to  be  the  principal  authors  of  such  kinds 
of  sacrilege,  at  least  if  we  may  believe  the  Italians. 

We  visited  also  in  Verona  the  tombs  of  the  Scaligeri  family, 
a  noble  and  ancient  race,  whose  name  signifies  a  ladder,  and  that 
also  was  their  coat  of  arms,  as  seen  at  this  day  upon  their  tombs. 
This  implies,  I  suppose,  that  they  were  fond  of  ascending,  and  so 
it  would  seem  from  their  tombs,  which  are  very  high,  as  well  as 


BRESCIA THE    RH(ETIAN    ALPS.  381 

very  singular  and  magnificent :  they  are  of  the  fine  spiry  fretted 
Gothic  style. 

But  the  principal  object  of  interest  at  Verona  is  the  ancient 
amphitheatre,  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  the  most  perfect, 
probably,  now  in  existence,  and  a  very  interesting  relic  of  antiquity. 
It  is  even  now  used  for  theatrical  purposes,  as  there  was  a  play 
performing  there  while  we  were  examining  it. 

Some  twenty  miles  from  Verona  is  a  mountain  which  abounds 
with  petrified  fish.  The  stone  in  which  these  fish  are  imbed- 
ded is  very  soft,  and  the  entire  fish  is  preserved  in  great  per- 
fection. In  some  cases  the  mouth  is  distended  to  the  utmost  ex- 
tent of  the  muscles,  having  all  the  appearance  of  the  fish's  being 
overtaken  with  a  thick  muddy  liquid,  in  which  he  struggled  for 
existence  until  he  was  suffocated  by  the  increasing  solidification 
of  the  elements  around  him.  In  this  position,  with  contracted 
muscles  and  distended  jaws,  the  mass  around  him  hardened  into  a 
sarcophagus  more  perfect  and  more  preservative  than  that  of  an 
Egyptian  mummy,  giving  to  his  substance  and  form  a  perpetuity 
and  identity  as  enduring  as  time.  I  saw  many  of  these  specimens 
in  Verona,  and  purchased  Borne  for  the  mineralogical  cabinet  of 
the  University. 

Beyond  Verona,  and  before  we  came  to  Brescia,  or  Brexia,  as 
it  was  anciently  called,  we  passed  the  Lago  di  Garda,  a  beautiful 
lake  about  thirty  miles  by  twelve.  The  ancient  name  of  this  lake 
was  Benacus,  and  is  noticed  by  Virgil. 

Brescia  was  a  town  of  ancient  note,  and  within  the  last  fifteen 
years  some  splendid  Roman  edifices  and  works  of  art  have  been 
excavated  here  ;  but,  as  this  did  not  happen  to  be  one  of  our 
trading  towns,  our  mercantile  line  would  not  stop  for  us  to  visit 
them.  The  town  now  contains  about  forty  thousand  inhabitants. 

Our  entire  route  was  at  no  great  distance  from  the  base  of  the 
Rhcetian  Alps,  which  propped  the  clouds  with  their  snow-capped 
tops,  and  gave  additional  interest  to  the  plains  below.  These 
latter  were  covered  with  verdure,  and  were  in  a  high  state  of 
cultivation  ;  a  part  of  the  way,  especially  as  we  approached  Milan, 
these  plains  were  plenteously  and  beautifully  irrigated  by  canals 
and  water-courses  cut  in  every  direction.  These  water-courses 
were  studded  on  each  side  with  colonnades  of  trees ;  so  also  was 
every  road,  and  lane,  and  hedge  ;  all  in  addition  to  the  trees  which 


I 


382  ITALY. 

were  planted  in  regular  rows  for  the  vines,  and  in  addition,  also, 
to  the  mulberry-trees,  extensive  and  seemingly  endless  orchards 
of  which  are  planted  for  the  growth  of  the  silkworm,  for  silk  in 
this  country  is  a  leading  article  of  production.  This  abundant 
growth  of  trees  gives  this  country,  when  viewed  from  an  eminence, 
at  the  time  the  foliage  is  full,  the  appearance  of  an  extended  and 
an  unbroken  forest ;  and  yet,  as  you  pass  through  it,  you  find  all 
the  intervals  between  the  trees,  and  every  interstice  and  corner,  in 
a  fine  state  of  cultivation,  producing  wheat,  corn,  beans,  grapes, 
&c.,  in  great  abundance.  In  short,  a  richer  country  in  its  pro- 
ductions, or  one  more  thoroughly  cultivated,  can,  I  believe,  hardly 
be  found.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  any  soil  could  produce 
more.  This,  in  fact,  is  true  of  all  the  fertile  parts  of  Italy.  It 
seemed  to  me,  however,  that  the  labouring  part  of  the  community 
in  Lombardy,  and  especially  in  Austrian  Lombardy,  eat  and  drink 
and  enjoy  the  good  of  their  labour  more  than  in  any  other  part  of 
Italy.  The  peasantry  are  apparently  comfortable  and  happy; 
much  more  so,  in  fact,  than  I  was  prepared  to  find  them ;  and  it 
was  truly  a  matter  of  much  gratification,  after  seeing  so  long  the 
wretchedness  and  beggary  of  the  south,  to  get  into  a  country  where 
a  hand  was  rarely  held  out  for  charity,  and  where  all  appeared 
to  be  in  circumstances  of  comfort. 

We  had  two  coaches  in  company,  and,  at  the  request  of  our 
conducteur,  we  changed  from  one  to  the  other  during  the  latter 
part  of  the  journey.  In  this  we  found  a  very  vfell  dressed  gen- 
tleman and  lady,  who  appeared,  when  we  entered,  to  be  the  sole 
occupants  of  the  diligence,  and  seemed  not  a  little  chagrined  to 
have  company.  What  their  relation  to  each  other  was  I  could 
not  determine ;  but  they  seemed  too  much  engrossed  with  each 
other  to  be  pleased  with  the  society  of  others,  and  therefore,  at 
first,  manifested  anything  but  a  courteous  deportment.  Finding, 
Sowever,  that  he  gained  nothing  by  his  irritation,  the  gentleman, 
in  the  end,  became  very  complaisant.  I  mention  this  as  a  rare 
instance  of  impoliteness  among  the  Italians.  Wherever  we  met 
any  respectable-looking  Italians  we  were  almost  sure  to  meet 
with  courtesy.  In  this  respect  we  found  them  far  before  the 
French.  The  lower  classes,  too,  were,  in  general,  very  civil,  es- 
pecially when  they  expected  a  buono  mano,  which  they  always 
expected  if  they  did  you  the  least  service  or  answered  a  common 


CHARACTER    OF   THE    ITALIANS. 

inquiry.  And  this  is  common  to  all  Italy.  But  this  is  not  so  bad 
a  trait,  however  troublesome  it  is,  as  an  almost  universal  disposi- 
tion and  determination  to  cheat  you  if  they  can;  and  not  only  to 
cheat  you  themselves,  but  to  play  you  into  the  hands  of  others, 
that  they  also  may  have  a  slice.  If  you  hire  a  servant,  you  must 
calculate  that  he  will  cheat  you,  if  he  can,  in  every  case  where  he 
transacts  business  for  you,  or  introduces  others  to  you  for  that 
purpose  ;  and  if  he  is  not  able  to  make  anything  out  of  you  him- 
self, he  can  give  you  into  the  hands  of  others.  To  illustrate  this : 
Our  valet,  in  Venice,  took  us  to  see  the  arsenal.  At  the  gate  a 
soldier  was  sent  round  with  us ;  and  although  the  valet  and  the 
guard  knew  everything  we  wished  to  see,  still  they  must  give  us 
over  to  the  superintendent  of  each  room,  or  shop,  or  ship  that  we 
visited,  each  of  which  must  have  his  fee,  to  the  number,  perhaps, 
of  a  dozen  or  more  ;  and  then  the  guard  must  have  his  at  the  end 
of  the  tour ;  and,  in  addition,  the  porter  must  have  something  for 
letting  us  in  and  out ;  and,  last  of  all,  the  valet  must  be  paid  for 
his  day's  work.  In  this  way,  if  a  man  would  see  Italy,  his  hands 
must  be  in  his  pocket  continually  ;  and  his  little  expenses  of  this 
kind  will  often  amount  to  more  than  his  travelling  fare  and  board. 
A  foreigner  must  pay  comparatively  high  for  everything,  and  es- 
pecially if  he  talks  English.  The  English  have  ruined  the  for- 
eign market  for  all  that  use  their  language.  They  have  gone 
round  throwing  out  their  gold  and  silver  with  such  a  lavish  hand, 
calling  everything  cheap,  and  paying  such  exorbitant  prices,  that 
the  people  think  they  may  ask  almost  any  price,  and  may  expect 
to  receive  money  from  an  Englishman  if  they  answer  him  a  civil 
question.  I  have  sometimes  refrained  from  asking  a  question, 
which  would  only  require  a  breath  to  answer,  because  I  was 
aware  that  the  person  answering  would  contrive  to  make  a  fee 
out  of  it.  These  gratuities  of  a  few  biocs>  or  a  half  paul,  are 
not  large,  it  is  true  ;  but  when  one  has  to  be  throwing  out  contin- 
ually such  small  sums,  they  amount,  in  time,  to  a  large,  perhaps 
the  largest  portion  of  one's  expenses.  If  one  has  not  a  good  un- 
derstanding of  the  language,  he  is  more  entirely  at  the  mercy  of 
the  people,  who  know  very  well  how  to  turn  his  ignorance  to  good 
account.  Indeed,  whether  you  understand  the  language  or  not, 
you  must  expect  to  be  cheated ;  and  the  only  way  is  to  keep  as 
good  a  look-out  as  you  can  without  giving  too  much  attention  to 


384  ITALY. 

the  subject,  and  submit  to  unavoidable  impositions  with  as  good  a 
grace  as  you  may. 

The  reader  will  pardon  these  occasional  discursions  from  the 
main  thread  of  the  journal,  as  my  object  is  to  give,  as  far  as  I  may, 
the  traits  of  character  as  they  were  developed,  and  as  the  different 
subjects  occur  to  me. 

We  entered  Milan,  and  took  lodgings  at  the  Gran  Brittagna, 
and  found  ourselves  as  well  accommodated  as  the  infamous  prac- 
tice of  occupying  the  lower  part  of  public  houses  for  stables  would 
permit.  Our  rooms  were  very  comfortable,  except  that  the  fumes 
of  the  stables,  which  opened  under  us  into  the  same  street  with 
our  windows,  came  reeking  up,  in  offensive  effluvia,  much  to  our 
discomfiture.  We  find  the  annoyance  from  this  source  much 
greater  as  the  heat  of  the  season  increases.  However,  the  mount- 
ains are  near,  so  we  take  courage,  and  proceed  to  the  examination 
of  this  capital  of  Lombardy. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  history  of  Milan  is  replete  with  interest,  and  shows  the 
changes  to  which  the  important  cities  of  Europe  were  exposed 
under  the  feudal  lords,  when  the  fortune  of  arms  was  the  criterion 
of  justice,  and  might  constituted  right.  If  we  look  at  the  city  as 
it  now  is,  and  compare  it  with  what  it  was  before  the  French 
revolution,  we  must  believe  that  it  has  gained  much  in  the  time. 
It  is  true,  so  far  as  her  political  condition  is  concerned,  she  has 
passed  entirely  round  the  circle,  from  absolute  monarchy,  through 
republicanism,  &c.,  back  again  under  the  same  master.  But  in 
the  mean  time  she  has  waked  up  from  the  torpor  of  her  former 
condition,  and  received  an  impulse  that  the  leaden  absolutism  of 
Austria  itself  cannot  resist.  Of  Bonaparte,  absolute  despot  as  he 
was,  it  may  be  said,  "  Nihil  tetigit  quod  non  arnavit — he  touched 
nothing  which  he  did  not  adorn."  Look  at  France  politically? 
He  found  her  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  and  he  reduced  her  to  order. 
It  was  the  order  of  despotism,  I  grant ;  but,  nevertheless,  it  was 
infinitely  preferable  to  her  licentious  Jacobinism  Look  at  her 


CITY    OF    MILAN.  385 

physical  character  ?  He  connected  her  various  ports  with  roads, 
he  repaired  her  public  edifices,  he  improved  and  ornamented  her 
cities.  But  France  could  not  contain  him,  and  if  he  visited 
Italy  as  a  warrior,  so  also  he  visited  her  with  all  the  improvements 
with  which  he  was  renovating  France.  He  smoothed  the  Alps 
before  him  as  he  passed,  and  made  these  hitherto  difficult  barriers 
and  almost  perpendicular  heights  gently  inclined  plains,  over  which 
the  pleasure-carriage  may  roll  without  molestation,  or  fear.  He 
fixed  upon  Milan  as  the  capital  of  his  Transalpine  kingdom  ;*  and, 
to  say  nothing  now  of  what  he  did  for  other  cities,  you  cannot 
remain  in  Milan  without  beholding  the  touches  of  his  restoring  and 
creating  hand,  Her  Boulevards,  interior  and  exterior,  are  by  him ; 
her  public  gardens  were  by  him  planted  and  adorned ;  her  cathe- 
dral, that  had  lain  waste,  in  a  manner,  for  centuries,  was  by  his 
order  put  in  a  progress  of  completion  ;  her  canals  were  cleared 
and  multiplied.  Indeed,  it  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  French,  and 
to  Napoleon  in  a  great  degree,  that  Milan  is  what  it  is,  a  most 
lovely  and  interesting  city. 

But  to  be  more  particular.  Like  all  other  cities,  Milan  must 
be  described  by  its  parts.  Its  situation  is  most  delightful,  in  tha 
midst  of  the  most  fruitful  part  of  the  most  fertile  plains  of  Lom- 
bardy.  Its  form  is  very  compact  and  nearly  circular.  Its  former 
ramparts  have  been  formed  into  elevated  promenades  for  foot-pas- 
sengers and  carriages.  It  is  surrounded  by  two  most  beautiful 
courses,  one  exterior  and  the  other  interior,  which  are  adorned  with 
elegant  rows  of  trees  of  various  kinds,  but  all  rich  with  the  most 
umbrageous  foliage.  The  prevailing  growth  is  the  horse-chestnut, 
which,  at  the  time  we  were  there,  was  in  the  blossom.  To  him  who 
has  not  beheld  the  like,  it  is  difficult  to  communicate  a  just 
notion  of  the  beauty  of  these  shady  streets.  From  the  Porta  Ori- 
entate to  the  Porta  Romana  is  the  grand  corso,  and  here,  every 
evening,  the  fashionable  Italian  course  is  performed  by  all  the 
wealth  and  beauty  of  the  town.  This  amusement,  so  common  in 
Italy,  is  a  very  dull  one ;  but,  to  the  Italians,  this  and  the  opera 
seem  to  be  their  chief  amusement.  At  any  rate,  it  gives  them  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  their  acquaintances,  of  exhibiting  their  equi- 
page and  dress,  as  well  as  to  take  an  airing  in  a  pleasant  and 

*  Transalpine  to  France,  although,  with  an  affectation  of  classic  terms,  Napoleon 
called  it  Cisalpine. 

33  3C 


386  ITALY. 

healthful  exercise.  It  is  to  the  fashionable  world  what  the  ex- 
change is  to  the  merchant ;  and  they  assemble  as  regularly  at  six 
in  the  evening  to  perform  the  ceremonies  of  the  corso,  as  the  mer- 
chants assemble  at  the  prescribed  business-hour  on  change  to 'at- 
tend to  the  business  of  their  appropriate  calling.  In  the  northwest 
part  of  the  city  is  the  Forum,  so  called.  Here  is  the  amphitheatre 
built  by  Napoleon.  Here  is  the  Champ  de  Mars  for  the  review- 
ing of  the  troops ;  and  here,  also,  are  the  public  gardens,  answer- 
ing to  the  Champs-Elystes  of  Paris,  planted  with  trees,  &c- 
These  public  grounds  extend  from  the  upper  end  of  the  corso 
quite  round  to  the  triumphal  arch.  This  arch  was  commenced 
by  Napoleon,  and  is  now  nearly  completed  under  the  direction  of 
the  Austrian  government. 

It  was  commenced  in  1806,  on  occasion  of  the  nuptials  of  the 
Prince  Eugene  with  the  Princess  Amelie.  It  was  then  made  of 
wood  and  plaster,  and  the  design  was  so  generally  admired,  it 
was  determined  to  erect  one  of  marble,  and  place  it  at  the  gate 
of  the  Simplon,  where  the  magnificent  Alpine  road  entered  the  city 
— a  splendid  termination  of  a  splendid  route.  And  it  was  designed 
under  Napoleon,  to  be  a  monument  of  his  victories.  The  design 
however  is  changed,  and  it  is  now  denominated  Arc  de  la  Paix, 
a  monument  dedicated  to  peace.  It  is  not  yet  finished,  but  is  in 
rapid  progress  of  completion ;  nay,  it  may  be  said  the  arch  itself 
is  finished,  but  not  all  the  ornaments.  Instead  of  the  victories  of 
Bonaparte,  as  was  originally  designed,  there  are  representations 
of  the  Congress  of  Prague,  the  conference  of  the  three  allies, 
Austria,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  the  battles  of  Leipsic,  capitulation 
of  Dresden,  the  entry  of  the  Allies  into  Paris,  the  peace  of  Paris, 
the  Congress  of  Vienna,  &c., — besides  numerous  others,  some  of 
which  pertain  more  particularly  to  the  city  of  Milan,  and  the 
new  Lombard- Venetian  kingdom.  The  horses,  car,  &c.,  for  the 
top  of  the  arch  are  nearly  finished.  The  design  is  the  "Triumph 
of  Peace."  The  goddess,  crowned  with  laurel  and  with  a  branch 
of  olive  in  her  hand,  is  to  be  drawn  in  her  triumphal  chariot 
by  six  horses.  The  figures  are  of  gigantic  size,  and  are  cast  of 
bronze.  The  arch  resembles  that  of  Constantine,  although  not 
a  copy  of  that,  or  any  other,  and  will  be,  when  completed,  say 
the  Milanese,  superior  to  any  other  ancient  or  modern  ;  and  they 
further  boast,  that,  when  this  is  finished,  their  city  will  have  two 


MILAN.  387 

of  the  most  splendid  monuments  in  the  world — this  and  the 
Cathedral.  The  arch  was  designed  by  the  Chevalier  and  Mar- 
quis Louis  Cagnola. 

May  we  not  hope  that  this  change  in  the  design  of  this  monu- 
ment, is  ominous  of  a  change  to  a  considerable  extent,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  civilized  world.  When  shall  all  our  triumphal 
arches  be  dedicated  to  peace  ?  When  will  kings  and  princes 
seek  their  renown  in  promoting  peace  rather  than  war  ?  When 
they  learn  that  war  is  madness  and  its  spirit  diabolical ;  but  that 
peace  is  divine  and  its  spirit  heavenly. 

The  other  public  monument  that  is  deservedly  the  glory  of  the 
Milanese,  is  their  Cathedral.  This  edifice  is,  taking  it  all  in  all, 
unlike  any  thing  else  I  have  ever  seen.  It  is  purely  Gothic — 
spiry,  open,  towering.  In  the  language  of  another,  "  it  surprises, 
astonishes,  ravishes."  It  was  commenced  in  1386  or  '7.  For 
two  centuries  the  work  went  on  slowly ;  but  when  Charles 
Borromeo  was  placed  on  the  archi-episcopal  throne  of  Milan,  the 
work  was  hastened,  under  the  architect  Pellegrini,  who  undertook 
to  incorporate  the  Grecian  order  with  the  Gothic ;  and  in  this 
way  he  constructed  the  front  of  the  edifice.  Subsequently,  how- 
ever, the  discordance  appearing  so  glaring,  this  front  was  all 
removed,  except  the  doors  and  some  of  the  windows.  These 
were  spared  for  their  great  beauty,  and  the  great  labour  bestowed 
upon  them.  The  edifice,  however,  was  far  from  being  finished, 
when  the  French  took  possession  of  Milan;  and  in  1805,  five 
millions  of  livres  were  appropriated  by  the  French  government, 
to  finish  the  edifice.  The  work  went  on  rapidly  ;  but  in  1814, 
the  revolution  in  favour  of  Austria  found  it  still  incomplete — it  is 
however,  in  progress. 

From  every  point  of  view  this  edifice  is  remarkable,  but  you 
are  the  most  impressed  with  the  view  upon  the  top.  Here  are  a 
multitude  of  corridors,  platforms,  parapets,  flying  buttresses,  and 
a  forest  of  spires — it  is,  you  may  say,  an  architectural  porcupine, 
shooting  out  its  needles  of  less  or  greater  length  all  over  its 
ample  roof.  These  needles  are  covered  with  ornaments  and 
statues.  It  is  said  the  number  of  spires,  when  complete,  will  be 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five.  There  are  now  about  one  hundred 
The  entire  number  of  statues,  in  and  on  the  edifice,  is  now  two 
thousand  and  twenty,  and  when  all  are  finished,  according  to  the 


388  ITALY. 

design,  they  will  amount  to  three  thousand  five  hundred.  Besides 
these,  each  square  of  some  of  the  immense  Gothic  windows,  has 
a  descriptive  painting  of  some  scripture  event.  These  windows 
are  beautifully  painted,  and  many  of  the  pictorial  representations 
are  very  fine. 

The  form  of  the  church  is  a  Latin  cross,  the  principal  nave 
being  four  hundred  and  forty-nine  Paris  feet  in  length,  and  the 
transverse  nave  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet.  The  interior 
is  rather  gloomy,  and  not  finished  nor  furnished  in  good  taste. 
The  pillars,  however,  are  magnificent,  octagonal  in  form,  and 
fifty-two  in  number;  and  in  the  portal  aore  two  splendid  red 
granite  columns,  all  of  one  piece,,  and  vie  with  the  ancient 
columns  of  red  oriental  granite,  found  in  Rome.  They  are  of 
the  granite  of  the  country,  and  each  pillar,  it  is  said,,  cost  fifty- 
six  thousand  livres,  independently  of  the  transportation. 

The  subterranean  chapel  is  very  rich  in  massy  silver  relics  of 
St.  Charles  and  others ;  and  in  the  sacristy,  they  show  you  the 
gold  crosier  of  this  saint,  and  his  mitre,  set  with  jewels,  and 
various  other  most  extravagant  and  costly  ecclesiastical  toys. 
They  seem  in  a  fair  way  to  be  knocked  to  pieces,  however,  by  the 
rough  handling  of  the  Sacristans,  but  not  until  their  value  has 
been  extorted  from  strangers,  who  have  the  curiosity  to  look  at 
them,  if  the  sacristans  charge  all  as  they  did  us.  They  thought 
two  dollars  was  the  least  we  could  give,  for  detaining  them  at 
their  own  importunity  one  half  hour.  However,  we  had  not 
spent  five  or  six  months  in  Italy,  without  learning  that  these 
show-men),  if  they  cannot  get  what  they  ask,  will  take  up  with  what 
they  can  get.  One  needs  to  have  a  general  idea  of  what  would  be  a 
reasonable  tariff,  in  these  cases,  and  then  be  governed,  not  so  much 
by  what  is  demanded,  as  by  what  he  judges  fit  and  reasonable. 

We  happened  to  be  at  Milan  on  the  feast  of  the  Pentecost ; 
and  on  that  occasion  attended  worship  at  the  Cathedrak*  Besides 
the  other  services  which  were  peculiar  to  the  occasion,  a  bishop 
preached. t  His  subject  was  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 

*  We  at  first  thought  ourselves  peculiarly  fortunate  to  have  fallen  in  with  so  many 
leading  feasts  of  the  Roman  Church ;  but  on  reflection,  it  is  rather  to  be  considered 
more  singular  to  escape,  than  to  meet  with  them,  they  are  so  numerous. 

•t  Preaching  among  the  Catholics  is  comparatively  rare.  The  mummery  of  the 
mass,  and  other  ceremonies  and  tedious  prescribed  forms  and  offices,  take  the  place> 
in  a  great  measure,  of  religious  instruction. 


I 


MILAN".  389 

the  offices  of  the  Spirit ;  and  the  perpetuity  of  these  offices  in 
the  church.  In  the  main,  the  doctrine  was  good  ;  but  the  miracle- 
working  power,  which,  of  course,  the  Catholics  claim  to  be  con- 
tinued in  the  church,  because  it  was  originally  included  in  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  a  claim  that  we  had  before  heard 
much  of,  but  had  seen  nothing  to  confirm  it ;  and  were,  conse- 
quently, unbelieving  still — notwithstanding  the  reasoning  of  the 
bishop.  It  is,  however,  the  firm  opinion  of  the  Catholics,  and  is 
constantly  taught  by  them  to  the  people,  that  the  power  of  work- 
ing miracles  is  still  possessed  by  them. 

The  Milanese  church,  though  Catholic,  has  some  things  pecu- 
liar. Its  early  bishops,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  sketches  of 
history,  were  slow  to  submit  to  the  assumptions  of  power  by  the 
Roman  bishops,  and  never  yielded  many  of  their  peculiarities.* 
They  have  many  rites  of  their  own,  and  some  difference  as  to 
the  time  of  commencing  Lent,  &c.,  of  trifling  importance  how- 
ever, although  connected  with  questions  that  formerly  shook  the 
church  to  its  centre.  They  practice  baptism  by  immersion. 
The  church  is  called  Ambrosian,  after  St.  Ambrose,  who  was 
made  Bishop  of  Milan  in  374,  and  then,  by  virtue  of  his  own 
independent  episcopal  authority,  introduced  what  is  called  the 
Ambrosian  Liturgy.  A  plain  proof  this,  that  at  that  time,  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  possessed  no  such  supreme  power,  as  was  after- 
ward claimed  by  him. 

The  Ambrosian  Church,  however,  is  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as 
intolerant  as  Rome  herself.  There  are  a  number  of  Protestants 
residing  in  Milan,  but  they  have  no  place  of  worship,  no  church  : 
and  it  is  said,  that  the  Milanese  Church  will  not  consent  to  such 
toleration ;  although  in  some  of  the  provincial  towns  of  the 
duchy  there  are  Protestant  churches. 

Milan  is  divided  into  twenty-four  parishes,  and  contains  not  far 
from  two  hundred  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  churches,  chapels  and 
oratories,  of  all  descriptions  ;  although  the  population  itself,  in- 
cluding the  faubourgs,  amounts  to  only  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  It  is  a. great  relief,  however,  to  this 
city — as  indeed  it  is  to  all  Lombardy  and  the  Venetian  states — 
that  the  monastic  orders  are  suppressed.  It  frees  the  community 

*  In  the  eleventh  century,  a  civil  war  was  excited,  because  the  Milanese  Church 
would  not  submit  to  the  law,  requiring  the  celibacy  of  the  priests, 
33 


390  ITALY. 

from  an  intolerable  burden,  and  prepares  the  way  for  other 
reforms  in  church  and  state.  By  getting  rid  of  the  church  mendi- 
cants, the  way  has  been  opened  to  get  rid  of  other  public  beggars 
and  idle  vagrants.  These  are  removed  from  the  streets,  and  put 
into  work-houses,  and  such  as  are  able,  are  made  to  labour  for 
their  support ;  so  that  a  considerable  portion  of  their  expense  is 
saved  to  the  public.  Indeed,  it  was  a  relief  to  witness  the  thrift 
and  apparent  prosperity  of  the  city,  compared  with  southern  Italy. 
There  was  the  hum  of  industry — a  general  attention  to  business — 
little  lounging  in  the  streets  and  public  places.  The  people  ap- 
peared comfortably  clad,  and  comparatively  happy.  The  city 
was  cleanly  ;  the  streets  well  paved  and  well  built.  There  was 
this  peculiarity  in  the  paving,  that  on  each  side,  where  the  wheels 
of  the  carriages  come,  were  rows  of  broad  granite  flagging ;  so 
that  the  carriages  rolled  almost  as  freely  and  smoothly  as  on  a 
railroad. 

One  cause,  undoubtedly,  which  has  raised  Milan  so  much 
above  her  southern  neighbours  is,  the  extensive  system  of  educa- 
tion maintained  here.  There  are  two  lyceums,  several  gymnasia, 
and  a  general  plan  of  elementary  schools ;  all  maintained  by  the 
government,  and  open  to  the  public.  Although  Austria  is  behind 
her  sister-kingdom  to  the  north,  in  her  plans  of  education,  yet 
she  is  greatly  in  advance  of  the  countries  south  of  the  Appenines. 
The  advancement  of  Milan,  however,  is  undoubtedly,  in  a  great 
measure,  owing  to  the  French,  who  had  done  much  to  establish 
these  institutions  of  learning :  and  being  established  and  coun- 
tenanced by  public  opinion,  they  were  continued  under  the  present 
government. 

The  press  is  also  freer  here  than  at  the  south.  Periodicals 
circulate  more  freely,  and  everything  is  conducted  on  a  more 
liberal  scale.  It  should  be  recollected,  however,  that  in  all  this 
I  speak  comparatively.  The  present  government  is  certainly 
arbitrary  and  absolute  :  but  it  is  the  spirit  of  the  people  that 
modifies  government.  The  public  mind  becomes  a  constitution, 
more  powerful  than  parchment.  And  although  Francis  I.  refused 
the  Milanese  a  constitution,  when  they  earnestly  requested  it — a 
constitution  that  had  been  promised  them,  and  which,  therefore, 
they  could  claim  as  their  right — yet  neither  he  nor  his  successor 
has  dared  to  press  public  opinion  beyond  certain  bounds ;  because 


MILAN.  391 

they  knew  it  would  not  be  endured.  The  present  king  and  emperor 
has,  so  far,  shown  his  wisdom,  in  mitigating  the  rigours  of  his 
father's  government.  Many  that  were  confined  for  opinions'  sake, 
or  perhaps  a  little  too  much  freedom  in  expressing  their  opinions, 
by  Francis  L,  have  been  set  at  liberty,  and  permitted  to  leave  the 
country.  A  more  general  spirit  of  satisfaction  with  the  govern- 
ment is  manifested  :  and  there  is  hope,  that  the  march  of  public 
opinion  is  such,  as  to  preclude  the  power  of  any  absolute  will  to 
control  it. 

The  manufactures  and  commerce  of  the  Milanese  are  consider- 
able. The  principal  article  of  manufacture  and  trade  is  silk.  It 
is  said,  in  this  single  article,  the  trade  of  the  city  amounts  to  four 
millions  of  dollars  annually.  On  naming  to  one,  who  was  engaged 
in  this  trade,  that  we  were  commencing  in  the  growth  and  manu- 
facture of  silk  in  our  country,  and  should  perhaps  ere  long  be  able 
to  supply  our  own  market :  he  replied,  there  was  no  danger  of 
that ;  we  could  not  give  the  perfection  and  finish  which  they 
could  give  to  the  fabric.  The  greater  difficulty,  however,  will 
be,  probably,  the  impossibility  of  competing  with  them,  on  ac- 
count of  the  cheapness  of  labour  in  Italy.  Our  country  has  such 
vast  resources,  and  such  a  market  for  industry  of  every  kind,  that 
it  will  be  a  long  while  before  our  poor  labouring  class  will  be 
obliged  to  toil  for  a  mere  meager  livelihood.  So  let  it  be.  Better 
that  Italy  should  make  our  silks,  than  that  we  should  be  able,  by 
pressing  the  operative  down  to  a  bare  miserable  existence,  to 
compete  with  foreign  manufactures. 

The  trade  of  Milan  is  greatly  helped  by  its  canals.  These 
surround  the  city  and  extend  off  in  connexion  with  the  rivers,  so 
as  to  give  a  water  communication  with  the  Adriatic.  Milan 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  to  engage  in  the  construction 
of  canals.  So  early  as  1179,  the  citizens  of  Milan  excavated  the 
canal  called  Naviglio,  which  extends  from  the  Ticino  to  Abbia- 
tigrasso.  In  1220,  they,  in  conjunction  with  the  citizens  of  Lodi, 
cut  another  from  Cassano  into  Castiglione.  This  is  called 
Muzza.  To  these,  others  were  subsequently  added.  These  ca- 
nals, crossing  this  level  country  in  different  directions,  make  it 
easy  to  lay  almost  the  whole  under  water,  and  in  this  way  exten- 
sive fields  of  rice  are  cultivated,  which  makes  the  surrounding 
country  to  some  extent  insalubrious.  In  addition  to  the  exhala- 


392  ITALY. 

tions  from  these  waters,  the  atmosphere  itself  is  damp,  and  the 
country  is  subject  to  great  falls  of  rain.  The  average  quantity 
in  one  year  is  thirty-five  French  inches,  or  a  little  over  thirty- 
nine  English  inches.* 

Milan  abounds  with  palaces  public  and  private,  some  of  which 
we  visited,  but  will  not  weary  the  reader  with  a  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  them.  The  palace  of  Brera,  however,  should  be  noticed, 
because  it  is,  in  fact,  the  sanctuary  of  literature,  science,  and  art. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  edifice  itself,  which  merits  notice,  here  is 
the  gallery  of  paintings,  containing  some  very  fine  pictures — 
among  others,  that  celebrated  painting  of  Raphael — the  marriage 
of  the  Virgin.  It  is  one  of  his  earliest  works,  and  is  doubtless 
more  admired,  because  it  indicates  at  what  an  early  age  this 
original  and  unparalleled  genius  burst  away  from  the  dry  and 
steril  style  of  his  master,  Peter  Perugino,  and,  in  fact,  from  that 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and,  opening  up  a  new  era  in  the 
art,  gave  to  painting  a  sublime  elevation  and  scope  that  had  never 
before  been  conceived  of.  There  are  a  great  number  of  paintings, 
mostly  of  the  Lombard  school. 

In  this  palace,  also,  is  a  fine  collection  of  medals,  schools  of 
engraving,  of  anatomy,  as  connected  with  drawing,  of  architecture 
and  perspective,  of  design  in  relief,  &c.,  &c. 

Here,  also,  is  an  observatory  well  furnished  with  instruments. 
Connected,  also,  with  this,  is  a  library  open  to  the  public,  rich  in 
scientific  and  classical  works'  and  constantly  increasing.  Here 
is,  also,  one  of  the  municipal  Lyceums,  and,  connected  with  the 
edifice,  is  a  botanical  garden. 

In  addition  to  the  library  just  mentioned,  Milan  has  the  Ambro- 
sian  library,  so  called,  founded  by  the  Cardinal  Frederic  Borro- 
meo  in  1607,  containing  thirty-five  or  forty  thousand  volumes, 
beside  some  fourteen  or  fifteen  thousand  manuscripts.  Here  is 
a  Virgil  with  Petrarch's  manuscript  notes ;  and  here,  also,  we 
were  shown  copies  of  Pliny,  Plato,  and  Cicero,  of  the  second 
century. 

In  the  suppressed  convent  of  St.  Maria  delta  Grazie,  is  still 
shown  in  the  Refectory  that  unrivalled  fresco  painting  of  the  last 
supper,  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  I  say  unrivalled,  for,  although  it 

*  In  Paris,  the  mean  quantity  of  rain  annually  is  twenty  and  a  half  inches. 


ST.   AMBROSE.  393 

is  greatly  injured  by  time  and  violence,  it  retains  enough  of  its 
original  sublimity  and  beauty  to  charm  and  chain  the  spectator. 
It  was  with  difficulty  I  could  leave  it.  How  much  is  it  to  be  re- 
gretted that  this  painting  should  be  so  abused.  The  room  is 
damp,  which  has  contributed  doubtless  to  the  fading  of  the  col- 
ours ;  but  it  has  suffered  more  from  violence.  A  door  has  been 
cut  through  the  wall  at  the  lower  part  of  the  picture,  and  the  wall 
has  been  otherwise  fractured  and  marred.  The  French  soldiery 
were  lodged  here  at  one  time,  and  they  helped  on  the  vandal 
work  of  destruction.  This  picture  has  been  frequently  copied, 
but  none  have  caught  the  spirit  of  the  original.  The  engraving 
of  it,  by  the  celebrated  Morghen,  is  very  fine.  It  is  from  this 
celebrated  engraving  that  the  numerous  ordinary  copies  are  ta-ken 
which  are  so  common  in  the  United  States. 

Although  I  cannot  stop  to  describe  the  churches,  yet  I  must 
not  neglect  to  mention  the  church  of  St.  Ambrose,  where  the 
saint  himself  was  buried,  and  where  are  many  interesting  monu- 
ments of  antiquity.  But  especially  is  it  interesting  from  its  being 
the  place  where  the  Lombard  kings  used  to  receive  the  iron 
crown  ;  and  it  was  here  that  Napoleon  received  it  at  the  hand  of 
the  Cardinal  Caprara,  on  the  26th  of  May,  1805.  As  if  to  show 
his  own  independence,  he  took  the  crown  from  the  hand  of  the 
cardinal,  after  it  had  been  blessed,  and  put  it  upon  his  own  head, 
exclaiming,  with  more  of  ostentation  than  became  him,  "  God 
has  given  it  to  me;  wo  to  him  who  touches  it"  It  has  been 
well  remarked,  that  "  the  greatness  there  is  in  humility  Napoleon 
had  never  learned."  If  he  had  put  on  his  crown  under  the  salu- 
tary lesson  of  the  wise  man,  "  Let  not  him  that  putteth  on  the 
harness  boast  as  he  that  layeth  it  off,"  he  might  have  worn  it 
longer.  In  nine  short  years  the  iron  crown*  fell  from  his  head. 
In  390,  Saint  Ambrose  repulsed  the  Emperor  Theodosius  the 
Great  from  this  same  church,  and  closed  the  doors  against  him 
because  he  had  caused  seven  thousand  of  the  citizens  of  Thessa- 
lonica  to  be  murdered;  but  in  1805,  and  that  too  on  the  Lord's 
day,  Bishop  Caprara  crowned  in  this  church  the  Emperor  Napo- 
leon, reeking,  as  he  was,  from  the  blood  of  thousands  whom  his 

*  This  was  the  crown  with  which  the  ancient  kings  of  the  Lombard  dynasty  used 
to  be  crowned.  It  was  called  the  iron  crown,  from  a  small  ring  of  iron,  said  to  be 
made  of  a  nail  of  the  true  cross,  placed  upon  the  interior  of  a  circlet  of  gold. 

3D 


394  ITALY. 

ambition  had  been  the  occasion  of  slaughtering.    Which  have 
changed,  emperors  or  bishops  ? 

Among  other  great  and  good  men  in  the  history  of  Milan,  St. 
Carlo  Borromeo  stands  first.  He  was  born  in  the  year  1538, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-two  was  made  Cardinal  and  Archbishop 
of  Milan.  He  is  represented  as  an  example  of  meekness 
piety,  and  benevolence.  He  set  himself  to  reform  the  abuses  of 
the  clergy  and  of  the  monastic  orders,  for  which  he  incurred 
their  displeasure ;  and  a  monk  of  the  order  of  the  Humilies  fired 
a  gun  at  him,  while  at  prayer,  for  the  purpose  of  assassinating 
him,  but  it  did  not  take  effect.  He  formed  the  institution  of  the 
Brera  already  described — established  institutions  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  profligate  females — patronised  learning  and  the  arts — ex- 
posed his  own  life  to  aid  his  fellow-citizens  in  time  of  the  plague — 
wrote  five  folio  volumes  on  moral  and  religious  subjects — and 
died  at  the  age  of  forty-six ;  but  he  lives  in  the  affection  of  pos- 
terity. His  family  still  exist  in  Milan,  and  they  own  a  splendid 
estate  round  Lake  Maggiore.  On  the  islands  of  that  lake  they 
have  splendid  palaces  ;  and  up  a  little  from  the  lake,  overlooking 
Arona,  his  native  town,  stands  a  bronze  statue  of  St.  Charles  one 
hundred  and  twelve  feet  in  height. 

We  left  Milan  for  Lake  Como,  on  Monday,  the  23d  of  May, 
after  having  taken  our  passage  en  voiturier  for  Geneva,  which 
was  to  meet  us  and  take  us  in  at  Bavena,  on  Lake  Maggiore.  We 
passed  through  a  beautiful  country ;  and  towards  the  close  of  the 
route,  as  we  approached  the  lake,  the  scene  became  more  pic- 
turesque and  romantic.  The  town  of  Como,  which  we  reached 
in  the  afternoon,  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  south  end  of  the 
]ake  of  the  same  name.  We  found  it  much  more  thrifty  and 
flourishing  than  was  anticipated.  After  dining  upon  the  beautiful 
trout  of  the  lake,  which  reminded  me  of  the  north  of  Vermont, 
and  the  days  of  my  boyhood,  we  took  a  boat  and  made  an  excur- 
sion up  the  lake  as  far  as  the  Villa  d'Este,  the  former  palace  of 
Queen  Caroline  of  England.  This  was  built  by  her ;  and  here 
she  lived  a  number  of  years  in  comparative  retirement :  and  it 
was  this  part  of  her  history,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
charge  against  her,  before  the  House  of  Peers  in  England,  of  infi- 
delity to  her  most  continent  royal  consort,  George  the  Fourth. 
Of  her  guilt  or  innocence,  it  is  certainly  not  for  me  to  judge  :  she 


LAKE    COMO.  395 

has  had  the  fiery  ordeal  of  public  opinion  to  pass  ;  which,  I  be- 
lieve, has  not  resulted,  in  all  respects,  so  favourably  as  might  be 
desired.  But  in  these  matters,  public  opinion  seldom  errs  on  the 
score  of  charity.  She  also  passed  the  ordeal  of  an  official  trial 
in  England  ;  and,  last  of  all,  she  has  gone  to  the  Great  Judge  of 
the  universe,  who  cannot  err.  These  reflections,  growing  out  of 
this  unfortunate,  if  not  criminal,  queen's  history,  cast  a  gloom  over 
the  mind  as  we  passed  through  what  were  once  the  grounds  of 
royalty.  And  well  did  these  grounds  become  her.  They  were 
retired  and  rural,  and  washed  by  the  classic  waters  of  the  lake. 
The  only  carriage-road  to  her  palace  was  one  which  she  had 
caused  to  be  constructed,  at  a  great  expense.  The  palace  was 
directly  under  a  mountain,  whose  magnificent  terraces  and  pic- 
turesque cascades  greatly  enhance  the  interest  of  the  site.  I 
could  well  imagine  that  a  queen  might,  without  criminal  asso- 
ciates, prefer  this  residence  to  the  heartless  pageantry  of  a  court ; 
and  especially  when  her  husband,  at  the  head  of  that  court,  was 
the  licentious  George  the  Fourth.  She  had  gardens  and  rivulets, 
shrubbery  and  flowers — rustic  bridges,  artificial  and  natural  cas 
cades — statuary,  grottoes,  and  labyrinths  ;  all  tastefully  arranged 
in  rural  beauty.  But  the  grounds  are  not  well  kept ;  and  this, 
with  the  moaning  of  the  evening  breeze,  gave  double  force  to  the 
mournful  historic  associations  of  the  past.  The  next  day  we 
went  on  board  the  steamboat,  which  runs  every  day  to  the  north 
end  of  the  lake,  and  back  to  Como  ;  starting  at  eight,  A.  M.,  and 
returning  at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening.  This  is  a  fine  excursion. 
You  see  all  the  shores  and  villas  of  the  lake,  which  at  its  widest 
part,  does  not  exceed  two  or  three  miles.  The  mountains  are 
high,  and  where  perpendicular  rocks  did  not  prevent,  were  stud- 
ded with  cottages  to  their  very  tops  ;  hanging  above  you,  appa- 
rently midway  between  heaven  and  earth,  and  accessible  only  on 
foot,  by  tedious  and  tortuous  paths,  up  the  sides  of  the  mountains. 
Immediately  on  the  shores,  are  a  great  number  of  villages  and 
country  seats ;  many  of  which  are  only  accessible  by  water. 
Among  these  is  one,  supposed  to  occupy  the  site  of  a  villa  of 
the  younger  Pliny,  who  was  a  native  of  Como,  and  who  had  a 
villa  on  this  lake,  called  his  Tragedy — the  site  of  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  identified  by  his  description  of  it,  still  extant ; 
and  especially  by  an  intermitting  fountain,  mentioned  by  him, 


396  ITALY, 

which  still  exists.  This  modern  edifice  is  called  Villa  Pliniana 
Here  also  are  a  number  of  English  villas,  and  villas  of  the  Italian 
nobility ;  some  of  them  in  fine  taste.  The  most  beautiful  part 
of  the  lake,  which  is  forty  miles  long,  is  about  in  the  centre,  or 
twenty  miles  from  Como.  Here  the  shores  assume  a  more  in- 
teresting form,  and  are  decorated  with  a  greater  number  of  villas, 
and  some  fine  looking  hotels ;  and  here  also  lake  Lecca  branches 
off,  shooting  down  into  the  mountains,  some  fifteen  miles,  in  a 
southeastern  direction,  and  finally  terminating  in  the  river  Adda, 
which  forms  the  outlet  of  this  chain  of  waters.  On  the  eastern 
shore,  at  this  point,  the  great  Splugen  route  across  the  Alps 
strikes  the  lake,  and  tracing  along  the  shore,  sometimes  hiding 
itself  within  the  crust  of  the  mountain,  and  sometimes  finding 
sufficient  room  for  its  course  without,  passes  on,  to  wind  its  way 
over  those  barriers  of  Nature,  forming  another  link  between  Italy 
and  central  Europe.  The  natural  scenery  of  this  lake  is  much 
like  the  pass  of  the  Highlands,  up  the  Hudson  river. 

The  next  day  we  took  a  carriage,  and  crossed  the  country  to 
lake  Maggiore ;  struck  the  lake  at  Lovena,  and  took  boat  for 
Bavena — visiting  the  Barromean  Islands  on  our  way.  This  lake — 
although  a  handsome  sheet  of  water,  and  abounding  with  numer- 
ous villages  on  its  shores,  and  white  cottages  on  its  mountain 
sides — does  not  begin  to  compare,  in  my  opinion,  with  lake  Como. 

The  greatest  interest  is  in  the  Borromean  Islands.  These  are 
ornamented  with  a  great  variety  of  trees,  shrubbery,  and  flowers ; 
have  fine  palaces,  especially  Isola  Bella.  The  palace  on  this 
island  has  a  suite  of  subterranean  apartments,  fitted  up  like  ma- 
rine grottoes,  tastefully  encrusted  with  shells,  rock-work,  and 
stalactites.  It  must  be  a  most  delicious  retreat  in  the  heat  of 
summer.  There  is  also  a  suite  of  state  apartments,  to  which  we 
were  introduced,  and  in  which  was  a  number  of  paintings,  by 
Tempesta.  The  garden  is  on  an  elevated  part  of  the  island, 
which  is,  at  best,  only  large  enough  for  the  palace,  and  a  moder- 
ate-sized garden,  and  rises  up  in  eight  successive  terraces,  and  is 
crowned  with  fountains  and  statuary,  and  redolent  with  the  fra- 
grance of  plants  and  flowers.  It  cannot  be  described ;  but  the 
accompanying  plate  will  give  its  general  features. 

At  Bavena  we  found  a  comfortable  hotel,  and,  what  was  to  us 
a  great  luxury,  a  luxury  that  we  had  not  enjoyed  for  the  last  five 


BAVENA.  397 

months,  a  wood  floor.  Simple  as  it  may  seem,  it  gave  us  more 
of  a  home-feeling  than  anything  we  had  met  with  for  a  long  time. 
The  trout  of  the  lake  furnished  our  table,  which  was  another 
association  of  early  childhood ;  and,  last  of  all,  the  Alps  were 
before  us,  which,  when  passed,  would  introduce  us  to  our  side  of 
the  world.  All  these  awakened  feelings,  of  which  he,  who  has 
never  been  in  exile  far  from  home  and  from  the  language,  re- 
ligion, and  institutions  of  home,  can  form  no  conception. 

The  next  morning  we  prepared  ourselves  to  take  our  final 
farewell  of  Italy.  We  were,  in  all  probability,  to  see  her  sunny 
plains  and  glassy  lakes,  her  marble  mountains  and  classic  vales, 
her  ancient  cities,  her  enduring  monuments  of  the  arts,  her  tem- 
ples, and  her  towers  no  more.  Here  we  had  enjoyed  much  and 
endured  much ;  and,  if  we  had  not  been  much  profited,  it  must 
have  been  our  own  fault. 

What  is  to  be  the  future  state  of  this  country  ?  I  have  not  the 
spirit  of  prophecy  and,  therefore,  cannot  say.  I  infer,  however, 
from  the  history  of  the  past  and  from  the  signs  of  the  times,  that 
it  will  be  better — it  will,  on  the  great  whole,  continue  to  improve. 
Its  great  hinderance  is  its  religion  ;  but  even  this  must  yield  to  a 
better  state  of  things  in  due  time.  Whether  the  Catholic  church 
is  to  maintain  its  peculiar  character  until  its  final  overthrow,  and 
until  it  is  wholly  supplanted  by  some  other,  or  whether  it  is  ulti- 
mately to  become  modified  and  reformed,  I  cannot  say.  Re- 
formed and  maintain  its  identity,  it  cannot ;  but  it  may  be  reno- 
vated and  still  retain  its  organization  to  some  extent.  Whether 
it  will  do  this,  remains  to  be  seen.  The  light  that  is  now  shining 
upon  central  Europe,  and  gradually  working  its  way  southward, 
will,  must  change  the  public  opinion  on  this  subject.  The  Prot- 
estant missionary  will  ere  long  be  permitted  to  visit  Italy — the 
press  must  be  unshackled — constitutional  governments  must  be 
formed.  What  convulsions  may  take  place  before  these  things 
are  matters  of  history,  we  cannot  now  predict ;  but  intellectual 
emancipation  has  now  so  wide  an  empire  and  so  strong  an  army, 
that  universal  triumph  seems  certain.  The  contest  may  be  long 
and,  in  particular  places,  bigotry  and  ignorance,  and  temporal 
and  spiritual  domination  may  for  a  while  prevail,  but,  like  the 
contest  between  the  house  of  David  and  of  Saul,  the  one  must 
grow  weaker  and  weaker,  and  the  other  stronger  and  stronger. 
34 


398  ITALV. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

To  Professor  A.  W.  Smith,  of  ihe  Wesleyan  University. 

MY  DEAR  PROFESSOR, 

ONE  of  the  unpleasant  circumstances  attending  travelling  en 
voiturier,  where  you  have  not  a  party  sufficient  to  take  the  whole 
carriage,  is  the  undesirable  company  into  which  you  are  liable  to 
be  thrown.  In  most  cases,  we  had  been  in  a  party  sufficient  to 
command  the  whole ;  but  now  we  were  to  join  a  company  of 
strangers.  In  this,  however,  we  were  most  fortunate.  Our  com- 
pany was  a  Swiss  family,  consisting  of  the  gentleman  and  his 
lady  and  three  amiable  children.  They  were  accommodating, 
courteous,  intelligent,  of  the  Protestant  faith,  and  acquainted 
with  the  route.  Nothing  could  be  more  desirable  than  to  fall  in 
with  such  company.  Long  shall  we  remember  these  interesting 
fellow-travellers.  Like  many  of  their  countrymen,  they  had  gone 
abroad  for  employment  and  were  engaged  in  the  silk-trade  in 
Bergamo,  about  thirty  miles,  I  think,  from  Milan,  where  they  in- 
formed me  are  numbers  of  their  countrymen,  and  where  they 
have  a  Protestant  church  and  schools.  Like  others  of  their  coun- 
trymen, also,  their  home  associations  were  strong  and  ardent ; 
and  they  were  now  on  a  visit  to  their  friends  and  country. 

Immediately  on  leaving  the  lake,  we  began  to  see  we  were  ap 
preaching  mountain  scenery,  although  for  a  long  way  we  had  no 
steep  ascent.  We  found  this  grand  military  road  very  much  out 
of  repair ;  insomuch  that,  in  many  places,  we  passed  with  great 
difficulty  and  danger.  It  appears  the  King  of  Sardinia,  into  whose 
kingdom  we  entered  once  more  on  the  west  side  of  Maggiore, 
greatly  prefers  that  the  trans-alpine  travel  should  be  through  the 
Mont  Cenis  route,  for  that  passes  through  the  centre  of  his 
kingdom,  whereas  this  Simplon  route,  the  whole  of  which  from 
the  south  end  of  Maggiore  almost  to  the  top  of  the  mountain  is 
in  his  kingdom,  and,  therefore,  should  be  kept  in  repair  by  him, 
if  by  any  one,  is,  nevertheless,  but  just  on  his  borders,  and  con- 


DOMO  D  OSSOLA.  399 

centrates  all  its  advantages  in  Milan  and  Austrian  Lombardy. 
Hence  his  interest  has  been  to  let  this  go  to  decay,  which,  with- 
out repairs,  it  would  soon  do ;  for  what  with  mountain  torrents 
carrying  away  bridges  and  washing  away  the  bed  of  the  road, 
and  mountain  avalanches  filling  it  up,  it  soon  becomes  impassa- 
ble, so  that  this  which  used  to  be  the  best,  has  now  become  the 
worst  Alpine  thoroughfare.  Public  opinion  and  the  complaints  of 
other  states,  have,  however,  at  length  prevailed,  and  his  Majesty 
of  Turin  has  now  a  great  number  of  workmen  employed  to  re- 
store this  splendid  road. 

Near  the  lake  is  the  quarry  of  white  marble  of  which  the  Du- 
omo  at  Milan  is  constructed  ;  and  we  passed,  also,  during  our  first 
day's  route,  a  fine  quarry  of  red  granite.  This  takes  a  fine  polish, 
and  is  as  beautiful  for  pillars  and  columns  as  the  famous  oriental 
granite  so  common  in  ancient  edifices.  This  quarry,  too,  furnishes 
large  blocks  of  sufficient  length  for  entire  columns,  some  of  which 
we  saw  at  the  new  church  of  St.  Paul's  near  Rome,  said  to  have 
been  a  present  by  the  King  of  Sardinia,  to  assist  in  rebuilding 
that  noble  basilica.  These  columns  were  each  estimated  at  an 
expense  of  twenty  thousand  dollars. 

Our  first  lodging-place  was  a  romantic  little  village,  at  the  base  of 
the  mountains,  called  Domo  d?  Ossola.  Thence  we  departed  betimes 
in  the  morning,  with  minds  strongly  excited  between  the  hope  of 
spending  the  next  night  the  other  side  of  the  mighty  Alps,  and  the 
fear  that  some  disaster  or  delay  might  obstruct  our  progress  and 
disappoint  our  hopes.  Providence  favoured  us — the  weather  was 
delightful,  and  had  been  for  several  days.  We  passed  gorge  after 
gorge  and  valley  after  valley,  as  we  gradually  and  slowly  wound 
our  way  up  this  sublime  pass.  The  reign  of  Nature  here,  is  the 
reign  of  terror  and  sublimity,  and  she  holds  her  empire  still  in 
despite  of  the  encroachments  of  art.  The  most  the  latter  has 
been  able  to  accomplish,  has  been  to  penetrate  the  domains  of  the 
former,  with  this  narrow  avenue,  by  which  the  traveller  is  con- 
ducted through  her  realm  and  over  some  of  her  lowest  eminences. 
And  even  to  retain  this  advantage  requires  a  constant  warfare. 
Every  year  Nature  renews  the  war.  In  the  winter  she  throws 
up  her  ramparts  of  ice  and  snow,  and  places  the  howling  tempests 
as  sentinels  to  assail,  and  if  possible  overwhelm  the  adventurous 
passenger.  And  when  the  vernal  sun  drives  back  these  winter 


400  SWITZERLAND. 

guards;  like  the  flying  Parthian,  their  retreat  is  equally  fatal 
and  fearful — the  avalanche  and  the  torrent  now  cut  off  the 
passage,  and  sometimes  overwhelm  the  passenger.  At  this  time, 
however,  the  elements  were  quiet.  It  is  true,  we  were  tracing 
up  a  noisy  fretting  stream,  but  it  kept  within  its  banks.  It 
is  true,  numerous  mountain  torrents  were  still  conveying  the 
waters  of  the  melting  snows,  from  the  tops  of  the  perpendicular 
mountains,  that  rose  up  in  wild  sublimity  on  each  side  of 
us.  But  these  were  not  of  a  magnitude  to  inspire  terror — they 
hardly  approached  to  the  grand.  They  borrowed  a  grandeur  from 
the  height  and  majesty  of  the  mountain,  but  these  cascades  them- 
selves were  rather  an  element  of  beauty.  Sometimes  they  come 
coursing  down  in  a  narrow  silvery  belt,  whitened  to  foam  by  their 
rapid  descent ;  and  sometimes  falling  perpendicularly,  they  were 
torn  by  projecting  crags  and  by  the  friction  of  the  atmosphere, 
until  they  disappeared  in  spray,  before  they  had  accomplished  half 
their  descent.  Not  unfrequently,  however,  the  invisible  spray, 
falling  in  a  shower  upon  a  less  perpendicular  part  of  the  moun- 
tain, was  again  collected  into  a  mountain  belt  of  sparkling  silver, 
This  presented  a  singular  phenomenon — a  cascade,  broken  off  in 
the  middle,  disappearing  and  again  re-appearing,  without  any  appa- 
rent connexion.  It  seemed  as  though  the  genius  of  the  moun- 
tain had  touched  it  with  his  fairy  wand,  and  made  it  vanish  and  re- 
appear at  his  bidding.  It  was  Nature's  holyday.  Happily  for  us, 
she  had  suspended  her  warfare,  and  seemed  now  to  have  put  on 
her  gala-dress  arid  to  be  sporting  in  her  most  frolicsome  mood,  for 
her  own  relaxation  and  our  amusement. 

We  passed  some  noble  bridges  as  we  occasionally  crossed  the 
stream — went  through  a  grotto  of  eighty  paces  in  length — passed 
up  the  Val  Vedro  to  Divedro,  a  village  which  is  said  to  be  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight  Paris  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea — thence  along  the  bed  of  the  Vedro,  up  the  gorge 
of  Isella — just  beyond  this  we  came  to  the  confines  of  Italy,  in 
passing  which  we  enter  the  Swiss  Canton  of  Valais.  Further 
on,  we  came  to  a  grand  cascade,  coming  down  from  the  Swis- 
bergen  and  forming  its  almost  perpendicular  cataract,  close  to  the 
road,  under  which  it  is  conducted  by  a  suitable  channel  into  the 
Vedro ;  immediately  we  came  to  another  grotto,  the  longest,  I 
believe,  on  the  route,  extending  two  hundred  and  two  paces 


S1MPLON.  401 

through  solid  granite  ;  after  this  another  splendid  cascade,  and  a 
grotto  of  eighty  paces. 

We  now  more  distinctly  perceived  that  winter  and  summer 
were  contending  with  each  other  for  the  ascendancy.  From  the 
valley  to  the  top  of  the  mountain,  you  see  all  the  different  stages 
from  the  broad  leaf  of  summer  to  the  opening  foliage — the  swelling 
bud — and  finally,  to  the  leafless  bough,  still  chilled  by  the  lingering 
frosts  of  winter.  Sometimes  these  could  all  be  taken  in  at  one 
glance ;  and  following  up  the  mountain  side,  through  the  different 
and  successive  zones,  you  see  the  shrubbery  springing  out  of  the 
very  borders  of  the  remaining  snow-bank,  putting  on  the  green 
livery  of  spring :  and  Mrs  F.  collected  several  beautiful  and 
peculiar  flowers  of  velvet  softness,  which  grew  out  of  the  side  of 
a  bank  overhung  with  snow.  The  very  water  that  fed  them 
dropped  from  the  snow-bank  that  melted  by  their  side^  The  tim-. 
ber  was  principally  the  larch,  a  tree  of  the  fir  fcind^  but  not  an 
evergreen. 

At  length  we  turned  short  to  the  right,  mounting  with  a  bolder 
ascent,  and  serpentining  with  more  sudden  sinuosities,  plainly 
indicating  that  we  were  approaching  the  last  round  in  this  Alpine 
ladder. 

The  village  of  Simplon  is  nearly  at  the  summit^  Here  we 
stopped  to  dine,  but  the  chill  of  winter  was  upon  us.  The 
ground,  it  is  true,  was  mostly  bare,  and  the  females  were  carrying 
out  manure  upon  their  backs,  to  try  to  force  a  vegetation  into  ex^ 
istence  upon  these  mountain  eminences.  A  menial  employment 
for  the  softer  sex,  truly ;  showing  that  if  we  had  passed  the  con- 
fines of  Italy,  we  had  not  yet  reached  the  land  where  woman  was 
placed  in  her  true  position. 

After  an  uncomfortable  rest  we  again  commenced  our  route, 
hoping  soon  to  find  oui  selves  descending,  but  we  were  disap- 
pointed. The  snow  increased  until  we  were  hedged  in  by  banks 
on  each  side,  higher  than  the  top  of  our  coach,  with  several  feet 
under  us,  so  soft  that  it  would  not  bear  either  the  horses  or  the 
carriage.  Several  times  we  were  stopped  and  had  to  shovel  out  the 
wheels.  Some  score  of  men  were  employed  in  this,  while  others 
passed  ropes  round  the  carriage  and  travelling  upon  the  heights 

Kon  either  side,  kept  it  from  upsetting,  or  tried  to  do  so ;  in  one 
instance,  however,  they  failed,  and  we  went  over  as  far  as  the 
34  3E 


402  SWITZERLAND. 

snow  would  permit.  We  had  to  get  out  upon  the  snow-banks 
until  we  righted,  which  was  a  tedious  labour,  for  these  mountain 
cantoniers  all  seemed  to  command  and  none  obeyed.  They 
talked  and  cackled  much,  but  worked  little — and  here  too,  for  the 
first  time,  the  German  language  struck  our  ears ;  for  that  is  the 
language  of  the  Valais.  But  it  was  the  German  in  its  rudest 
provincial  dialect,  and  their  conversation  was  like  the  honcking 
(pardon  my  new  coinage)  of  a  flock  of  wild  geese.  You  cannot 
readily  conceive  of  the  effect  of  this  sudden  transition  from  the 
heat  of  summer  to  the  cold  snows  of  winter ;  and  probably  nothing 
but  the  excitement  of  the  occasion  prevented  our  taking  severe 
colds.  Our  fellow-passengers  went  forward  on  foot,  wading 
through  the  snow  ;  but  we  thought  it  the  safer  to  take  our  chance 
in  the  coach,  come  what  might.  There  were  several  other  car- 
riages in  company  which  rather  increased  our  delay.  In  short,  we 
were  several  hours  passing  two  or  three  miles.  Sometimes 
crowded  by  the  drifts  of  snow,  to  the  very  verge  of  the  precipice. 
We  passed  several  more  grottoes,  and  one  especially  deserving 
notice,  called  the  glacier  grotto,  carrying  us  under  the  crust  of  the 
mountain,  but  not  so  deep  but  that  the  water  oozes  in  and  freezes, 
so  that  the  interior  was  incrusted  with  ice.  Well  may  it  be  called 
the  glacier  grotto.  The  highest  point  in  the  pass  was  before  we 
arrived  at  this  grotto,  said  to  be  four  thousand  six  hundred  and 
ninety  Paris  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Near  this  is  a  Hos- 
pice inhabited  by  monks  of  St.  Bernard. 

At  length  a  kind  Providence  brought  us  safely  through.  We 
rejoiced  to  pass  out  of  the  region  of  snow,  and  find  our  wheels 
rolling  once  more  on  the  bare  earth.  Brigg,  the  object  of  our 
destination  was  just  below  us,  and  seemed  but  a  step,  but  it  was 
a  long,  long  way  to  reach  it.  We  traced  a  serpentine  route, 
winding  this  way  and  that,  into  the  bold  sinuosities  and  round  the 
projecting  promontories  of  the  mountain ;  and  nightfall  overtook 
us  before  we  reached  our  lodgings.  But  the  delight  of  finding 
ourselves  over  this  desired,  yet  dreaded,  pass,  safe  and  comfort- 
able, cannot  be  readily  conceived  by  the  reader.  We  had  passed 
through  the  four  seasons  of  the  year — travelled  from  the  sunny 
rales  of  Italy  to  the  far-famed  Republic  of  Switzerland — in  short, 
we  had  crossed  the  ALPS  in  one  short  day.  And  here  we  were, 
in  a  clean,  lovely  Swiss  tavern,  abounding,  literally  abounding  rn 


TOURTMAGNE.  403 

milk  and  honey.     The  milk  of  Switzerland  is  not  only  abundant, 
but  very  rich.     As  soon  as  we  got  out  of  the  region  of  snow 
we  began  to  see,  upon  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  little  neat- 
looking  cottages,  which,  as  we  descended,  became  more  numerous, 
but  wholly  uninhabited.     They  were   generally  made    of  logs, 
sometimes  they  were  covered  with  boards,  and  often  had  large 
stones  on  the  roof  to  preserve  find  defend  them  against  the  heavy 
winds.     These  cottages,  we  learned  on  inquiry,  are  the  Swiss 
Chalet*  a  provincial  term,  which,  however,  Rosseau has  rendered 
classical.    When  the  grass  gels  grown  the  Swiss  swains  and  dairy- 
maids, with  their  cows  and  goats,  resort  to  these  mountain-pastures, 
and  tend  their  herds,  and  make  their  butter  and  cheese.     These 
Chalets,  for  the  time,  become  their  homes ;  and  here,  in  rural  sim- 
plicity, they  spend  a  short  but  joyous  summer,  chanting  their  wild 
airs  in  the  mountain-breeze,  and  in  the  autumn  they  descend  again 
to  the  valleys,  laden  with  the  fruits  of  their  industry.     This  is 
the  life  of  poetry.     These  are  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  the 
genuine  eclogue.     The  scenes,  the  persons,  their  employments,  all 
unite  in  forming  the  most  perfect  elements  of  pure  pastoral  song. 
The  milk,  we  are  told,  that  is  produced  by  this  mountain  her- 
bage, is  often  too  rich  to  be  taken  without  dilution. 

We  started  next  morning,  and  breakfasted  at  Tourtmagne,  and 
visited,  a  half  mile  from  the  village,  a  lovely  cascade.   The  inter 
est  of  the  waterfall  itself  is  greatly  heightened  by  the  surround 
ing  scenery.     Our  lodging-place  was  Sion.     This  was  anciently 
called  Sedunum,  and  seems,  by  the  Roman  antiquities  found  in 
the  neighbourhood,  to  have  been  a  place  of  some  consequence  in 
the  days  of  the  empire.     It  stands  on  the  successive  declivities  of 
three  hills,  each  of  which  is  crowned  with  a  castle ;  and  there 
are   other  castles  on  the  neighbouring  heights,  which  give  the 
entire  scene  a  picturesque  appearance. 

Our  whole  route  was  in  a  narrow  valley  watered  by  the  Rhine. 
This  valley,  from  the  mountains  to  the  lake  of  Geneva,  is  more 
than  one  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  said  to  be  the  longest  in 
Switzerland.  Near  Sion  is  the  dividing  line  between  the  Haut 
Valais  and  the  Bas  Valais — the  higher  and  the  lower  valley. 
The  next  day  we  dined  at  Martigny,  the  ancient  Octodurus. 
This  is  a  delightful  village,  but  situated  near  the  confluence  of 
*  Pronounced  Shally* 


404  SWITZERLAND. 

the  Dranse  and  the  Rhone,  in  a  valley,  so  as  to  be  exposed  to 
inundations.  A  few  years  since,  almost  the  entire  village  was 
overwhelmed  and  made  a  heap  of  desolation,  by  avalanches  and 
mountain  floods.  It  is  now  principally  rebuilt.  Indeed,  this 
valley,  in  its  entire  length,  seems  the  sport  of  the  mountain  tor- 
rents. Sometimes  they  sweep  away  small  hills,  and  smooth 
them  level  with  the  valley ;  sometimes  they  spread  gravel  and 
stones,  of  great  size,  over  a  fertile  meadow,  and  convert  it  into  a 
waste.  The  desolating  effects  of  recent  occurrences  of  this  kind 
frequently  met  our  eye. 

It  is  from  this  town  that  travellers  often  set  out  for  the 
celebrated  valley  of  Chamouni  and  Mont  Blanc.  The  route  to 
Chamouni  is  nine  leagues  across  the  mountains,  and  can  only  be 
travelled  on  foot  or  by  mules. 

•  In  the  neighbourhood  of  Martigny,  as  well  as  m  other  parts  of 
Switzerland  and  the  Alpine  regions,  are  numerous  cases  of  goi- 
trous swellings  of  the  neck.  The  women  are  more  generally 
troubled  with  these  than  the  other  sex ;  but  neither  are  exempt. 
Sometimes  you  may  meet  companies  of  these  mountaineers  with 
their  necks  horribly  deformed.  The  cretins  also  are  numerous. 
These  are  a  race  of  idiots,  of  which  these  mountainous  regions 
produce  an  abundance.  They  are  deformed  in  body  as  well  as 
mind  ;  and  appear  in  all  the  different  stages  of  idiocy — from 
absolute  fatuity,  up  to  such  a  share  of  sense  as  enables  them  to 
labour  and  earn  their  own  living.  Many  of  them  are  certainly 
the  most  disgusting  and  pitiable  looking  objects  imaginable.  Why 
this  race  is  so  numerous  here,  has  never  been  satisfactorily  ascer- 
tained. But  this,  and  the  other  disease  mentioned,  together  with 
the  ravages  of  the  avalanche,  teach  us,  that  the  mountains  of 
Switzerland,  with  all  their  romance  and  picturesque  or  sublime 
scenery,  like  all  other  parts  of  the  world,  have  also  their  repulsive 
features,  moral  and  physical.  Still,  with  all  their  disadvantages, 
these  residents  of  the  valleys  and  the  mountains,  seemed  wedded 
to  their  native  glens.  You  find  them,  it  is  true,  scattered  over 
Europe — especially  in  France  and  Italy — pursuing  a  great  variety 
of  avocations,  but  returning  whenever  they  have  accumulated 

enough  to  purchase  a  cottage  upon  the  mountains,  to  spend  their 
latter  days   in  their  native  land.     Sometimes,  even  before  this 

period  of  their  final  return,  they  come  home  and  wed  their  maun- 


LAKE    LEMAN.  405 

tain  lass,  provide  for  her  a  cottage,  and  return  to  acquire  something 
more  for  the  support  of  any  offspring  with  which  Heaven  may 
bless  their  union.  We  met  one  of  this  description,  who  had  just 
returned  from  Rome.  He  had  his  intended  by  the  hand,  a  fresh, 
blushing,  mountain  dame,  and  responded  to  the  inquiries  of  our 
veturino  with  all  the  frankness  and  sincerity  of  one  who  was 
conscious  of  sincere  and  honourable  love ;  while  his  fair  one, 
in  the  picturesque  costume  of  her  canton,  stood  blushing  by  his 
side. 

Each  canton  has  its  particular  costume  ;  and  it  is  as  unchange- 
able as  their  patriotism.  How  much  better  this,  than  that  rest- 
less chase  after  the  ever-varying  forms  of  fickle  fashion  that 
characterizes  the  peasantry  of  our  own  country  ! 

We  left  Martigny  in  advance  of  the  coach,  and  walked  a  league 
to  see  the  cascade  of  the  Pissevache ;  a  magnificent  cataract, 
which  comes  tumbling  down  from  a  lofty  mountain,  and  finally 
pitches  in  a  perpendicular  leap  of  one  hundred  feet,  spread  into  a 
limpid  sheet  or  veil,  hung  out  in  waiving  gauze  over  the  brow  of 
the  mountain.  The  waters  are  those  of  the  river  Salanche, 
which,  in  their  course  towards  the  Rhone,  have  no  other  alterna- 
tive but  to  make  this  desperate  leap  down  the  tremendous  preci- 
pice. The  fall  in  its  full  extent,  is  three  hundred  feet. 

Around  this  valley  shoot  up  the  Dent  du  Midi  and  the  Dent  du 
Marcles,  two  Alpine  eminences,  that  rise  seven  thousand  feet 
above  the  bed  of  the  Rhone ;  and  a  little  further  in  the  distance, 
are  still  higher  mountains,  constituting  a  part  of  the  group  of  the 
great  St.  Bernard.  Here  also  is  a  great  variety  of  minerals  and 
of  plants  ;  all  combining  to  make  this  region  one  of  Nature's  rich, 
beautiful,  and  sublime  localities. 

We  passed  into  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  and  took  lodgings  for  the 
night  in  the  little  town  of  Bex.  This  contains  about  three  thou- 
sand inhabitants.  From  this  we  proceeded  in  the  morning  to 
Vevay ;  a  pleasant  town  on  the  north  side  of  Lake  Leman,  or 
the  Geneva  lake.  This  lovely  sheet  of  water  met  our  eyes  for 
the  first  time  this  morning.  As  it  lies  somewhat  in  the  form  of  a 
segment  of  a  circle — of  which  the  north  is  the  curve,  and  the 
south  the  chord — in  passing  to  the  north  we  traversed  the  longest 
side,  and  left  the  great  military  road,  the  course  of  which  is  on 
the  south  side  of  the  lake.  Our  route,  however,  is  supposed  to 


406  SWITZERLAND. 

be  the  most  interesting.  The  sloping  sides  of  the  hills,  which 
for  the  most  part  are,  on  this  shore  of  the  lake,  gentle  declivities, 
were  covered  with  vineyards,  and  studded  at  proper  intervals 
with  beautiful  villages.  The  limpid  mirror  of  the  lake  lay  be- 
neath us,  and  the  Alps  reared  up  their  successive  peaks  and 
towering  heights  on  the  opposite  side,  until  Mont  Blanc  himself, 
that  three-headed  monster,  terminated  the  prospect,  by  basing 
himself  on  other  mountains  for  his  pedestal,  and  wreathing  for 
himself  a  capital  from  the  clouds  of  heaven. 

After  leaving  Vevay,  we  passed,  among  other  towns,  Lausanne 
and  Nyon.  At  the  former  we  spent  the  night.  This  is  a  beautiful 
town,  situated  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  surface 
of  the  lake,  and  is  the  capital  of  the  canton  of  Vaud.  It  contains  a 
cathedral,  built  in  the  year  1000,  a  castle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  a 
college  containing  a  library,  a  museum  of  natural  history,  and  a  phi- 
losophical and  chemical  apparatus.  This  institution  is  flourishing. 

Our  dining-place  of  the  next  day's  journey  was  Nyon,  at  the- 
Hotel  of  the  Fleur  de  Lis.  The  very  place,  as  it  happened',, 
where  the  Swiss  family  who  was  in  our  company,  were  to  stop — 
the  residence  of  the  mother  and  brother  of  the  lady.  The  meeting 
of  these  friends  was  very  affecting,  and  afforded  an  illustration  of 
the  strong  attachment  to  country  and  kindred,  for  which  the  Swiss 
are  so  proverbial.  While  yet  a  good  way  off,  the  lady  looked 
out  of  the  carriage-window,  and  got  a  distant  view  of  her  native 
village,  and  burst  into  tears.  When  she  met  her  mother,  and 
brother,  and  sister,  there  seemed  to  be  no  end  to  their  mutual 
salutations  and  embraces,  their  tears  of  joy  and  expressions  of 
affection. 

Nyon  is  a  pleasant  little  town,  of  perhaps  between  two  and  three 
thousand  inhabitants,  situated  partly  on  the  lake  shore,  and  partly 
upon  a  terrace  at  the  top  of  a  hill,  a  little  above  the  lake.  Its 
principal  interest,  however,  to  me  was,  that  it  was  the  birthplace 
and  family  residence  of  that  excellent  and  eminent  man  of  God, 
the  Reverend  J.  William  De  la  Fletcher :  a  man,  of  whom  Mr. 
Wesley  says,  after  a  long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  him : 
"  I  never  knew  him  speak  an  improper  word,  or  do  an  improper 
act.*1  A  testimony  which,  from  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Wesley,  is 
most  extraordinary ;  and  could  be  true  only  of  an  extraordinary 
man.  Such,  indeed,  was  Mr.  Fletcher :  not  only  that  he  was 


REV.  J.  WILLIAM  FLETCHER.  407 

*  free  from  all  improprieties,  but  that  he  was  "  full  of  goodness," 
and  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  His  antagonists 
complained  of  him  in  controversy,  it  is  true  ;  but  it  was  only 
because  of  the  keenness  of  his  controversial  sword,  and  the  dex- 
terity with  which  he  wielded  it  against  error,  and  in  defence  of 
the  truth.  Of  bitterness  of  spirit,  none  could  ever  accuse  him ; 
for  he  lived  and  died  in  the  element  of  love.  A  most  illustrious 
example  of  the  power  of  that  grace  which,  even  in  this  life,  if 
received  in  the  fulness  with  which  the  provision  is  made,  can 
transform  a  man  to  an  angel.  Such  was  Fletcher :  a  man,  of 
whose  spirit  and  piety,  I  have  as  high  a  conception  as  of  any 
that  has  lived  since  the  days  of  the  apostles  ;  and  from  the  read- 
ing of  whose  biography  I  have  received  more  spiritual  benefit^ 
than  from  any  other  writings,  the  inspired  Scriptures  excepted. 

We  visited  the  family  mansion,  that  we  might  see  the  place 
which  gave  him  birth ;  and  as  we  could  obtain  no  more  appro- 
priate memorial  of  the  spot,  we  plucked,  and  have  carefully  pre- 
served, a  leaf  of  laurel  that  grew  in  the  yard — a  faint  emblem  of 
that  fresher  and  more  enduring  wreath,  with  which  his  immortal 
spirit  is  crowned,  in  the  bright  world  above.  Opposite  to  the 
house,  and  immediately  across  the  street,  is  the  ancient  church, 
where,  doubtless,  he  was  early  taught  the  principles  of  that 
gospel  he  so  successfully  preached,  and  so  worthily  magnified,  in 
his  ministry  and  life. 

The  fruits  of  his  piety  and  prayers  are  seen  in  the  Fletcher 
family  at  the  present  day.  They  are  an  ancient  and  honourable 
family ;  and  a  number  of  them,  male  and  female,  are  now,  as  I 
am  informed,  rejoicing  in  the  truth,  and  are  active  and  worthy 
supporters  of  the  evangelical  cause  at  Nyon. 

It  is  known  to  those  who  are  conversant  with  Mr.  Fletcher's 
life,  that  he  left  his  charge  in  Madeley,  England,  and  visited  his 
native  country  for  his  health,  which  was  reduced  very  low  by  an 
affection  of  the  lungs.  While  here,  however,  he  could  not  rest, 
but  poured  out  his  ardent  spirit  in  exhortation,  prayer,  and  praise, 
among  his  countrymen.  It  was  then,  and  for  a  long  time  since, 
until  quite  lately  indeed,  a  time  of  great  spiritual  dearth  in  Switzer 
land ;  and  the  national  church  and  clergy  could  not  endure  his 
zeal.  They  persecuted  him  and  refused  him  their  churches, 
but  he  used  to  take  the  open  air ;  and  they  still  show  a  stone 


408  SWITZERLAND. 

about  a  mile  distant  from  his  paternal  mansion,  from  which  he 
used  to  exhort  the  people.  He  mentions  especially,  in  one  of  his 
letters,  a  company  of  children  that  resorted  to  him  to  re- 
ceive instruction  and  to  sing  hymns.  On  mentioning  this  circum- 
stance at  the  inn,  the  good  old  lady  said,  "  she  well  remembered 
it,  for  she  was  one  of  that  company  of  children,  and  she  pre- 
served in  vivid  recollection  his  emaciated  face,  and  the  sweet 
manner  with  which  he  used  to  sing  with  them  and  converse  about 
the  Saviour." 

We  were  surrounded,  during  the  last  day  of  our  journey,  with 
more  of  the  associations  of  home  than  at  any  former  period  of 
our  absence.  The  vines  had  mostly  disappeared,  and  the  land 
was  richly  covered  with  the  agricultural  products  more  common 
in  our  own  country.  The  frequent  school-house  surrounded 
with  sprightly  and  neatly  dressed  children — the  appearance  of  the 
peasantry — the  face  of  the  country — and  the  militia  trainings, 
all  seemed  a  model  of  our  own  New  England.  In  the  latter,  the 
resemblance  was  too  close ;  for  not  only  were  the  constitution  of 
the  militia  system  and  the  manner  and  time  (for  they  were  just 
now  having  their  "  May  trainings  ")  similar  to  ours,  but  like  what 
it  used  to  be  with  us,  and  is  now  to  some  extent— here  and  there 
a  drunken  soldier  was  seen  staggering  home,  or  leaning  upon  his 
musket,  almost  incapable  with  this  support  to  keep  a  perpendicu- 
lar posture.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  those  who  have  never 
been  in  similar  circumstances,  this  entire  exhibition,  drunken  sol- 
dier and  all,  was  so  like  what  I  had  beheld  in  the  days  of  my 
boyhood  among  the  green  mountains— the  Switzerland  of  Amer- 
ica—it cast  a  spell  over  my  heart,  and  made  every  object  an  in- 
teresting remembrancer  of  early  youth,  of  country,  and  of  home. 

With  minds  softened  and  gladdened  by  the  scenes  around  us, 
and  by  the  delightful  reminiscences  they  inspired,  we  finished  the 
day  by  a  short  ride  of  two  or  three  hours  to  Geneva— the  cradle 
of  the  Reformation— where  we  arrived  at  about  7  o'clock,  P.  M. 

Yours,  &c., 

W.  FISK. 


GENEVA.  409 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  canton  of  Geneva  is  the  smallest  in  the  confederation,  and 
lies  at  the  outlet  of  the  lake  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Switzerland, 
the  Duchy  of  Savoy  being  on  one  side,  and  France  on  the  other ;  the 
territory  of  the  former  coming  up  very  near  to  the  walls  of  the  city 
itself  is  the  reason,  I  suppose,  why  the  police  of  the  city  is  more 
rigid  than  any  of  the  other  Swiss  towns  which  we  visited.  Our 
passports  had  been  rarely  called  for  since  we  entered  Switzerland, 
but  at  the  gates  of  Geneva  we  were  closely  examined.  Nor  are 
strangers  allowed  to  remain  in  the  city  without  a  permit  from 
government;  a  permit  which  Catholics  do  not  readily  obtain  for 
a  long  residence.  The  reason  assigned  for  this  is,  that  if  the 
privileges  of  citizenship  should  be  readily  accorded  to  them,  Ge* 
neva  would  be  overrun  with  a  Catholic  population ;  and  this  the 
more  speedily  from  the  circumstance  that  the  Sardinian  govern- 
ment is  oppressive  in  its  restrictions  and  exactions,  from  which 
the  citizens  would  naturally  and  in  great  numbers  escape,  if  they 
could  find  a  ready  admittance  into  a  city  so  liberal  and  inviting 
as  Geneva  in  their  own  immediate  neighbourhood.  But  should 
they  come  there  under  the  influence  of  their  superstitions  and 
their  priests,  as  they  now  are,  enlightened  and  Protestant  Geneva 
would  be  outnumbered  and  controlled  by  a  bigoted  and  an  illiberal 
Catholic  colony.  I  say  illiberal,  for  this  epithet  is  emphatically 
applicable  to  the  Sardinian  government.  In  proof,  we  need  only 
refer  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Waldenses  are  now  treated  with- 
in the  bounds  of  that  government.  We  became  acquainted  with 
some  who  held  correspondence  with  these  Christians,  and  from 
them  learned  several  particulars  on  this  subject  which  are  not, 
perhaps,  generally  known  to  the  world.  In  the  general  declen- 
sion that  has  taken  place  among  the  Continental  Protestants,  these 
ancient  churches  have  had  their  share.  They  had  become  spirit- 
ually dead ;  but,  within  a  few  years,  they  have  been  revived ;  and 
with  their  spiritual  resurrection  has  arisen  also  the  spirit  of  perse- 
cution. By  the  most  rigorous  measures,  the  government  has  for- 
35  3F 


410  SWITZERLAND. 

bidden  that  any  pastor  shall  be  allowed  to  visit  them  from  abroad. 
An  old  patriarch,  who  has  been  instrumental  of  much  spiritual 
good  to  them,  has  been  imprisoned.  They  have  been  driven  from 
their  places  of  worship  and  violently  assailed  by  their  opposers 
in  their  own  neighbourhood. 

The  present  king  was  educated  in  Geneva,  and  there  imbibed 
sentiments  entirely  opposite  to  those  which  mark  his  govern- 
ment. He  even  assured  some  gentlemen  of  Geneva,  his  old 
associates  at  school,  that  he  would  change  the  measures  of  the 
government  when  he  should  be  seated  upon  the  throne.  The 
result  only  proves  that  kings  are  slaves.  He  cannot  do  the 
things  that  he  would.  When  the  officer  of  government,  to  whom 
was  intrusted  the  old  patriarch  above  alluded  to  for  safe  keeping 
as  a  prisoner,  wrote  a  private  letter  to  the  king,  entreating  him 
to  use  his  authority  to  set  the  prisoner  at  liberty,  because  he 
was  a  good  man  and  was  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake, 
the  king  replied  privately,  ordering  him  to  be  released  ;  but,  at 
the  same  time,  directing  the  officer  not  to  make  the  subject  known 
to  the  king's  ministers,  lest  his  kind  designs  for  the  old  patriarch 
should  be  thwarted  !  The  Austrian  Metternich  is  probably  the 
author  of  this  policy  ;  for  he  stands  at  the  head  of  intolerance  in 
Europe,  and,  doubtless,  infuses  wherever  he  can  the  same  spirit 
into  the  governments  dependant  upon  Austria  that  influences  the 
councils  of  the  court  which  is  more  immediately  under  his  sway. 
Quite  recently  a  worse  course  of  persecution  has  been  adopted 
towards  a  body  of  Protestants  under  the  Austrian  dominion  in  a 
mountainous  district  called  Ziller  Thai.  None  of  these  govern- 
ments would  like  to  adopt  this  intolerant  policy  before  the  face  of 
the  world ;  but  where  they  can  fall  upon  the  little  flocks  in  the 
mountains,  secluded  from  public  view,  they  manifest  the  same 
spirit  that  drove  Protestantism  from  Italy  by  all  the  bloody  hor- 
rors of  the  Inquisition. 

While  I  am  on  this  subject  I  will  notice  another  case.  Some 
excellent  Protestants  of  Geneva  made  an  excursion  into  the  borders 
of  Savoy,  and  carried  with  them  religious  tracts,  which  they  dis- 
tributed in  the  distant  hamlets  and  villages  among  the  mountains. 
These  were  received  by  the  people  with  great  joy  and  gratitude. 
In  a  few  days,  however,  they  came  to  Geneva,  and  informed  their 
benefactors  that  the  priests  had  taken  their  tracts  from  them  and 


THE  "EVANGELICAL  SOCIETY."  411 

burnt  them ;  and  that  the  government  had  taken  the  alarm,  and 
had  forbidden  any  further  distribution  of  such  tracts  under  severe 
penalties  ;  and  these  honest  peasants  had  come  to  Geneva  to  give 
the  information,  lest,  coming  there  again,  these  Protestant  friends 
should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  officers  and  be  imprisoned.* 

With  such  neighbours,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  Genevese  are 
very  cautious  of  exposing  themselves  to  a  redundant  population 
of  Catholic  beggars,  bigoted  priests,  and  intriguing  politicians. 
No  wonder  that  my  host,  speaking  of  the  government  of  Geneva, 
called  it,  "  tres  sage — very  wise." 

I  say  my  host,  for  I  must  now  state  that  we  found  delightful 
lodgings  at  Mr.  Henry  Wolff's,  a  little  out  of  the  city,  with  a  family 
whose  piety,  and  intelligence,  and  courtesy  have  cheered  many 
from  our  own  country,  and  will  be  long  remembered  by  us. 

I  found  I  had  visited  Geneva  in  a  propitious  time,  as  it  was 
the  anniversary  of  the  Evangelical  Society,  and  clergymen  and 
others  were  assembled  from  different  parts  of  the  country  and 
towns  of  Switzerland  and  elsewhere  to  attend  this  religious  con- 
vention. 

The  "  Evangelical  Society"  of  Switzerland  is  an  association 
for  the  promotion  of  evangelical  religion  in  Switzerland  and  else- 
where. It  had  its  origin  in  the  almost  total  apostacy  of  the  Swiss 
churches,  and  especially  that  of  Geneva,  into  Socinianism.  It 
might  be  a  curious  and  an  instructive  inquiry,  in  a  proper  place, 
to  examine  into  the  causes  of  the  transition  of  the  Swiss  churches 
from  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  to  that  lax  and  formal  sys- 
tem which  seemed  little  better  than  a  heartless  philosophy.  For 
myself,  without  stopping  here  to  trace  the  connexion,  I  believe 
it  is  owing  to  two  causes  :  first,  the  connexion  of  the  church 
with  the  state ;  and,  second,  the  ultra  Calvinism  of  these 
churches.  A  law  religion,  by  a  most  obvious  process,  always 
has  a  tendency  to  introduce  a  worldly  clergy  and  a  worldly  church ; 
and  we  have  seen  in  more  places  than  Geneva  that  the  strong 
dogmas  of  Calvin  have  a  reacting  influence  on  the  public  mind, 
and  drive  it  to  the  other  extreme.  Whatever  may  be  the  causes, 
however,  the  truth  is  clear.  In  Geneva,  but  a  single  evangelical 
man  was  left  when  Madame  de  Sta'tl,  according  to  the  custom 

*  We  had  this  account  directly  and  personally  from  the  young  ladies  who  distributed 
the  tracts. 


412  SWITZERLAND. 

of  the  country,  selected  an  instructor  and  religious  guide  to  pre- 
pare her  children  for  the  sacrament.  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
this  very  eccentric  woman  selected  this  clergyman,  and  the  re- 
sult was,  that  her  son  and  daughter  both  became  decidedly  pious 
— the  former,  the  late  Baron  de  Sta'd,  died  in  the  faith  of  the 
gospel  ;*  the  latter,  the  present  Duchess  de  Broglie,  is  a  living 
example  in  the  midst  of  the  French  court,  not  only  of  the  Protest- 
ant faith,  but  of  a  devout  life. 

After  the  death  of  this  pious  clergyman,  it  does  not  appear  that 
there  was  left  another  experimental  minister  in  the  church.  Ge- 
neva, however,  was  not  long  to  be  left  without  witnesses  for  the 
truth  of  a  spiritual  religion.  A  young  man,  Monsieur  Empeytez, 
became  unhappy  under  a  sense  of  his  guilt  as  a  sinner,  but  could 
find  no  relief.  He  thought  he  must  punish  his  body  for  the  sin 
of  his  soul ;  and,  for  that  purpose,  among  other  methods  adopted, 
he  made  him  a  cross  of  thorns,  and  put  it  next  to  his  flesh  in  his 
bosom,  that  he  might  be  constantly  reminded  of  his  guilt  and 
punished  for  his  sins.  At  length,  however,  he  found  one  who,  in 
obscurity,  knew  the  way  of  faith,  and  taught  it  to  him.  He  heard 
and  believed.  He  is  now  a  Christian  minister,  and  has  been  in- 
strumental in  turning  the  feet  of  others  into  the  faith  and  experi- 
ence of  the  gospel. f  Others,  also,  have  been  raised  up  as  faithful 
and  successful  instruments,  in  the  hand  of  God,  of  spreading  holi- 
ness among  the  people.  Monsieur  Empeytez  is  now  an  associ- 
ate pastor,  with  two  others  of  an  independent  church,  which 
meets  in  an  uncomfortable  place  in  the  Bourg  de  Four,  in  Ge- 
neva. This  church,  as  appears  by  a  circular  lately  issued,  soli- 
citing aid  from  their  brethren  to  assist  them  in  procuring  a  more 
convenient  and  spacious  place  of  worship,  had  its  origin  in  the 
piety  of  a  number  of  individuals  who,  as  early  as  1811,  had 
commenced  in  their  spiritual  course,  mauger  all  the  formality  and 
darkness  which  reigned  around  them.  At  first  they  only  had  pri- 

*  We  visited  the  parents  of  the  baron's  wife,  who  still  lives  a  widow,  and  found  the 
family  most  interesting,  intelligent,  and  pious.  The  father  supports,  at  his  own  expense, 
an  excellent  school.  The  family  residence  is  a  pleasant  ride  of  an  hour  from  Geneva. 

t  We  attended  a  social  meeting  one  afternoon  at  his  house,  which  is  delightfully  situa- 
ted  at  a  little  distance  from  the  city.  In  going  thither  we  not  only  had  a  most  delightful 
walk,  and  a  fine  view  of  the  scenery  south  of  the  city  and  of  the  valley  of  the  Arvtt 
which  enters  the  Rhone  just  below  the  city,  but  we  also  passed  two  places  of  opposite  in- 
terest :  the  one  was  the  spot  where  Servetus  was  burnt ;  and  the  other  the  house  where 
once  lived  that  devoted  missionary,  Felix  Neff. 


THE    "  EVANGELICAL    SOCIETY."  413- 

rate  meetings  for  prayer  and  religious  conversation,  but  in  1817 
they  formed  a  regular  church,  and  have,  since  that  time,  been  in- 
creasing in  their  influence  at  home  and  abroad.  This  little  church 
has  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  impulse  that  has  been  given  to  the 
cause  of  evangelical  piety  in  Switzerland  and  France.  From 
this  little  company  have  gone  forth  as  missionaries,  instructers> 
colporteurs,  &c.,  twenty-five  at  least ;  most  of  whom  are  still  in 
the  work.  Two  of  the  most  eminent,  viz.,  Felix  Neff  and  Henry 
Pitt  (the  latter  has  already  been  spoken  of  as  having  laboured  in 
Paris  and  died  at  Versailles),  have  entered  into  their  rest. 

Connected  with  this  church  is  a  school,  where  persons  are  in 
structed  as  missionary  schoolmasters,  colporteurs,  &c.,  for  the 
spread  of  the  gospel.  These  are  found  to  be  very  efficient  agents 
in  spreading  the  knowledge  of  Christ  among  the  lower  classes  in 
France  and  Switzerland.  They  distribute  the  Bible,  the  Evan-> 
gelical  Magazine,  and  various  religious  publications,  which  tend 
greatly  to  rouse  the  spirit  of  the  people  to  an  attention  to  their 
eternal  interests. 

With  this  band  of  Christians  we  had  the  pleasure  of  Christian 
communion  on  the  Sabbath,  the  first  opportunity  we  had  enjoyed 
since  we  left  Paris.  To  such  as  have  never  been  deprived  of  the 
benefits  of  Christian  communion  and  worship  for  months  together, 
I  cannot  fully  describe  the  pleasure  we  felt  in  joining  again  with 
those  who,  in  the  manner  the  Romanists  call  heresy,  worship  the 
God  of  our  fathers.  This  little  band  of  Christians  has  been  per- 
secuted, and  reproached,  and  driven  from  place  to  place;  and 
their  congregation  is  now  so  unfavourably  situated  that  they  have 
very  little  chance  to  enlarge  their  field  of  usefulness.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  appeal  they  now  make  to  their  fellow-Christians 
will  be  generously  responded  to,  and  that  American  Christians 
will  assist  in  this  very  desirable  and  important  charity. 

But  to  return  to  the  Evangelical  Society.  This  is  made  up  of 
all,  in  different  cantons  and  of  different  churches,  independent  or 
national,  who  feel  the  importance,  in  the  midst  of  spiritual  death, 
of  uniting  to  awake  the  public  mind  to  the  great  work  of  saving 
their  souls  and  the  souls  of  their  fellow-men.  It  is  a  merging  of 
peculiar  and  local  interests  in  the  great  and  paramount  cause  of 
spreading  and  enforcing  the  truth.  Their  prayers  were  fervent, 
their  salutations  from  distant  and  auxiliary  societies  were  sincere 

. 


414  SWITZERLAND. 

and  their  bands  of  union  appeared  strong,  and  their  combined  la- 
bours efficient.  Numbers  were  there  from  the  national  churches 
of  the  other  cantons ;  few,  indeed,  from  Geneva.  The  Geneva 
Church  will  not  license  nor  ordain  an  evangelical  man.  One,* 
that  was  a  pastor  in  the  church,  they  have  silenced,  and  excluded 
from  his  clerical  functions,  for  they  have  this  power ;  and  this 
shows  most  clearly  the  extreme  absurdity  of  a  state  religion.  A 
fallen  church  is  thus  standing  in  the  way  of  the  gospel,  with  all 
the  authority  of  the  state  to  sustain  it. 

I  said  this  pastor  was  silenced,  and  so  he  is,  officially,  in  the 
national  church;  but  he  preaches  still.  His  congregation  have 
built  a  separate  church,  called  the  Oratoir,  where  he  preaches 
and  administers  the  sacraments ;  and  he  has  also  a  theological 
school,  where  he  is  training  young  men  for  the  work,  in  spite  of 
all  the  threatenings  and  anathemas  of  the  national  church ;  so 
that  this  their  opposition  has  turned  out  to  the  furtherance  of  the 
gospel.  This  revival  is  interesting  from  the  facts  that  a  number 
of  influential  men  have  become  the  subjects  of  it ;  that  it  is  stead- 
ily advancing;  that  it  is  operating  powerfully  upon  France  and 
the  other  Swiss  cantons,  and  promises  much  for  the  cause  of 
Christ  here.  Pure  religion,  experimental  godliness,  is  beginning 
to  revive  where  the  reformation  from  popery  was  first  established  • 
nay,  it  is  said  the  work  seems  to  run  in  the  very  channels,  and 
influence  the  descendants  of  those  very  families  that  stood  out 
foremost  in  the  former  reformation.  It  has  refreshed  especially 
sojne  of  those  families  that  fled  from  Parma  and  other  Italian 
cities,  that  they  might  escape  from  the  Inquisition.  This  work, 
too,  is  interesting  from  its  position,  between  Germany  and  France, 
where  both  the  German  and  French  languages  are  spoken  ;  among 
ail  enterprising  race,  who  circulate  extensively,  in  their  ordinary 
worldly  business,  throughout  Europe,  and  who  make  excellent 
missionaries  to  go  out  voluntarily  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
nations  around  them.  It  is  interesting  from  the  instrumentalities 
which  the  great  Head  of  the  church  uses  in  its  accomplishment. 
In  this  particular  it  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  revival 
under  the  Wesleys  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  In  addition  to 

*  This  was  Mr. .  He  entered  the  national  church  in  1810,  and  was  a  gay,  world- 
ly minister  until  1816,  when,.by  reading  the  Scriptures,  he  was  awakened,  and  has  wiice 
become  a  very  useful  minister. 


PROGRESS    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  415 

regular  pastors,  lay-men  of  -various  callings  and  employments  ap- 
pear to  have  been  moved  to  a  co-operation  in  this  work,  and  have 
not  only  taught  and  carried  about  Bibles  and  tracts,  but  have  also 
preached  with  great  success. 

Connected  with  these  features  there  are  some  not  so  promis- 
ing. First,  there  is  too  much  connexion  with  the  state,  especially 
in  some  of  the  cantons.  Then  there  is  too  strong  a  spice  of  Cal- 
vinism among  a  great  portion  of  the  evangelical  ministers  ;  al- 
though this  is  very  much  let  alone,  I  believe,  in  their  evangelical 
operations ;  and,  so  long  as  this  is  the  case,  there  is  less  danger 
from  this  antinomian  seed.  And,  finally,  like  all  sudden  and  ex- 
traordinary revivals,  it  has  in  it  some  of  the  spirit  of  fanaticism. 
They  have  a  sect  among  them  called  Momiers  or  Methodistes, 
which  are  represented  to  be  enthusiastic,  and  to  resemble  the 
Quietists  of  a  former  age.  Whether  they  are  misrepresented  like 
the  Methodists  of  England  when  they  first  arose,  I  was  not  able 
fully  to  satisfy  myself.  But  I  conclude,  from  all  I  could  gather, 
that  they  had  carried  the  doctrine  of  the  operations  of  the  Spirit 
to  a  fanatical  excess.  At  any  rate,  there  is  now  found  in  Switzer 
land  a  tincture  of  the  Irving  heresy  or  delusion,  which  unhappily 
has  been  transplanted  hither  from  London.  A  nephew  of  Mr 
Fletcher's,  who  was  a  pastor  in  the  Canton  de  Vaud,  and,  I  be 
lieve,  in  the  town  of  Nyon,  became  tinctured  with  this  while  on  a 
visit  to  London  ;  and  some  others  also  have  embraced  it.  The 
wildness  of  these  notions  will  undoubtedly  react  upon  the  evan- 
gelical cause  to  its  reproach  and  injury.*  The  cause,  however, 
will  triumph ;  and  I  cannot  but  look  upon  the  present  religious 
movement  in  Switzerland,  and  its  already  perceptible  influences 
upon  the  other  nations  of  Europe,  as  one  of  the  signs  of  the  times 
most  favourable  to  the  Christian  cause.  This  work,  however, 
does  not  go  on  without  opposition.  Severe  persecutions  have 
been  experienced  by  the  evangelical  Christians,  and  in  the  Can- 
ton de  Vaud  a  most  intolerant  law  has  been  enacted  against  the 
Momiers.  This,  however,  is  only  a  proof  that  the  cause  is  gain 
ing  ground,  and  that  Satan  and  a  formal  church  are  alarmed  for 
their  craft. 


there 

cal  s 


*  I  am  sorry  to  leam  that  some  of  these  teachers  have  visited  Geneva  since  I  was 
there,  and  have  deluded  away  quite  a  number  of  the  students  in  the  evangelical  theologi 
oal  school,  and  have  almost  broken  up  the  institution. 


416  SWITZERLAND. 

1  have  dwelt  thus  long  upon  the  religious  state  of  Geneva  and 
Switzerland,  because  this  was  to  me  one  of  the  most,  nay,  I  may 
say,  the  most  interesting  feature  in  the  country.  Several  inter- 
esting facts  of  a  local  character  came  to  my  knowledge,  which  I 
should  be  glad  to  narrate,  but  I  am  aware  of  the  danger  of  prolixity, 
and  I  forbear. 

The  situation  of  Geneva  is  delightful.  The  Rhone,  as  its  limpid 
waters  first  shoot  from  the  lake,  passes  through  it,  dividing  it  into 
two  unequal  parts,  with  an  islet  in  the  centre.  The  current  is 
very  rapid,  and  carries  numerous  water-wheels,  which  give  im- 
pulse to  machinery  of  various  kinds — insomuch  that  the  banks 
and  the  current,  far  inward  towards  the  centre  of  the  channel, 
from  either  side,  are  covered  with  shops  of  artisans  and  manufac- 
turers ;  and  the  constantly-gliding  current  seems  to  have  all  its 
power  used  up  for  the  important  purposes  of  aiding  and  relieving 
human  labour.  It  is  an  animating  scene  of  life  and  industry,  so 
unlike  the  torpor  that  hangs  over  the  Italian  cities,  that  you  are 
constrained  to  pause,  especially  if  you  have  just  come  from  Italy, 
and  wonder  at  the  change.  What  has  made  the  difference  ? 
Two  causes  doubtless  combine — religion  and  government.  The 
Genevese  are  an  industrious,  enterprising,  thriving  people ;  and 
the  position  of  their  city  is  most  advantageous,  not  only  in  refer- 
ence to  the  water  power  just  mentioned,  but  also  in  reference  to 
its  advantages  of  trade,  by  reason  of  the  lake  navigation,  and  its 
frontier  position  between  France  and  Switzerland.  The  city  is 
walled  and  surrounded  by  a  Fosse,  and  the  gates  are  guarded. 
It  contains  a  population  of  about  thirty-five  thousand,  and  seems 
scarcely  capable  of  a  very  great  increase,  on  account  of  its 
straitened  dimensions.  It  lies  very  uneven,  by  reason  of  the 
inequality  of  the  ground ;  and  some  of  the  streets  are  difficult  of 
access,  on  account  of  the  steepness  of  the  hills,  although  a  good 
portion  of  the  city  is  comfortably  level.  It  is  watered  by  an  hy- 
draulic machine,  which  elevates  the  water  one  hundred  and  ten 
feet  into  the  centre  of  the  city. 

Geneva  has  long  been  celebrated  for  its  schools  and  eminent 
men.  To  have  produced  a  Calvin  and  a  Beza,  is  honour  enough 
of  this  kind  for  one  city.  But  she  has  also  had  her  Burlamaqui, 
in  the  law ;  and  as  a  statesman  she  has  produced  a  Neckar,  and 
in  political  economy,  J".  B.  Say — besides  numerous  others  in 


GENEVA.  417 

the  various  departments  of  science  and  literature.  At  the  pres- 
ent day,  she  has  in  the  department  of  history,  Sismondi,  and  in 
botany  the  savan,  whose  fame  is  known  to  the  world,  the  emi- 
nent De  Candolle.  This  latter  gentleman  has  ornamented  and 
enriched  the  city  by  a  fine  botanical  garden,  which  he  com- 
menced in  181 6,  and  has  made  it  a  rich  appendage  to  this  interest- 
ing town. 

The  Academy  founded  by  Calvin  and  divided  into  the  depart- 
ments of  Law,  Theology,  Sciences,  and  Lettres,  is  still  flourishing, 
with  various  other  schools  and  institutions,*  libraries  and  literary 
and  scientific  associations.  The  public  library  has  fifty  thousand 
volumes,  and  many  valuable  manuscripts,  among  which  are  ser- 
mons and  letters  of  Calvin  and  Beza. 

The  Cathedral  is  a  venerable  old  building,  and  has  the  more 
interest  from  its  associations ;  built  for  Catholic  service,  it  became 
the  theatre  of  a  Calvin  and  others,  in  which  to  proclaim  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Reformation.  But  these  Catholic  cathedrals  and 
churches  are,  after  all,  very  inconvenient  edifices  for  Protestant 
worship.  They  were  not  built  for  places  of  instruction  for  the 
people,  but  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass.  Their  pillars,  arches, 
colonnades,  recesses,  triple  naves,  altars,  side  chapels,  tribunes, 
and  choirs,  are  only  suited  to  the  cumbersome  ceremonies  of  the 
Roman  worship,  and  are  constructed  in  the  very  worst  possible 
form  for  the  worship  of  Protestants.  Yet  these  constitute  the 
principal  Protestant  churches  in  Switzerland ;  for  where  the  people 
become  Protestants,  they  take  their  churches  with  them,  and  where 
they  are  divided,  they  not  unfrequently,  by  mutual  arrangement, 
divide  the  parish  church  between  them ;  the  Catholics  occupying 
it  one  part  of  the  day,  and  the  Protestants  the  other. 

Geneva  was  a  city  in  the  time  of  the  ancient  Romans ;  after 
their  transalpine  power  ceased,  it  fell  successively  under  the 
Bourguignans,  the  Ostrogoths,  the  Franks,  &c.,  until  in  1535  it 
threw  off  all  foreign  domination,  and  established  a  republic.  In 
1798,  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  but  in  December,  1813, 
it  recovered  its  independence,  which  was  guarantied  in  1814,  by 
the  allied  powers  ;  and  in  1815,  it  was  associated  with  the  Swiss 
confederacy  as  the  Twenty-second  Canton.  The  American  reader 
will  understand,  however,  that  there  is  a  wide  difference,  after  all, 
*  The  University  has  between  three  and  four  hundred  students. 

3G 


418  SWITZERLAND. 

between  the  government  of  the  Swiss  cantons  and  that  of  the 
United  States.  When  we  came  to  the  gate  of  this  walled  and 
guarded  city,  and  our  passports  were  demanded,  I  observed  that 
this  did  not  appear  much  like  a  republic.  A  German,  who  was 
in  the  coach  with  us,  (having,  with  a  lady,  taken  the  place  of 
the  Swiss  family,  whom  we  left  at  Nyon,)  shrewdly  remarked, 
that  "  a  Swiss  republic  was  one  thing  and  an  American  republic 
another."  This  I  was  often  reminded  of  while  in  Switzerland. 
The  union  of  the  different  cantons  is  a  loose  confederacy,  which, 
like  the  old  confederation  of  the  United  States,  gives  rise  to 
numerous  jealousies  and  disputes.  It  answers  a  much  better  pur- 
pose, however,  for  these  mountainous  cantons,  than  it  would  for  a 
large  commercial  country  like  ours,  and  the  more  because  the  sur- 
rounding nations  will  finally  put  them  right,  if  they  get  too  violent. 
When  the  other  cantons,  following  Berne,  which  led  the  way, 
annulled,  in  1813,  the  "Act  of  pacification,"  which  had  been 
formed  by  Napoleon  for  Switzerland,  and  which  should  rather 
have  been  called  an  "  Act  to  subject  Switzerland  to  his  control," 
they  attempted  to  form  a  confederation  among  themselves,  that 
should  secure  their  liberties  and  independence.  But  they  had  so 
many  cantonal  claims  for  indemnities,  remunerations,  restorations 
of  territory,  &c.,  that  their  attempts  were  nothing  but  so  many 
renewals  of  contention  and  opposition.  The  Allied  Sovereigns, 
however,  to  their  honour  be  it  spoken,  and  they  should  have  due 
credit  for  all  the  good  they  did,  when  they  were  guilty  of  so  many 
acts  of  oppression  and  injustice,  took  the  subject  under  considera- 
tion in  their  Congress  at  Vienna,  weighed  the  respective  claims, 
adjusted  the  indemnities,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  the  present 
confederation.  By  this  arrangement  each  canton  sends  delegates 
to  the  General  Diet — pays  an  established  proportion  of  the  gener- 
al expense,  and  furnishes  a  given  quota  of  soldiers  in  time  of 
war.  The  General  Diet  decides  all  questions  that  relate  to  the 
general  interests,  but  the  several  cantons  are,  to  a  very  great  ex- 
tent, independent,  and  differ  very  considerably  in  their  forms  of 
government.  Republics  although  they  are  called,  yet  they  are  in 
fact  aristocracies — the  offices  being  filled  only  from  the  aristo- 
cratic classes.  In  this  respect,  however,  there  is  a  change  going 
on  in  the  country,  and  the  people  are  breaking  down  the  old 
aristocratic  barriers.  In  Berne,  there  has  been  of  late,  a  revolu- 


GENEVA.  419 

tion  in  faiour  of  popular  rights.  One  of  the  CBntons,Neufchatel, 
is  an  hereditary  monarchy.  This  was  formerly  a  Prussian  princi- 
pality, and  became  associated  with  the  Swiss  confederacy,  at  the 
same  time  with  Valais  and  Geneva,  by  the  decisions  of  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna. 

There  is  one  circumstance  or  custom  which  saves  Geneva,  and 
I  know  not  but  this  is  true  of  the  other  cantons,  from  much  of  that 
demagogical  electioneering  so  prejudicial  to  the  peace,  and  so 
dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  society  in  our  country.  The  officers 
of  government  serve  for  the  honour  of  it  and  for  patriotism — they 
have  no  pay.  I  asked  one  of  the  citizens  what  they  would  do, 
if  a  man  elected  should  refuse  to  serve  in  any  office.  He  said 
that  would  be  very  unpopular.  For  a  man,  whose  circumstances 
would  permit  of  it,  to  refuse  to  serve  his  country,  would  be  con- 
sidered as  a  most  glaring  evidence  of  a  disregard  for  the  welfare 
of  the  nation.  Is  not  this  the  true  conservative  principle  ?  In 
this  way  a  citizen  takes  office  not  to  serve  himself,  but  his  country. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  Geneva  society  is, 
the  courtesy  that  prevails,  unembarrassed  with  the  formalities  of 
etiquette.  There  are  intelligence,  politeness,  and  much  of  suav- 
ity, and  yet  every  one  is  left,  to  a  great  extent,  free  and  untram- 
melled by  unmeaning  forms.  This  of  itself  renders  it  a  desirable 
residence.  Another  delightful  appendage  to  a  residence  in  Ge- 
neva, is,  the  enchanting  scenery  around.  Do  you  wish  to  take  a 
sail  ?  You  have  the  lake  on  which  steamboats  and  other  water- 
craft  ply  continually  to  the  distance  of  sixty  miles,  and  along  the 
shores  of  which  are  numerous  country-seats  and  villages.  Do 
you  wish  to  ride  ?  You  have  beautiful  promenades  in  every  di- 
rection. In  short,  I  saw  no  place  in  my  tour  which  appeared  to 
me  to  combine  so  many  advantages  for  a  summer's  residence  as 
Geneva.  Our  only  regret  was  that  our  stay  was  so  short.  We 
had  time  to  make  but  few  excursions  in  the  neighbourhood,  and 
these  but  short.  We  could  see  Mont  Blanc  ;  but  neither  time 
nor  health  would  permit  us  to  visit  it.  We  saw  the  Arve  rolling 
down  its  channels  the  melted  snows  of  the  mountains  around  the 
Chamouni  valley;  but  we  could  not  visit  this  interesting  spot, 
which  had  been  concealed  from  the  rest  of  the  world  for  centu- 
ries previous  to  1741,  when  it  was  discovered  by  the  two  English 
travellers,  Messrs.  Windham  and  Pocock.  These  and  numerous 


420  SWITZERLAND 

other  excursions,  we  had  to  forego,  and  had  time  only  to  make 
the  best  route  we  could  in  our  tour  to  the  Rhine,  which  we  pro- 
posed to  take  in  our  way  to  England. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

PARTING  with  our  friends,  for  so  we  must  call  them,  though  but  a 
few  days  before  we  were  strangers  to  each  other,  we  left  this 
lovely  city  in  a  steamboat  for  Lausanne.     Here  we  dined  and 
engaged  a  voiturier  for  Berne  for  thirty  francs.     The  regular 
price  is  twenty  francs  a  day  (about  four  dollars) ;  but  each  day 
you  advance,  is  reckoned  as  two,  unless  you  can  meet  with  a  re- 
turn carriage,  because  the  coachman  must  have  pay  for  return- 
ing as  well  as  for  going.     This  was  the  best  specimen  of  veturino 
travelling  we  had  enjoyed  on  the  continent.    With  a  new  carriage, 
good  horses,  a  kind  and  intelligent  veturino,  fine  weather,  and  a 
most  picturesque  country,  the  route  through  Switzerland  was  in- 
describably delightful.     There  was  a  pleasing  variety  of  hill  and 
dale,  in  general  appearance,  not  unlike  the  most  cultivated  parts 
of  New-England.     The  forests  were  mostly  spruce  and  beach, 
with  a  smaller  proportion  of  oak.     Orchards  in  abundance.     The 
cultivated  fields  were  productive  of  grass,  rye,  wheat,  peas,  pota- 
toes, &c.     The  meadows  looked  as  though  Nature  was  profligate 
in  the  bestowment  of  her  floral  beduties,  and  the  air  was  redolent 
with  their  fragrance.     From  the  tops  of  the  hills  we  had  splendid 
views  of  mountain-scenery,  with  snowy  summits    wreathed  in 
clouds.     We  were  between  two  elevated  chains  of  mountains : 
the  Alps  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Jura  on  the  other.     The  former 
have  their  greatest  elevation  on  the  south  of  our  route,  and  ex- 
tending, from  a  parallel  of  longitude"  as  far  west  as  the  western 
extremity  of  Switzerland  to  Hungary  on  the  east,  above  two  hun- 
dred leagues ;  and  the  latter,  starting  from  the  west  and  north  of 
the  Rhone,  extend  one  hundred  leagues  on  the  northern  boundary 
to  the  neighbourood  of  the  Rhine.     These  mountains  make  the 
central  and  more  level  parts  of  Switzerland  one  grand  amphithea- 


LAUSA.NNE  421 

tre.  These  interior  parts  are  delightfully  diversified  with  hills 
and  dales ;  and  when  the  traveller  arrives  at  the  top  of  one  of  the 
intermediate  hills  where  he  can  see  the  neighbouring  eminences, 
the  intervening  lakes,  and  the  distant  cordon  of  Alpine  ranges, 
broken  into  successive  turrets  and  extending  quite  round  the  hori- 
zon, he  feels  that  all  is  enchantment. 

To  these  general  features  of  interest,  near  and  more  remote, 
we  were  amused  and  pleased  with  certain  other  features  of  the 
picturesque — especially  the  cottages  of  the  peasants,  and  the  cos- 
tumes of  the  women.  The  former  were  unique — built  generally 
of  wood — their  roofs  jutting  over  the  walls,  some  ten  or  fifteen 
feet — galleries,  or  a  sort  of  corridor,  running  across  the  ends — 
the  outside  often  carved  and  inscribed  with  texts  of  Scripture,  and 
dates  of  the  births  of  the  children ;  and,  whatever  might  be  the 
state  of  the  interior,  the  exterior  was  washed  and  kept  clean, 
although  very  generally  the  stable  and  barn  were  in  one  end,  and 
a  large  pile  of  manure  in  front. 

Every  canton  has  its  costume.  That  of  Berne  is  very  pic- 
turesque. The  general  features  of  it  are,  a  black  silk  cap,  with 
a  high  flaunting  gauze  border,  made  stiff  so  as  to  run  up  from  the 
head  in  a  waiving  circlet,  eight  or  ten  inches  in  depth — a  black 
velvet  bodice  or  stays,  worked  and  ornamented,  and  a  black  collar, 
which  is  sometimes  ornamented  with  chains  of  metal  resembling 
silver,  wreathed  over  the  shoulders  and  fastened  to  the  bodice, 
near  the  waist — a  black  riband  braided  into  the  hair,  and  hang- 
ing down  to  the  ground — white  full  sleeves  for  the  upper,  and 
dark  mits  for  the  lower  arm,  and  blue  skirts  bound  round  the  bot- 
tom with  red. 

In  some  respects  the  country  was  unlike  New-England.  The 
farms  were  not  fenced ;  the  cattle  are  stabled  winter  and  sum- 
mer ;  the  women  are  all  in  the  fields  at  work,  some  of  them  in  very 
menial  employments ;  one  of  them,  decked,  in  her  country  cos- 
tume, I  saw  carrying  out  manure  in  her  apron ;  all  were  engaged 
in  the  most  laborious  and  filthy  parts  of  agricultural  labour.  When 
they  carry  burdens  on  their  heads,  they  slip  their  caps  back  to 
save  them  from  being  crushed.  How  the  domestic  affairs  go  on 
with  most  of  the  women  in  the  field,  I  cannot  say ;  I  suppose,  how- 
ever, there  is  very  little  done  within  doors.  Nevertheless,  the 
hotels  were  clean  and  well  furnished — unlike  France  and  Italy* 
36 


422  SWITZERLAND. 

the  chambermaids  were  females,  and  the  servants  were  generally 
courteous  and  attentive. 

In  our  way  to  Berne  we  turned  a  little  from  the  direct  route, 
for  the  purpose  of  passing  through  Friburg,  the  capital  of  the 
canton  of  the  same  name.     This  canton  contains  about  eighty- 
seven  thousand  inhabitants,  most  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of 
the  district  of  Morat,  which  contains  about  eight  thousand  Protest- 
ants, are  Catholics.    The  present  reformation,  however,  is  making 
some  progress  here.     A  young  shoemaker,  in   the   spirit  of  a 
missionary,  established  himself  with  much  difficulty  and  opposi- 
tion, in  one  of  the  villages,  where  his  labours  were  very  success- 
ful, and  the  work  spread  to  the  capital  itself,  so  that  when  we 
arrived  there  we  found  that  a  new  Protestant  church  had  just  been 
opened  for  Divine  worship,  and  the  work  was  in  a  prosperous 
state.     This  is,  however,  a  strong  hold  of  the  Catholics.     They 
have  here  a  very  flourishing  college,  which  has  just  been  enlarged 
by  new  and  convenient  edifices,  over  which  we  were  shown,  and 
which  contained  apparatus,  library,  and  other  materials  of  learn- 
ing, with  all  the  necessary  rooms  to  accommodate  a  large  institution. 
They  have  faculties  of  law,  theology,  mathematics,  philosophy, 
ancient  languages,  &c.,  together  with  a  number  of  inferior  semi- 
naries and  schools.     These  public  edifices  stand  upon  the  highest 
grounds  of  this  romantic  city,  and  appear  like  a  citadel.     The 
whole  are  under  the  order  of  the  Jesuits. 

The  town  of  Friburg  is  most  romantically  situated  on  an  uneven 
promontory,  partly  surrounded  by  a  stream,  which  glides  in  pictu- 
resque beauty  at  the  bottom  of  a  glade  or  gorge,  that  in  its  depth  and 
abrupt  cliffs,  associates  with  the  scene  the  attributes  of  the  sublime. 
This  gulf  is  several  hundred  feet  deep,  reckoning  from  the  tops  of 
the  hills,  on  either  side.  The  narrow  and  almost  perpen- 
dicular part,  however,  is  only  about  two  hundred  feet.  Over  this, 
a  suspension  bridge  has  been  recently  thrown,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  in  height,  and  about  one  thousand  feet  in  length.  It 
is  a  splendid  work,  and  the  greatest  curiosity  of  the  kind  I  ever 
saw.  It  is  so  well  represented  in  the  accompanying  plate  that  I 
need  not  describe  it ;  and  will  only  add,  that  the  view,  whether 
you  look  at  it  above  or  below,  is  indescribably  fine,  set  off  as  it 
is  by  the  accompaniments  of  nature  and  art,  with  which  it  is 
surrounded. 


BERNE.  423 

We  spent  several  hours  in  this  little  town,  which  contains  only 
about  seven  thousand  inhabitants,  and  were  amply  paid  for  our 
visit  to  it.  Among  other  curiosities,  was  a  linden-tree,  growing 
near  our  hotel,  which  was  planted  on  the  occasion  of  the  great 
victory  gained  by  the  Swiss  confederates  at  Morat,  over  Charles 
the  Bold.  This  great  battle,  the  most  memorable,  perhaps,  that 
marks  the  Swiss  history,  was  fought  on  the  22d  June,  1476,  and 
resulted  in  the  annihilation  of  an  army  sixty  thousand  strong,  with 
which  the  Duke  of  Burgoine  had,  in  the  month  of  March  preceding, 
crossed  the  Jura,  threatening  to  annihilate  the  states  in  the  mount 
ains,  that  presumed  to  resist  his  claims.  Patriotism  and  valour, 
however,  with  but  about  one  third  of  the  number  of  soldiers,  en- 
tirely overwhelmed  him.  This  memorial  of  the  battle  and  of  the 
victory,  is  at  present  on  the  decline,  and  will  soon  die  of  age  or 
disease,  after  bearing  the  verdant  honours  of  the  confederacy  for 
almost  four  centuries.  T  trust  its  defay  is  n°t  ominous  of  any 
approaching  decline  in  the  liberties  and  independence  of  the 
Swiss  republics. 

We  left  this  delightful  town  for  Berne,  where  we  arrived  the 
same  evening. 

The  canton  of  Berne  is  situated  in  the  heart  of  Switzerland,  and 
is  the  most  extensive  in  territory,  and  has  the  largest  population 
of  any  other  in  the  Swiss  confederation.*  It  contains  three  hundred 
thousand  souls,  who,  with  the  exception  of  about  forty  thousand 
inhabiting  the  country  of  the  Jura  Alps,  are  of  German  extraction 
and  of  the  Protestant  faith.  This  canton  is  beautifully  watered 
and  rich  in  agricultural  products.  The  peasants  live  upon  their 
farms  and  get  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow.  They  ap- 
pear courteous  and  kind-hearted,  giving,  as  they  pass,  the  accus- 
tomed "  God  greet  you"  in  all  the  simplicity  and  honesty  of 
primitive  times. 

The  government  of  Berne,  like  most  of  the  other  Swiss  can 
tons,  was  very  aristocratic ;  notwithstanding,  it  was  called  a  re- 
public. The  nobility  had  exclusive  privileges,  and  were  alone 
eligible  to  the  important  offices.  Such  was  its  character  at  the 
time  of  the  arrangement  of  1815.  With  this  the  people  were 

*  The  population  of  all  the  cantons  is  reported  at  1,687,900.  The  least  populous 
is  Un,  which  has  only  11,800  in  the  canton.  One  thirty-seventh  of  the  lerritory  of 
Switzerland  is  lakes,  and  a  much  greater  portion  uninhabitable  mountains. 


424  SWITZERLAND. 

dissatisfied  ;  and  what  with  the  growing  light  of  the  age,  and  the 
onward  march  of  popular  principles,  and  the  whole  temporarily 
excited,  by  the  return  of  the  Swiss  guards  from  France  after  the 
revolution  of  1830,  the  people  claimed,  and,  to  avoid  the  unequal 
conflict  by  force,  the  nobility  accorded  to  them,  the  privileges 
which  they  had  so  long  been  denied.  Thus,  a  bloodless  reform, 
we  may  almost  say  a  radical  change,  was  effected  in  the  govern- 
ment. It  is  said,  however,  that  there  are  still  discontents  and 
jealousies — the  principles  of  popular  reform  not  having  yet  re- 
ceived their  full  development ;  but  as  the  reform  hitherto  has  ad- 
vanced without  bloodshed,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  any  further 
changes  will  be  effected  in  the  same  way.  Happily  for  the  world 
that  resort  to  arms  is  not  so  frequent  as  formerly ;  and  important 
changes  are  accomplished  by  peaceable  means — by  the  power  of 
reason  rather  than  by  the  sword. 

Berne  is   an  elegant  city.      Its  site   may  hf»  called  a  peninsulair 

promontory,  for  the  river  Aar  flows  on  three  sides  of  it,  in  a 
deep-cut  valley,  giving  this  beautiful  town  a  smiling  throne,  on 
which  she  sits  in  princely  beauty,  as  the  queen  of  the  surround- 
ing country.  The  principal  streets  run  parallel  to  each  other, 
east  and  west,  and  are  crossed  at  right  angles  by  alleys  and  some 
wide  streets.  The  main  streets  are  lined  with  arcades,  and 
the  basement  stories  of  the  houses  are  shops,  so  that  the  sides  of 
the  streets  have  the  appearance  of  extended  bazars,  filled  with 
life  and  business.  In  these  streets,  also,  are  numerous  fountains  to 
supply  the  city  with  water.  The  houses  are  well  built,  of  a  gray 
freestone  ;  and,  like  the  other  cities  of  Switzerland,  it  is  fortified, 
and  a  part  of  the  deep  fosses  are  now  used  as  a  sort  of  den  for  a 
number  of  large  bears,  which  appear  to  be  maintained  at  the 
public  expense,  by  way  of  honouring  the  race.  In  the  centre  of 
the  city  is  a  square  tower,  called  the  Tower  of  the  Clock,  having 
in  it  a  curious  piece  of  mechanism,  made  probably  at  the  time  of 
repairing  the  tower,  which,  according  to  an  inscription,  was  in 
1770,  about  six  hundred  years  after  it  was  first  erected.  The1 
principal  parts  of  the  mechanical  exhibition  are  as  follows  :  dif- 
ferent faces,  representing  the  phases  of  the  moon,  the  signs  of 
the  zodiac,  and  the  twelve  months  of  the  year ;  a  cock,  made  of 
wood,  stretches  up  his  neck  and  crows  twice,  a  minute  before, 
and  twice  a  minute  after  the  clock  strikes ;  a  queer  figure  strikes 


1 


HOFWYL    SCHOOL.  425 

the  hour,  with  a  small  hammer,  on  two  bells ;  a  troop  of  little 
bears,  in  various  pastimes,  rim  out  and  in,  in  a  circle ;  another 
figure,  sitting  on  a  throne,  counts  the  hour,  by  opening  the  mouth, 
lowering  her  sceptre  with  one  hand,  and  turning  an  hour-glass 
with  the  other ;  a  little  lion  holds  a  sword  in  his  paw,  which  he 
motions  to  designate  the  hour,  at  the  same  time  that  he  gives  a 
slight  nod  of  the  head.  So  much  for  curious  trifling,  by  which 
the  artisan,  Gaspard  Brunner,  has  perpetuated  his  name,  at  least 
until  his  machinery  wears  out. 

The  Bernese  have  a  library  of  about  forty-five  thousand  volumes,* 
and  fifteen  thousand  manuscripts ;  a  cabinet  of  coins,  of  natural 
history,  and  of  artificial  curiosities  ;  and  a  garden  of  plants.  They 
have,  also,  a  public  academy,  divided  into  high  and  low  :  the  latter 
for  the  preparatory  course,  and  the  former  for  the  professions  and 
the  higher  walks  of  literature  and  science  :  all  well  sustained 
with  professors  in  the  several  grades  and  departments. 

From  Berne  the  excursions  are  short  and  very  practicable,  to 
some  of  the  most  interesting  mountain  and  lake  scenery  in  Swit- 
zerland ;  but  time  would  not  permit  us  to  make  any  of  these 
excursions.  We  could  not,  however,  forego  the  pleasure  and 
profit  of  visiting  the  famous  school  of  Mr.  Fellenburg*  at  Hofwyl, 
which  is  but  six  miles  from  town.  After  spending  two  nights  in 
Berne,  therefore,  we  left  on  a  beautiful  morning  for  Hofwyl,  where 
we  met  with  our  amiable  and  intelligent  countryman,  Reverend 
W.  C.  Woodbridge,  and  spent  the  day  most  pleasantly,  and,  J  trust, 
profitably,  in  examining  the  premises,  and  making  ourselves  ac- 
quainted with  the  plans  and  operations  of  this  excellent  institution. 

The  Hofwyl  School  has  been  so  long  and  so  favourably  known 
to  a  portion  of  our  citizens,  that  I  hardly  feel  justified  in  taking  up 
the  subject  very  extensively  here ;  especially  as  I  cannot  present 
it  in  as  full  and  perfect  a  portraiture  as  has  been  drawn  in  the 
"  Annals  of  Education,"  and  in  other  works  in  this  country.  How- 
ever, as  these  pages  may  fall  into  some  hands  that  have  not  been 
favoured  with  these  works,  I  will  notice  a  few  things,  by  way  of 
adding  my  testimony  to  what  has  been  said  of  this  excellent  in- 
stitution. 

This  institution  was  got  up  by  the  individual  exertions  and  pri- 

*  Count  Fellenburg,  he  was  formerly  called  5  but,  like  Lafayette,  he  has  renounced 
his  title,  to  be  consistent  with  his  republican  principles, 

36  3H 


426  SWITZERLAND. 

vate  fortune  of  Monsieur  de  Fcllenburg.  It  was  designed  to  give 
a  practical  illustration  of  an  idea,  conceived  by  Mr.  Fellenburg, 
of  "  reforming  society  by  means  of  education."  For  this  purpose, 
he  has  fixed  on  a  site,  at  a  distance  from  a  large  town,  and  com- 
menced his  operations  and  matured  his  plans,  until  the  institution 
is  expanded  to  its  present  dimensions.  Without  tracing  it  through 
its  various  stages,  I  will  describe  it  as  I  found  it. 

1.  The  Buildings.     These  of  themselves  constitute  a  little 
village.     The  family  mansion  is  in  the  centre  ;  and  around  it  are 
four  or  five  different  edifices  for  the  schools,  several  farmhouses, 
granaries — a  house  for  the  washerwoman  and  laundress — hotel 
for  the  institution — swimming  school,  &c.,  to  the  number  of  be- 
tween twenty  and  thirty  buildings.     These  are  interspersed  with 
play-grounds,  a  park,  and  private  and  public  walks  ;  and  sur- 
rounded by  an  extensive  plantation,  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 

2.  The  Division  of  the  Institution.     To  carry  out  his  plan, 
Mr.  Fellenburg  seems  to  have  thought  it  necessary  to  establish 
schools  of  different  grades,  suited  to  the  different  ranks  or  condi- 
tions of  society.    To  this  end,  he  has  several  schools,  one  for  the 
poor,  a  scientific  institute  for  the  rich  and  noble,  and  an  inter- 
mediate  school  for  the  middle  classes.     In  addition  to  these,  there 
is  a  normal  school,  or  a  department  for  educating  teachers  ;  for 
one  of  the  leading  objects  of  the  proprietor,  is  to  train  and  qualify 
teachers.     This  department,  however,  was  not  in  distinct  opera- 
tion when  I  was  there,  although  a  constant  eye  is  had  to  this 
object ;  and  if  any  one  in  the  rural  school  manifests  a  talent  for  a 
good  instructer,  he  is  transferred  to  the  higher  school,  to  be  train- 
ed for  that  profession.     Nor  is  this  the  only  case  in  which  the 
students  are  transferred  from  one  school  to  the  other.  Any  special 
developement  of  talent,  promising  superior  scholarship,  is  encour- 
aged in  the  same  way. 

The  scientific  institute  contains  at  present  only  about  forty 
students.  The  reason  for  this  may  be  found  in  the  political 
course  of  Mr.  Fellenburg;  for,  in  the  late  contest  between  the 
aristocracy  and  the  people,  Mr.  Fellenburg,  true  to  his  republican 
principles,  took  the  side  of  the  latter,  which  gave  such  offence  to 
his  fellow-citizens  of  the  same  rank,  that  many  of  them  have  with- 
drawn their  patronage  from  the  school.  There  is  about  the  same 
number  in  the  rural  school ;  these,  independent  of  what  they  earn 


THE    HOPWYL    SCHOOL.  427 

by  their  labour,  are  educated  gratuitously.  In  the  intermediate 
school  there  are  about  one  hundred. 

3.  The  Government. — As  Mr.  Fellenburg  is  sole  proprietor,  so 
he  is  absolute  governor  of  this  institution,  or,  more  properly,  he 
is  the  father  of  this  family  ;  for  the  government  is  truly  patri- 
archal. All  the  subordinate  teachers  are  solely  under  his  con- 
trol, and  all  the  students  look  up  to  him  as  the  common  father ; 
all  needful  liberty  is  given  to  throw  them,  in  a  great  degree,  upon 
their  own  responsibilities,  and  yet  due  care  is  taken  to  follow 
them  with  such  a  parental  solicitude  as  to  prevent  them  from 
being  exposed  to  too  strong  temptations,  and  with  the  view  to 
call  their  attention,  speedily  and  kindly,  to  the  beginnings  of  error. 
This  trains  their  moral  feelings,  calls  conscience  into  action,  and 
teaches  them  to  resist  temptation,  not  for  wrath,  but  for  con- 
science' sake.  This  is  the  very  reverse  of  the  French  system  of 
government.  They  put  their  eleves  under  a  lock  and  key,  and  trust 
almost  entirely  to  seclusion  and  physical  restraints  to  guard  their 
morals  and  habits.  This  prevents  the  overt  act  of  moral  delin- 
quency, but  causes,  on  the  one  hand,  a  rank  growth  of  many  of  the 
nascent  passions,  and,  on  the  other,  effectually  excludes  all  educa- 
tion of  conscience  and  the  moral  feelings.  The  truth  is,  there  are 
two  wrong  ways,  and  but  one  right  way,  of  governing  a  literary  in- 
stitution. The  two  wrong  ways  are  the  easiest  for  the  instructer, 
buf  are  both  equally  ruinous  to  the  pupil.  They  appear  to  have 
been  adopted  with  a  view  to  the  good  of  the  student,  but  with  a 
design  to  secure  some  good  to  him  with  the  least  possible  trouble 
to  the  teacher.  The  first  of  these  is  that  of  the  French  already 
alluded  to,  and  is  the  same  with  that  of  most  Catholic  countries, 
and  is  a  part  of  the  same  system  that  encourages  convents  and 
monasteries ;  founded,  in  fact,  upon  that  anti-scriptural  doctrine, 
that  we  are  to  be  "  kept  from  the  evil  of  the  world"  by  being 
"  taken  out  of  the  world."  True,  if  you  put  your  pupil  in  prison 
he  will  not  get  out  to  do  any  mischief,  if  your  locks  and  walls 
are  safe ;  but,  when  he  gets  out,  whether  by  stealth  or  at  the 
time  of  his  legal  enlargement,  you  may  be  quite  sure  he  will  do 
mischief  with  but  little  remorse. 

The  other  extreme  is  to  give  the  student  up  entirely  to  his 
own  responsibilities  under  the  sanction  of  fixed  penal  laws.  This 
is  nearly  the  plan  of  the  English,  and  too  many  qf  the  American 


428  SWITZERLAND. 

universities  and  colleges.  This,  too,  is  an  easy  process  ;  for  it 
takes  much  less  time  to  decide  a  case  and  affix  a  penalty,  in  view 
of  a  Jixed  statute,  than  it  does  to  look  after  the  exposed  youth 
with  a  parental  eye ;  to  fortify  his  mind  with  the  strong  persua- 
sives and  dissuasives  of  moral  and  religious  obligations ;  and  to 
call  his  attention  to  the  elements  of  sin  in  his  heart  and  the  earli- 
est deviations  of  his  practice.  Yet  this  latter  is  the  true  course. 
The  man  who  is  not  willing  to  watch  with  a  vigilance  that  never 
sleeps,  and  to  rebuke,  and  exhort,  persuade  and  correct,  with  a 
diligence  that  never  tires,  is  not  the  man  to  have  the  care  of  youth. 
Mr.  Fellenburg  adopts  the  right  course.  To  parental  authority 
and  counsels  he  adds  the  obligations  of  religion.  Indeed,  reli- 
gion, not  in  its  controverted  dogmas,  but  in  its  moral  precepts  and 
holy  sanctions,  is  made  a  prominent  part  of  instruction  ;  and  thus, 
like  the  hydraulic  works  of  Fair  Mount,  near  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia,* the  very  element  that  is  elevated  into  the  moral  reser- 
voirs of  the  soul  for  future  usefulness  furnishes  the  power  also 
by  which  the  process  itself  is  conducted  with  regularity,  beauty, 
and  efficiency. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  here,  that  there  is  one  point,  and  that 
an  essential  one,  in  which  there  appears,  from  all  I  can  learn,  to 
be  a  deficiency.  The  necessity  of  a  supernatural  work  of  grace 
upon  the  heart  seems  not  to  be  sufficiently  insisted  on.  Of  this 
point  I  could  not  be  informed  by  actual  observation  from  the  short 
time  I  was  there,  but  infer  it  from  the  facts  with  which  I  became 
acquainted  on  the  spot  and  elsewhere.  This,  however,  in  all 
teaching  of  religion,  while  it  should  never  detract  from  the  moral 
precepts,  nor  be  substituted  instead  of  devotional  exercises,  should 
be  inculcated  as  the  only  permanent  foundation  of  all  correct  reli- 
gious practice,  moral  and  devotional.  Here  we  must  take  our 
stand ;  however,  some  may  say  this  is  introducing  "  controverted 
dogmas,"  and,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  justified  in  a  school ;  yet,  to 
the  man  who  believes  in  the  work  of  the  spirit,  the  depravity  of 
the  heart,  and  the  consequent  necessity  of  supernatural  regenera- 
tion, there  can  be  no  option ;  he  must  give  up  his  religion,  or  he 
must  enforce  it  on  evangelical  principles.  I  am  inclined  to  the 
©pinion  that,  in  this  respect,  there  are  schools  in  our  own  country 

*  In  these  works  the  same  river,  the  water  of  which  is  elevated  to  be  conveyed  into 
the  city,  furnishes  also  the  water  power  for  their  elevation. 


THE    HOFWYL    SCHOOL.  429 

which  have  the  advantage  over  the  institution  at  Hofwyl ;  but, 
for  the  inculcation  of  duty  and  of  religious  obligation,  and  for  a 
careful  interweaving  of  our  holy  religion  with  the  whole  course  of 
education,  probably  the  equal  of  the  Hofwyl  school  cannot  be 
found. 

To  avoid  any  plea  of  sectarianism,  as  the  students  are  part  Calho 
lies  and  part  Protestants,  Mr.  Fellenburg  keeps  two  chaplains, 
a  Catholic  and  a  Protestant.  And  while  the  general  principles  of 
religious  obligations  are  inculcated  by  Mr.  Fellenburg,  and  also 
by  the  respective  chaplains  in  turn,  each  chaplain  has  an  oppor- 
tunity, a  part  of  the  day,  to  instruct  his  respective  charge  in  the 
peculiar  dogmas  of  the  religion  he  prefers.  Thus,  while  their 
mutual  intercourse  and  the  authority  of  Mr.  Fellenburg  prevents 
any  unpleasant  collision  of  sentiment,  these  same  causes  tend 
probably  to  soften  their  sectarian  asperities. 

Mr.  Fellenburg,  in  conversation  on  this  subject,  expressed  his 
very  great  surprise  at  the  neglect  of  religious  instruction  in  our 
schools  in  America ;  that  the  Bible  was  excluded  as  a  regular  text- 
book ;  in  short,  that  in  the  United  States,  among  a  religious,  a 
Protestant,  an  enlightened,  and  a  free  people,  man  should  be  edu- 
cated so  much  in  view  of  his  physical  wants  and  his  temporal  ex- 
istence, while  the  moral  feelings  of  the  heart,  and  our  relations  to 
God  and  eternity,  should  be  left  so  much  out  of  our  schools. 
What  could  I  say  in  extenuation  of  such  a  just  accusation  ?  I 
told  him  our  love  of  religious  liberty  and  our  dread  of  sectarianism 
led  us  to  be  jealous  of  religious  instruction  in  our  schools.  But 
he  said  the  great  principles  of  our  religion  would  come  in  collision 
with  no  man's  views  who  believed  in  Christianity,  and  that,  at 
any  rate,  party  views  were  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  im- 
portance of  religious  training;  and,  therefore,  every  good  man 
ought  to  be  willing  to  make  some  sacrifices  of  party  views  for  the 
great  benefits  of  an  early  religious  education.  How  true  are  these 
sentiments  !  how  worthy  of  the  philanthropist  of  Hofwyl !  When 
will  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  feel  their  force  ?  There  is, 
I  trust,  a  better  state  of  feeling  on  this  subject  dawning  upon  our 
country,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that,  in  spite  of  narrow  bigotry  on 
the  one  hand  and  Jacobinical  looseness  on  the  other,  for  these  two 
extremes  generally  exist  together,  an  intelligent,  hallowed,  and 
hallowing  public  sentiment  will  be  formed  on  this  subject  that 


430  SWITZERLAND. 

shall  wipe  away  our  just  reproach,  and  pour  into  our  schools  of 
every  grade  the  soul-preserving  and  soul-reforming  influences  of 
Bible  truth. 

4.  Course  of  Instruction. — I  have  in  part  anticipated  this  by 
enlarging  as  I  have  upon  the  government,  and  the  moral  and  re- 
ligious restraints  involved  in  the  control  exercised  over  the  pupils. 
Mr.  Fellenburg  aims  not  so  much  to  perform  the  office  of  a  teach- 
er, in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  word,  that  is,  one  who  im- 
parts knowledge,  as  that  of  an  educator,  that  is,  one  who  trains 
and  fashions  the  man;  the  whole  man,  intellectual,  moral,  and 
physical.  Hence  the  course  of  education  has  not  respect  so  much 
to  the  amount  of  knowledge  imparted  as  to  the  effect  produced 
upon  character.  To  this  end  the  principles  of  morality  and  reli- 
gion are  inculcated  as  above  described.  The  physical  man  is 
trained  by  rural  labour,  by  gymnastic  exercises,  &c.,  and  the  in- 
tellect is  instructed  by  such  kinds  and  degrees  of  study  as  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  pupil  may  require  and  will  admit  of.  The 
classification  is  not  at  all  governed  by  time  or  age,  but  by  attain- 
ments, and  by  mental  and  physical  capabilities.  The  severer 
studies  are  in  the  morning,  when  the  powers  of  body  and  mind 
are  in  the  most  vigorous  exercise,  and  the  lighter  studies  are  re- 
served for  the  after  part  of  the  day.  No  rewards  are  held  out  to 
excite  ambition  and  rivalry,  but  each  is  encouraged  to  make  the 
best  use  of  the  powers  God  has  given  him ;  and  for  this  course, 
whether  his  success  be  brilliant  or  moderate,  he  is  approved  and 
honoured.  It  is  the  wish  of  Mr.  Fellenburg  to  have  his  pupils  so 
long  with  him  as  to  give  him  time  to  stamp  the  mark  of  Hofwyl 
upon  them.  He  seeks  not  to  have  students  to  come  to  him  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  particular  science,  but  to  be  educated. 
He  only  asks  an  opportunity  to  join  his  endeavours  with  natural, 
powers  and  the  student's  own  efforts,  to  make  the  man  what  he 
should  be  for  the  important  purposes  of  time  and  eternity. 

The  instructers  are  mostly  young  men  ;  several  of  them  are 
performing  the  duties  of  assistant  teachers,  and  at  the  same  time 
pursuing  their  own  studies. 

It  is  impossible  to  go  into  the  minutia  of  the  system  of  educa- 
tion at  Hofwyl.  In  fact,  education,  so  far  as  it  is  an  art,  and  it 
is  both  an  art  and  a  science,  cannot  be  described.  Certain  ob- 
jects may  be  proposed,  and  certain  general  principles  may  be  laid 


THE    HOFWYL    SCHOOL.  431 

down  ;  but  the  practical  adaptation  of  those  principles  to  the  varied 
circumstances  of  the  case  is  a  matter  of  skill,  a  matter  of  experi- 
ence, a  matter  of  natural  aptness,  a  matter  of  taste.  Out  of  five 
hundred  youths  whom  Mr.  Fellenburg  has  instructed  in  his  school 
for  the  indigent,  only  thirteen  have  been  found  who  were  judged 
well  adapted  to  the  profession  of  a  teacher,  or,  more  properly,  of 
an  educator.  This,  if  it  be  a  fair  proportion,  and  I  know  of  no 
place  where  that  proportion  would  be  more  judiciously  designated 
and  recognised  than  here,  shows  how  rare  is  the  talent  for  this 
most  important  of  all  professions.  The  instructers  formed  by  Mr. 
Fellenburg  "  devote  their  most  conscientious  solicitude  and  care 
to  their  pupils  ;  they  share  in  their  pleasures  and  their  painsy 
and  to  them  the  task  is  sweet  and  full  of  delights."  The  painter 
and  the  poet  may  be  assisted  by  the  rules  of  their  art,  but  they 
must  have  taste  and  genius  of  their  own,  or  they  will  never  suc- 
ceed. The  rules  would  be  infinite  that  should  dictate,  in  every 
combination,  where  and  how  to  touch  the  pencil  or  guide  the  pen. 
Having  the  principles  within  him,  and  his  whole  soul  in  his  sub- 
ject, the  artist  touches  the  image  by  the  instinctive  promptings  of 
genius,  and  the  production  springs  forth  true  to  the  life.  So  the 
educator.  He  may  draw  his  bold  outlines  by  the  rules  of  his  art, 
but  the  filling  up,  the  perfecting  of  the  character,  depends  upon 
those  eyery-day,  oft-repeated  touches  which  are  small  and  unim- 
portant in  themselves,  but  are  constantly  working  out  and  perfect- 
ing the  colouring  and  lineaments  of  the  mental  character. 

It  may  be  asked,  does  Mr.  Fellenburg  succeed  according  to  his 
theory  ?  It  would  be  strange  if  it  was  not  found  here,  as  elsewhere, 
that  to  theorize  on  education  is  one  thing,  and  to  do  the  work  an- 
other. But  from  all  I  can  learn  of  the  Hofwyl  Institution,  it  is 
more  interesting  and  important  in  its  practical  operations  and  in 
its  results  than  in  its  theories.  The  Rev.  Mr.  W.,  whom  I  met 
at  Hofwyl,  and  who  has  spent  months  there,  both  now  and  at  a 
former  period,  informed  me  that  his  attention  was  attracted  almost 
every  day  to  some  new  feature  of  this  interesting  institution. 
I  cannot  but  hope  that  the  excellences  of  these  schools  will  be 
ictically  introduced  into  our  country  ;  a  young  man  from  New- 
England,  who  is  an  enthusiast  in  the  cause  of  education,  is  now 
icre  as  an  assistant  instructer ;  and  will,  I  doubt  not,  catch  the 
rerv  spirit  of  Hofwyl  and  transfer  it  to  America.  True,  some 


r 


432  SWITZERLAND, 

things  are  not  desirable.  The  grading  of  the  schools,  whatever 
may  be  its  advantage  there,  would  not  answer  for  us ;  we  want 
no  aristocracy  of  that  kind  introduced  into  our  literary  institutions. 
It  is  also  true  that  some  of  the  best  features  of  the  Hofwyl  sys- 
tem are  beginning  to  be  adopted  with  us.  We  have  schools  where 
the  physical  and  moral,  as  well  as  the  intellectual  man,  are  edu- 
cated ;  we  have  schools  where  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion, 
are  faithfully  inculcated  ;  we  have  schools  where  the  paternal 
government  is  exercised ;  but,  in  our  primary  schools  especially, 
there  is  still  too  much  despotism,  and  in  our  colleges  too  much 
foreign  legislation.  It  is  mortifying  to  know  that  we  have  so 
many  colleges  and  universities  that  have  a  code  of  laws  for  the 
moral  government  of  the  students  enacted  by  one  board,  and  put 
into  the  hands  of  another  for  execution.  It  appears  to  me  that 
every  president  and  faculty  of  a  college  ought  to  be  made  respon- 
sible for  their  government ;  and,  if  they  cannot  regulate  their  inter- 
esting household  without  this  array  of  legislation,  judicial  powers, 
and  magisterial  execution,  they  are  unfit  for  office,  and  should  give 
place  to  others. 

But  to  return.  I  found  much  interest  in  the  agricultural  ar- 
rangements of  Hofwyl.  Mr.  Fellenburg  is  a  great  lover  of  agri- 
culture. He  has  invented  numerous  agricultural  instruments, 
which,  taken  altogether,  constitute  quite  a  museum.  He  had 
forty-four  of  the  finest  cows  I  think  that  I  ever  saw.  These  are 
all  kept  stabled,  and  fed  on  fresh  clover  in  the  season  of  it,  and 
were  as  fat  as  the  fattest  stall-fed  beef,  and  their  milk  was  almost 
cream.  Indeed,  a  leading  employment  of  the  agriculturists  in 
this  part  of  Switzerland,  at  this  season  of  the  year,  is  to  cut  the 
fresh  grass  to  feed  their  stock,  which  is  universally  kept  stabled. 
This  saves  fencing  and  preserves  the  manure,  but  engrosses  much 
time  that  our  farmers,  by  their  method  of  keeping  their  cattle  in 
summer,  save  for  other  purposes. 

We  were  also  much  charmed  with  the  family  of  Mr.  Fellen- 
burg— his  excellent  wife  and  daughters.  Courteous,  pious,  intel- 
ligent, and  affectionate,  they  received  us  with  open  arms,  and 
treated  us  as  strangers  love  to  be  treated.  We  dined  and  took 
tea  with  the  family,  enjoyed  a  most  delightful  social  interview, 
and  were  entertained,  among  other  things,  by  one  of  the  young 
lady's  playing  us  some  of  the  wild  and  enchanting  airs  of  the 


BALE.  433 

Swiss  mountaineers.     We  were  compelled  at  last  reluctantly  to 
bid  them  farewell,  and  returned  to  our  lodgings. 

We  started  on  Friday,  10th  of  June,  for  Bale ;  found  the 
country,  as  before,  picturesque  and  beautiful ;  dined  at  Sol  cure, 
the  capital  of  the  canton  of  the  same  name.  It  is  situated  on  the 
river  Aar,  is  not  large,  but  rather  pleasant  than  otherwise.  Has 
a  public  library  of  ten  thousand  volumes ;  a  museum  of  natural 
history,  which  is  especially  rich  in  petrifactions,*  and,  like  the 
other  cantonal  capitals,  is  a  fortified  city.  Soon  after  leaving  So- 
leure  we  reached  the  base  of  the  Jura  Alps ;  and,  after  coasting 
along  at  their  feet  three  or  four  leagues,  we  turned  up  a  valley 
which  led  us  gradually  to  the  top  almost  without  our  perceiving 
it.  Indeed,  the  mountains  here  had  considerably  subsided,  and 
they  were  cut  through  by  streams  and  inhabited  valleys  on  either 
side,  so  as  to  render  the  entire  route  easy  and  pleasant.  There 
are  some  very  good  views  in  this  passage.  We  lodged  on  the  top 
of  the  pass,  and  the  next  day  at  eleven  A.  M.  entered  Bale. 

This  city  was  the  capital  of  the  canton  of  the  same  name  ;  but 
the  political  divisions  which  have  long  disturbed  the  peace  of 
many  of  the  Swiss  cantons,  viz.,  the  contention  between  the  city 
and  the  country,  has  led  to  an  entire  cantonal  separation,  so  that 
there  is  now  two  cantons  of  Bale :  the  canton  of  the  country,  of 
which  Liestall  is  the  capital,  and  the  canton  of  the  city  of  Bale. 
The  city  persisted  in  its  old  feudal  rights  of  monopolizing  the 
whole  power,  and  of  holding  the  country  as  a  kind  of  an  appen- 
dage to  itself.  Against  this  the  country  remonstrated,  and  claimed 
its  full  share  in  the  government,  until  the  contention  assumed  a 
serious  aspect ;  and,  after  some  violence  on  both  sides,  it  was  ter- 
minated by  a  formal  separation,  which  was  sanctioned  by  the 
Diet  of  the  Cantons . 

One  hardly  knows  which  to  admire  most,  the  arrogancy  of  the 
city,  or  the  patience  of  the  country  in  submitting  to  such  claims 
so  long.  But  this  is  accounted  for  on  the  principle  of  the  strength 
of  the  old  feudal  system,  which  gave  all  the  power  to  the  cities 
and  the  castles,  and  from  the  effects  of  which,  in  this  and  in  other 
things,  society  has  not  yet  fully  recovered  itself  on  the  eastern  con- 
tinent, even  among  the  most  free  and  most  enlightened  ;  and  would 
have  advanced,  doubtless,  much  slower  in  its  progress  towards 


Many  of  these  are  from  the  Jura  Alps,  where  marine  petrifactions  are  abundant 

37  31 


434  SWITZERLAND. 

emancipation,  but  for  the  example  that  has  been  set  in  the  New 
World,  where  society  was  unencumbered  with  the  accumulated 
rubbish  of  ages  of  ignorance  and  sin. 

The  more  we  examine  the  past  and  present  history  of  the 
world,  the  more  we  must  admire  the  secret  workings  of  that 
Providence  which  kept  in  reserve  one  hemisphere  until  the  vari- 
ous combinations  and  corruptions  of  society  should  have  time  to 
develop  themselves,  and  the  errors  in  social  and  political  life  should 
have  shown  practically  their  pernicious  results.  In  the  darkest 
hour  of  these  dreadful  corruptions  the  portals  of  the  new  theatre 
were  thrown  open,  and  the  fugitives  from  oppression  and  error, 
who  could  with  difficulty  have  wrought  a  radical  reform  amid  the 
inveterate  evils  of  old  institutions,  had  an  opportunity  of  forming 
and  presenting,  on  a  virgin  soil  and  in  an  infant  society,  the  need- 
ed exhibition  of  a  new,  a  free,  and  an  enlightened  social  system. 
This  infant  society  was,  even  in  its  cradle,  a  Hercules,  and  stran- 
gled the  serpent  which  the  Goddess  of  Error  sent  from  the  Old 
World  for  its  destruction.  Since  that  time  it  has  grown  up  to  its 
manly  maturity,  and,  like  a  reforming  genius,  is  reacting  upon  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  accomplishing  the  Herculean  labours  of  de- 
stroying the  more  than  twelve  political  plagues  that  have  so  long 
infested  the  earth.  This  work  may  go  on  slowly,  but  go  on  it 
must ;  the  monsters  of  error  and  oppression  will  struggle  hard  for 
existence,  but  they  must  finally  fall,  maugre  all  their  temporary 
and  local  triumphs. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  think,  but  that  the  political  character 
of  the  world  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  those  moral  and  religious 
triumphs  to  which  the  Christian  church  has  for  a  long  time  been 
looking  to  change  the  character  of  our  race.  Not  only  the  polit- 
ical changes  in  Switzerland,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  stand  remotely 
connected  with  these  expected  moral  and  religious  changes,  but 
we  generally  find  the  religious  movements  to  correspond,  in  their 
advancement,  very  nearly  with  the  political  melioration  of  society. 
This,  as  we  have  seen,  is  true  in  Switzerland  generally,  and  it  is 
especially  true  at  Bale.  This  city  seems,  in  fact,  to  be  the  point 
of  radiation,  from  which  spiritual  light  has  emanated  to  different 
parts  of  the  Continent. 

The  first  institution  that  I  visited  in  Bale  was  the  Missionary 
Institution,  under  the  care  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Blumheart,  to 


THE    MISSIONARY    INSTITUTION.  435 

whom  I  had  letters  of  introduction.  I  found  the  old  patriarch 
sitting  in  a  room  hung  round  witli  the  printed  portraits  of  his  chil- 
dren, as  he  termed  them.  Every  student  who  becomes  qualified 
and  leaves  the  institution  for  the  missionary  field  leaves  his  like- 
ness behind  him ;  and  these  are  preserved  and  arranged  so  as  to 
constitute  a  kind  of  chronological  calendar  of  the  graduates.  One  , 
hundred  and  twenty-five  have  already  been  sent  out  from  this  in- 
stitution, thirty-two  of  whom  have  gone  to  their  reward,  leaving 
ninety- three  still  in  the  field,  in  different  parts  of  the  world. 

This  institution  seems  to  have  led  the  way  for  all  the  other  mis- 
sionary operations  in  Switzerland  and  France.  It  was  formed  at 
(humanly  speaking)  a  very  inauspicious  moment.  It  was  at  the 
time  of  the  great  military  movements  in  Europe  for  the  dethrone- 
ment of  Napoleon.  Bale  was  then  encompassed  with  armies ; 
the  French  on  one  side  and  the  other  Continental  powers  on  the 
other.  The  city  itself  was  bombarded  all  one  day,  but  was  saved 
by  a  strong  east  wind,  which  checked  the  momentum  of  the 
bombs,  so  that  all  but  two  or  three  exploded  short  of  their  desti- 
nation. Amid  this  scene  of  war  and  tumult,  the  hearts  of  some  of 
the  good  men  of  the  place  were  moved  to  establish  this  mission- 
ary institute ;  and  the  present  principal,  then  a  secretary  of  a  so- 
ciety for  the  circulation  of  Christian  publications,  was  called  to 
make  the  commencement.  He  began  with  one  scholar,  and  from 
this  beginning  it  has  grown  up  to  its  present  standing.  The  build- 
ing, which  is  by  no  means  an  imposing  one,  has  been  purchased 
by  the  proceeds  of  their  missionary  publications ;  and  they  have 
also  collected  a  small  library.  Besides  these  they  have  no  funds 
except  the  "  love  of  Christians"  as  the  venerable  Blumheart  ex- 
pressed it,  and  "  the  heart  of  our  God  and  Father"  They  have 
now  forty-three  students,  all  of  whom  receive  a  gratuitous  educa- 
tion, at  an  expense  of  about  twenty  thousand  dollars  per  annum, 
and  yet  they  have  never  lacked.  "  We  .have  not  known,"  says 
Dr.  Blumheart,  "  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  where  our  money 
was  coming  from,  and  yet  we  have  never  failed,  at  the  close,  to 
have  a  surplus."  Much  of  their  support  and  many  of  their  schol- 
ars are  from  the  neighbouring  kingdom  of  Wurtemburg.  A  num- 
ber of  the  small  villages  from  that  kingdom  send  them  from  two 
to  three  nundred  dollars  per  annum.  The  scholars  stay  five  yearsp 
in  the  institution,  unless  they  come  somewhat  advanced  in  their 

• 


436  SWITZERLAND. 

studies,  in  which  case  their  stay  is  proportionately  shortened ;  and 
during  this  time  they  are  expected  to  obtain  their  classical  and 
professional  education.  If  they  go  out  with  the  spirit  of  their  ven- 
erable president,  they  must  certainly  do  good.  I  was  specially 
pleased  with  the  simplicity,  the  zeal,  and  the  piety  of  this  mission- 
ary patriarch.  "  The  present  is  a  day,"  says  he,  "  when  all  Chris- 
tians should  forget  the  distinctions  of  nations  and  of  sects  to  unite 
in  the  common  cause  of  evangelizing  the  ivorld"  This  is  a  sen- 
timent worthy  of  the  father  and  founder  of  a  missionary  school. 
Let  this  spirit  prevail  in  the  church,  and  the  world  will  soon  be 
made  better. 

During  the  triumphs  of  infidelity  in  the  last  century  it  became 
extremely  difficult  and  almost  impossible  to  print  and  circulate 
Christian  books.  There  was  such  a  public  and  general  feeling 
against  it,  that  no  bookseller  or  publisher  dare  undertake  it.  In 
this  state  of  things,  the  few  who  did  not  bow  the  knee  to  the 
infidel  spirit  of  the  day  combined  together  to-  print  and  circulate 
Christian  books.  The  centre  of  this  society  was  at  Bale,  and  it 
was  sustained  by  numerous  auxiliary  societies  in  different  parts  of 
Germany.  From  this  society  sprang  the  first  Bible  society  on 
the  Continent,  which  was  formed  the  same  year  with  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  but  a  little  before  it.  So  that  Bale 
has  the  honour  of  taking  the  lead  in  mission  schools,  in  religious 
tract  societies,  in  Bible  societies,  and,  in  faetr  we  may  say,  in  the 
entire  evangelical  work,  which  may  be  called  the  second  Reform- 
ation,  in  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  France.  It  seems  as  though 
an  overruling  Providence  has  delighted  to  honour  the  place  where 
sleeps  the  dust  of  that  great  and  good  man,  Erasmus,  and  make  it  the 
special  instrument  of  blessing  the  surrounding  nations  and  the  world. 

Erasmus,  however,  is  not  the  only  great  and  good  man  that  has 
sanctified  the  history  of  Bale.  The  great  Swiss  reformer,  Zuin- 
glius,  who  took  the  field  in  the  west  of  Switzerland  against  the  er- 
rors of  popery  while  Calvin  was  yet  in  his  childhood,  graduated  to 
the  degree  of  doctor  in  divinity  at  the  university  in  this  town. 
Nay,  it  may  be  said  that  he  paved  the  way  for  Calvin  himself;  for 
when  the  latter  was  driven  by  persecution  from  Paris,  he  found 
an  asylum  prepared  for  him  at  Bale  by  the  previous  labours  of 
Zuinglius.  Here  Calvin  dedicated  to  Francis  I.  his  famous  apol- 
ogy for  the  reformers.  To  Bale  also  Arminius  himself  retreated 


LITERARY   INSTITUTIONS.  437 

for  a  while  in  1583,  being  driven  from  Protestant  Geneva  (for 
Protestant  Geneva  has  always  been  rather  notorious  for  its  intol- 
erance) because  he  espoused  and  boldly  defended  the  philosophy 
of  Ramus  in  opposition  to  that  of  Aristotle.  A  clear  indication, 
by-the-by,  of  his  early  discrimination,  and  a  noble  presage  of  his 
future  independence  and  eminence. 

They  are  well  provided  with  literary  institutions  in  Bale.  Here 
is  the  "  College  of  Erasmus,"  the  room  where  that  great  scholar 
used  to  lecture  ;  and  on  one  of  the  benches  is  still  seen  a  rude 
likeness  of  the  professor,  carved  with  a  penknife  by  some  idle 
wight  of  a  scholar  who,  like  some  modern  pupils,  preferred  whit-* 
tling  to  study,  and  taking  a  likeness  of  his  professor's  face  to 
obtaining  a  transcript  of  his  intellect.  The  university  is  divided 
into  the  four  sections  of  theology,  law,  medicine,  and  philoso- 
phy. They  have  also  five  parish  schools,  a  gymnasium,  &a 
They  have  in  Bale  some  very  good  collections  of  natural  history, 
and  a  very  interesting  public  library  containing  many  old  books 
and  manuscripts,  and  a  great  number  of  paintings  by  that  cele 
brated  artist,  Hans  Holbein  ;  especially  some  fragments  of  his 
far-famed  Dance  of  Death ;  an  excellent  portrait  of  Erasmus,  a 
less  perfect  one  of  Luther,  and  various  others  of  more  or  less 
merit.  Holbein  was  a  native  of  this  city,  and  hence  we  might 
naturally  expect  to  find  here  many  of  his  paintings ;  although, 
probably,  the  best  part  of  his  painting  days,  for  they  were  the  last 
years  of  his  life,  were  spent  in  England,  under  the  patronage  of 
Henry  the  Eighth.  The  cathedral  is  the  most  prominent  church, 
elevated  upon  a  terrace,  in  which  are  the  tombs  of  the  Empress 
Anne,  wife  of  the  Emperor  Rhodolphus  of  the  house  of  Hapsburg ; 
of  Erasmus,  with  a  monument  of  black  marble,  and  of  other  em- 
inent persons.  In  this  cathedral  also  is  the  hall  where  the  cel- 
ebrated council  of  Bale  held  its  sessions  from  the  year  1431  to 
1444.  Truly,  a  long  parliament,  but.  not  quite  equal  to  that  of 
Trent,  which,  a  century  afterward,  lasted  eighteen  years.  The 
popish  councils  were  long  enough  to  be  infallible. 

Bale  contains  about  seventeen  thousand  souls,  and  is  a  place 
of  a  great  deal  of  business.  Its  manufactures  are  cotton-prints, 
leather,  paper,  hose,  gloves,  silks,  &c,  We  visited  some  most 
splendid  and  extensive  riband  factories,  many  of  which,  especially 
the  belt  ribands,  which  were  the  finest  I  ever  saw,  were  destined, 

" 


438  SWITZERLAND. 

we  were  told,  for  the  American  market.  This  city  claims  the 
honour  of  having  invented  the  manufacture  of  paper. 

The  trade  of  the  city  is  aided  by  the  waters  of  the  Rhine,  on 
the  banks  of  which  it  is  situated ;  not  so  much,  however,  by  the 
channel  of  the  river,  the  navigation  of  which  is  very  difficult  on 
account  of  the  great  rapidity  of  the  current,  as  by  a  canal  near 
its  banks,  and  connecting  with  the  river  lower  down. 

There  is  much  wealth  among  the  principal  citizens  of  Bale, 
which  is  increased  yearly  by  their  industry  and  frugality.  Their 
spirit  of  saving  is  thought  by  some  to  be  excessive,  for  they  are 
said  to  live  niggardly,  and  that  without  spending  one  tenth  of  their 
income.  Sumptuary  laws  are  still  in  force  in  the  city ;  and  the  citi- 
zens are  prohibited  the  wearing  of  diamonds,  Cashmere  shawls,  &c. 
This,  probably,  may  have  laid  the  foundation,  in  part,  for  the  rare 
economy,  not  to  say  parsimony,  which  marks  the  family  expenses. 

There  is  a  bridge  over  the  Rhine  at  Bale,  which  connects  the 
principal  city  with  a  smaller  town  on  the  other  side,  called  Little 
Bdle.  Between  these  two  towns,  it  is  said,  there  was  formerly 
much  contention  and  local  jealousy,  of  which  there  is  still  remain- 
ing a  most  laughable  monument.  In  a  tower  directly  facing  the 
bridge  is  a  public  clock  and  a  carved  image  of  a  human  face, 
whose  perpetual  business  seems  to  be  to  make  faces  at  Little 
Bale.  The  image  has  its  mouth  a  little  open,  and  is  furnished 
with  a  long  tongue  of  a  fiery  red  colour,  which  is  so  connected 
with  the  pendulum  of  the  clock,  that  every  vibration  in  one  direc- 
tion runs  it  out  in  a  threatening,  scornful,  venomous  brandishing 
towards  Little  Bale,  and  the  return  stroke  draws  it  in.  The  de- 
vice is  so  queer,  so  expressive,  and,  at  the  same  time,  so  ludicrous, 
that  I  could  scarcely  refrain  from  laughing  right  heartily  in  the 
public  thoroughfare  when  I  saw  it,  and  I  have  felt  my  risibles 
excited  ever  since  whenever  my  mind  has  reverted  to  the  perpet- 
ual spitting  out  of  that  scornful  red  tongue  towards  the  momently 
insulted  and  scorned  town  of  poor  Little  Bdle. 

From  Bale  there  is  a  number  of  interesting  excursions.  One 
to  a  village  a  little  distance  from  the  gate,  where,  in  1444. 
six  hundred  Swiss  fought  ten  hours  with  forty  thousand  French, 
commanded  by  the  dauphine,  afterward  Louis  XI.  of  France, 
and,  Spartan-like,  all  perished  in  arms  save  twelve,  who  were 
marked  with  infamy  by  their  countrymen  for  having  survived 


DEPARTURE  FROM  SWITZERLAND.  439 

their  brave  compatriots.  It  is  by  such  deeds  of  almost  superhu- 
man valour  that  the  Swiss  have  been  enabled  to  assert  and  main- 
tain their  liberty  and  independence. 

Another  excursion  is  two  leagues  distant  to  the  town  of  Augst, 
the  ancient  city  of  Augusta  Rauracorum,  built  by  Munatius  Plan 
cus,  under  the  reign  of  Augustus.  Here  have  been  found  a  great 
number  of  Roman  antiquities.  But  we  had  no  time  for  this  and 
other  interesting  excursions.  Having  exchanged  our  respectful, 
accommodating  Swiss  coachman  and  pleasant  coach  for  an  indif- 
ferent carriage,  and,  what  was  worse,  for  an  ignorant,  selfish  Ger- 
man boor,  we  prepared  to  leave  Switzerland.  As  in  no  part  of 
our  tour  had  we  travelled  with  so  much  unmixed  pleasure  as  in 
these  cantons,  so  there  was  no  country  which  we  had  left  with 
so  much  regret  as  we  felt  at  leaving  this.  We  wanted  the  en- 
tire summer  to  penetrate  these  valleys,  climb  these  mountains,  and 
navigate  these  lakes.  We  wanted  to  linger  longer  even  here  in 
Bale.  Our  dining-room  of  the  Three  Kings  (that  is  the  name  of 
our  hotel)  literally  hung  over  the  waters  of  the  Rhine,  so  that, 
like  some  of  the  ancient  feudal  chieftains  from  their  castles,  we 
could,  from  our  hotel,  fish  in  the  river.  The  wall  next  to  the 
river  was  mostly  glass,  so  that  we  had  as  full  view  of  the  Rhine, 
the  bridge,  and  the  opposite  banks,  as  though  we  were  dining  in 
an  open  portico  over  the  border  of  the  river.  But  we  must  leave 
all.  We  go  most  sincerely  praying,  if  we  are  ever  banished  from 
our  own  country,  we  may  be  permitted  to  find  a  home  in  Switz- 
erland, the  New-England  of  Europe. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

LEFT  Bale  13th  June  by  the  Duchy  of  Baden,  one  of  the  states 
of  the  German  confederacy,  which  we  entered  very  soon  after 
leaving  Bale.  The  route  to  Strasburg,  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  is  generally  through  a  fertile  country,  and  the  fertility  in- 
creased as  we  advanced.  For  some  leagues  on  the  right  was  a 
succession  of  vineyards  on  the  side  of  a  range  of  hills  ;  after 
which  we  came  to  extensive  intervals  of  grass,  rye,  wheat,  barley, 
Indian  corn,  hemp,  tobacco,  &c.  The  most  prevalent  growth, 


440  GERMANY. 

however,  was  rye,  a  great  portion  of  which,  I  suppose,  is  manu- 
factured into  Holland  gin.  Thus  in  this  country,  as  in  our  own, 
the  good  creatures  of  God  are  metamorphosed  into  poison  to  de- 
stroy our  race,  and  the  hard  earnings  of  the  labouring  class  are 
prostituted  to  purposes  of  destruction  of  life  rather  than  for  sus- 
taining it.  The  females  seemed  almost  universally  to  be  em- 
ployed in  the  field,  and  very  commonly  with  bare  heads  and  naked 
arms.*  Their  petticoats  had  high  wastes,  which  came  up  over 
the  shoulders,  and  they  wore  no  gowns,  so  that  they  had  nothing 
upon  their  arms  but  the  short  sleeves  of  the  chemise.  Thus 
equipped,  they  laboured  under  a  hot  sun  in  the  field  or  meadow 
until  their  skin  was  seared  with  the  heat  and  wind.  They  seemed 
to  be  an  industrious,  hard-labouring  class  of  peasants  ;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  not  favoured,  apparently,  with  all  those  comforts 
which  hard  work  and  a  rich  soil  united  ought  to  furnish.  Whether 
this  is  the  fault  of  the  government,  or  whether  the  aristocratic 
few  eat  up  the  earnings  of  the  many,  I  cannot  say.  There  cer- 
tainly appeared  to  be  very  few  lordlings  among  them.  I  never 
travelled  a  country  so  productive  and  prosperous  where  I  saw  so 
few  princely  houses  of  nobility  or  costly  country-seats  as  here, 
The  inhabitants  appeared  very  much  on  an  equality,  living  in 
villages,  as  in  France,  and  not  each  on  his  own  land,  as  in  Switz- 
erland. Their  houses  were  generally  framed ;  and  then,  instead 
of  being  covered  with  boards,  the  frames  were  filled  in  between 
the  timbers  with  bricks,  and  sometimes  with  a  kind  of  crooked 
lath  locked  in  and  plastered  over  in  an  even  surface  with  the 
frame,  leaving  all  the  timbers  exposed,  however;  and  as  the 
studs  and  braces,  posts  and  girths,  are  numerous,  and  sometimes 
fantastically  and  irregularly  arranged,  they  give  the  buildings  a 
singularly  streaked  appearance — white  plastered  walls  striped 
in  with  wooden  timbers.  The  houses  are  usually,  in  their  agri- 
cultural villages,  but  one  story  high.  Hence  they  do  not  live 
over  their  cattle,  as  in  Italy  and  Switzerland ;  but  their  stables 
are  not  far  off,  and  the  manure  heap  is  still  frequently  seen  fer- 
menting in  the  front  yard. 

We  dined  at  Friburg.     This  is  a  respectable  little  town,  con- 
taining an  ancient  university,  which  still  numbers  about  four  hun- 

*  As  we  descended  lower  down  near  Kiel  their  heads  were  generally  covered  with  a 
straw  hat  as  large  as  a  small  clothesbasket. 


FRIBURG    CATHEDRAL.  441 

dred  students,  and  has  a  library  of  forty  thousand  volumes.  There 
is  also  a  theological  school  distinct  from  the  university  contain- 
ing thirty  students. 

But  the  great  object  of  interest  at  Friburg  is  the  splendid  Gothic 
cathedral,  said  to  be  the  finest  in  Germany.  It  was  commenced 
in  the  fore  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  was  three  hundred 
years  in  being  completed.  The  spire  is  light,  arched,  and  orna- 
mented with  niches,  statues,  and  most  exquisite  fretwork  to  the 
very  top,  which  is  an  elevation  of  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet. 
The  Gothic  roses,  embossed  flowers  and  buds,  filagree-work, 
arches,  statuary,  and  pyramids,  all  displayed  with  architectural 
art  and  industry,  exhibit  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  the  kind 
I  have  ever  seen.  In  fact,  the  whole  exterior  is  a  curious  affair, 
A  commissioner  of  one  of  the  hotels,  who  speaks  indifferent  Eng- 
lish at  best,  has  thus  described  the  tout  ensemble  of  the  exterior, 
"  We  see  windows  framed  in  ogee-arches,  with  Gothic  roses  in 
boundless  windings  and  turnings,  the  different  compartments 
crossing  in  every  direction ;  it  is  a  vast  labyrinth  of  intertwisted 
ramifications  (!) — balusters  nicely  interwoven  with  different  con- 
tortions, surmounted  hy  Gothic  ornamental  pinnacles  ;  elegant 
niches,  with  figures  surmounted  by  Gothic  canopies,  towering  high 
in  air ;  pedestals  of  exquisite  workmanship ;  pillars  with  capitals 
of  varied  foliage  ;  buttresses  surmounted  by  Gothic  pyramidal 
pinnacles  ;  Gothic  crownwork  high  in  air  ;  flying  buttresses  and 
angles,  adorned  with  Gothic  flowers  and  buds,  embossed  in  varied 
foliage ;  high  embossed  lines,  with  foliage  throughout  the  whole 
length,  underneath  the  balusters  of  the  nave  and  collaterals  ;  the 
Gothic  staircase,  winding  up  by  numberless  slender  pillars,  so 
light  and  airy  ;  rain-spouts  formed  in  the  shape  of  different  figures 
of  men,  animals,  and  monsters,  gaping  and  projecting  out  from 
the  cornered  buttresses  ;*  and  the  mysterious  train  of  allegorical 
figures  and  animals." 

I  have  introduced  this  quotation,  partly  because  it  seems  to  me 
that  this  "  Gothic,"  "  ornamented,"  "  fretted,"  redundant  style  is 
of  itself  a  pretty  good  representation  of  the  style  of  architecture 
it  attempts  to  describe ;  and  partly  because  I  wished  to  intro- 
duce to  the  reader  this  curious  cicerone,  who,  for  the  time  he 


*  Some  of  these  rain-spouts,  in  the  manner  of  the  age,  were  truly  grotesque,  and,  in 
•oine  instances,  presented  aspects  not  only  ludicrous,  but  indecent. 

3K 


442  GERMANY. 

was  with  us,  afforded  us  some  interest  and  amusement.  His 
name  is  John  Andrew  Ritschil,  which  name,  as  he  seems  to 
think,  he  has  immortalized  by  an  "  English  poem,"  which  is  an 
allegory  representing  the  attack  of  the  vicious  upon  the  good,  by 
the  powerful  assault  of  the  winds  upon  the  tower  of  the  cathedral, 
in  which  the  cathedral,  like  the  good  man  in  affliction,  stood  firm 
and  defied  the  tempest.  And  long  will  it  defy  it,  I  believe,  and 
the  corroding  tooth  of  time  also  ;  for,  although  it  is  constructed  of 
red  sandstone,  it  seems  only  to  grow  harder  by  time,  and  pre- 
sents a  firmer  wall  now  than  at  its  first  erection. 

The  only  things  of  interest  to  us  at  Nemmingin,  the  little  vil- 
lage where  we  stayed  the  first  night,  were  an  excellent  hotel  with 
clean  and  airy  apartments,  and  a  magnificent  stork's  nest,  which 
was  perched  upon  the  top  of  a  church.  There  is  something  in 
these  nests  piled  up  like  a  haycock  upon  the  ridges  of  the  high- 
est edifices,  so  strongly  fixed  as  to  defy  the  fiercest  storms,  at- 
tended, as  they  generally  are,  by  one  or  both  of  the  noble  pair  to 
which  the  nest  belongs,  watching  with  a  parental  assiduity  and  so- 
licitude their  rising  charge,  and  connected  with  the  almost  sacred 
character  which  they  sustain,  and  which  protects  them  from  all 
annoyance  from  man,  that  renders  them  objects  of  intense  inter- 
est. The  second  day  we  arrived  at  Kiel,  which  is  a  village  oppo 
site  Strasburg ;  and  here,  to  avoid  the  vexations  of  the  custom- 
house, we  left  our  carriage  and  baggage,  and  took  another  vehicle 
to  cross  over  and  see  the  city  of  Strasburg.  We  passed  the 
Rhine  on  a  bridge  of  boats.  Strasburg,  although  formerly  a  Ger- 
man city,  belongs  to  France  ;  the  territory  of  which  country  is 
now  brought  up  to  the  Rhine,  on  its  eastern  boundary  in  this  re- 
gion. The  place  has  been  a  bone  of  contention  and  the  scene 
of  many  a  battle  ;  the  environs  are  fattened  with  the  blood  of  the 
slain.  On  an  island  formed  by^tn  arm  of  the  Rhine  is  a  fine 
monument  to  the  gallant  Dessaix,  on  which  is  this  simple  inscrip- 
tion :  To  General  Dessaix,  by  the  army  of  the  Rhine.  Stras- 
burg is  a  fortified  city,  strongly  protected  and  compactly  built, 
containing  about  fifty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  pleasantly  situa- 
ted in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  country.  It  is  not  immediately  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  but  it  has  water  conveyance  by  means  of 
a  branch  of  the  Rhine  which  passes  through  the  heart  of  the  city. 
Its  object  of  greatest  interest  is  the  cathedral,  We  ascended 


STRASBURG  TELEGRAPH.  443 

four  hundred  and  sixty-one  feet  to  the  top  of  its  magnificent  tower, 
and  had  a  fine  view  of  the  city  and  its  environs.  While  we  were 
there  a  telegraph  was  playing  on  a  tower  at  the  other  end  of  the 
cathedral,  and  such  was  the  expedition  with  which  it  communi- 
cated with  Paris,  that  they  proposed  a  question  and  received  an 
answer  in  six  or  eight  minutes.  The  master  of  the  telegraph  had 
a  house  the  other  side  of  the  square,  where  he  sat  in  his  window, 
and  with  a  small  telegraphic  machine  exhibited  the  various  forms 
in  which  the  main  machine  upon  the  tower  was  to  be  exhibited ; 
and  this  was  speedily  taken  by  the  next,  which  was  at  a  conve- 
nient distance  to  notice  the  position  with  a  telescope,  and  this  again 
was  taken  by  the  next,  and  so  it  passed  from  hill  to  hill  and  from 
mountain  to  mountain  with  a  speed  that  outstripped  the  winds, 
and  back  again  with  the  same  speed.  Thus,  by  this  wonderful 
device,  France,  from  all  her  extensive  frontiers,  may  be  reported 
every  few  minutes  to  Paris  ;  and  so,  indeed,  a  great  part  of  it  is. 
Not  a  ship  arrives  off  Havre  de  Grace,  but  it  is  known  at  Paris,  I 
like  to  have  said,  as  soon  as  by  the  citizens  of  Havre  ;  the  differ- 
ence is  so  small  that  it  is  not  noticeable  ;  for  the  same  telegraphic 
sign  that  conveys  the  intelligence  to  the  town  of  Havre  sends  it 
with  the  rapidity  almost  of  a  shooting  meteor  to  Paris. 

The  clock  of  this  cathedral  is  a  planetarium,  and  gives  also  the 
days  of  the  week  as  well  as  the  usual  indications  of  a  clock.  It 
is  a  very  fine  piece  of  machinery. 

In  the  church  of  St.  Thomas  is  the  splendid  mausoleum  of 
Marshal  Saxe.  Here  also  is  an  embalmed  Count  of  Nassau,  who 
has  lain  there  for  about  four  hundred  years,  and  his  daughter, 
about  sixteen  years  of  age,  both  well  preserved,  and  dressed  in 
the  costumes  of  the  fifteenth  century. 

From  Kiel  we  took  otr  departure,  June  16,  to  Baden,  a  village 
in  the  Duchy  of  Baden,  *bout  twenty-four  to  thirty  miles  from 
Kiel,  and  a  little  out  of  om  direct  road  to  Frankfort,  back  under 
the  base  of  the  mountains.  Our  object  in  visiting  this  place  was 
to  have  a  specimen  of  a  Germbn  watering-place,  of  which  this  is 
thought  to  be  a  very  fair  sample.  The  mineral  waters  are  hot, 
and  have  the  properties  of  iron,  a  little  sulphur,  salts,  &c.  The 
village  itself  contains  about  four  thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  vis- 
ited annually  by  eleven  or  twelve  thousand  strangers,  some  for 


' 


444  GERMANY. 

disease,  more  for  pleasure,  and  perhaps  still  more  for  gaming. 
The  gaming  here  is  very  deep,  and  by  the  princes  of  the  land,  as 
well  as  by  others. 

There  are  several  hotels  where  they  have  convenient  baths  for 
visiters.  The  hotels  are  large,  but  not  as  elegant  as  those  in  our 
public  watering-places.  The  lodging-rooms,  however,  are  much 
more  spacious*  and  convenient  than  the  little  cells  in  which  they 
stow  away  their  visiters  at  Saratoga  and  Ballston ;  and  the  accom 
modations  are  at  much  lower  prices  ;  for  while  at  Saratoga,  for  ex- 
ample, you  pay,  at  the  best  hotels,  from  six  to  ten  dollars,  you  get 
accommodations  at  the  first  hotels  in  Baden  for  about  two  dollars. 
In  addition  to  these  baths  at  the  hotels,  there  are  public  baths  for 
the  poor,  and  cheaper  houses,  where  they  can  live  for  a  very  mod- 
erate sum. 

The  Duchy  of  Baden,  as  well  as  other  parts  of  Germany,  has 
numerous  medicinal  springs,*  many  of  which  are  hot-springs, 
which  show  that  there  are  subterranean  fires  in  constant  opera- 
tion, elaborating  perpetually  these  chymical  waters,  and  sending 
them  forth  scalding  hot  from  their  subterranean  caldrons;  and 
they  have  been  of  long  standing,  for  the  ancient  Romans  had 
baths  here,  the  ruins  of  which  still  remain. 

The  walks  and  gardens  in  and  about  Baden  are  very  fine. 
They  are  not  so  artificial  as  to  destroy  the  pleasing  rusticity  of 
the  natural  scenery,  and  yet  sufficiently  improved  by  art  to  render 
the  places  of  resort  accessible  and  pleasant.  There  is  an  old  chd- 
teau  here,  with  pleasant  gardens,  which  used  to  be  the  residence 
of  the  former  Margraves  of  Baden.  The  most  interesting  part  of 
this  edifice  is  the  subterranean  apartments,  which  used  to  be  oc- 
cupied by  a  branch  of  the  secret  tribunal.  These  apartments  are 
very  deep,  and  constructed  of  strong  and  heavy  masonry,  with  nu- 
merous divisions  for  prisons,  a  judgment  hall,  a  room  for  torture, 
and  a  deep  pit  for  the  execution  of  .'hose  appointed  for  death. 
This  pit  was  situated  under  one  of  th*  dark  avenues  that  led  from 
one  of  these  gloomy  cells  to  the  otfeer,  and  the  condemned  victim, 
as  he  was  walking  forward,  found  a  drop  suddenly  give  way 
under  his  feet,  and  let  him  int0  the  pit,  where  he  was  crushed  to 

*  In  one  of  the  itineraries  seventy-seven  public  watering-places  of  mineral  waters  are 
particularly  described,  besides  a  number  of  others  which  are  incidentally  mentioned  is 
being  of  less  note.  It  is  said  there  are  one  thousand  in  Germany. 


SECRET   COMBINATIONS.  445 

death  by  a  wheel.     These  cells  were  closed  by  heavy  stone  doors, 
all  of  one  piece,  ten  inches  thick,  and  hung  on  hinges ;  and  the 
unfortunate  beings  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  these  secret  murder- 
ers were  let  down  into  the  cells  by  a  secret  trapdoor  from  above, 
through  which  the  light  was  seen  faintly  to  glimmer  as  we  looked 
up  to  it  from  the  dark  depths  below.     Happy  for  society  that  such 
institutions  cannot  flourish,  and  such  deeds  of  darkness  cannot  be 
perpetrated  at  the  present  day.     At  the  same  time  we  ought  not 
to  forget  that  secret  combinations  may  be  abused  in  any  age,  even 
the  most  enlightened,  to  the  danger  of  public  liberty  and  of  individ- 
ual rights ;  and  that,  therefore,  all  such  combinations  should  be  dis- 
couraged.    However  well-intentioned  many  may  be  who  have,  in 
our  own  day,  countenanced  such  institutions,  and  I  certainly  would 
not  deal  in  wholesale  and  indiscriminate  censure  towards  such,  for 
this  would  be  unjust  and  ungenerous,  still,  in  view  of  past  history, 
and  of  the  known  character  of  man,  I  think  the  public  have  a  right 
to  expect,  in  this  day  of  light  and  reflection,  that  all  philanthropic 
and  patriotic  men  will  hereafter,  whatever  may  have  been  done 
formerly,  discountenance,  by  their  example  and  precept,  all  such 
institutions.     So  obvious,  as  it  appears  to  me,  is  the  duty  of  good 
citizens  in  this  respect,  that  it  is  surprising  there  should  be  in 
active  operation,  at  the  present  time,  in  Germany  and  Switzerland, 
more  than  three  hundred  secret  associations,  all  bearing  the  gen- 
eral name  of  Freemasons,  although  existing,  I  believe,  under  differ- 
ent forms  and  modifications. 

There  are  the  ruins  of  a  still  older  chateau  or  castle  something 
less  than  a  mile  from  this,  upon  the  side  of  the  mountain  overlook- 
ing the  town.  It  was  a*Veritable  feudal  castle,  and  the  ruins  are 
truly  picturesque  and  imposing.  The  approach  is  through  a  very 
dense  pine  forest  up  the  mountain -side,  and  the  castle  itself  is  in 
the  midst  of  a  forest,  with  large  forest-trees  growing  out  of  the 
walls  and  in  the  centre  of  the  courts  of  this  ancient  fortress  of  feu- 
dal chivalry.  .They  are  ruins  in  a  wilderness,  and  yet  so  magnifi- 
cent that  they  still  resist  all  the  efforts  of  nature  either  to  dissolve 
the  massy  walls,  and  towers,  and  princely  halls,  or  to  overshadow 
them  with  the  luxuriant  vegetation  that  flourishes  around.  The 
mouldering  turrets  still  overtop  the  forest,  and,  rising  up  in  maj- 
esty, overlook  the  meandering  Rhine  and  its  wide  and  fertile  val- 
ley far  beyond  Strasburg  on  the  one  side  and  Carlsruhe  on  the 
38 

. 


446  GERMANY. 

other ;  showing  numerous  villages  sprinkled  over  the  valleys,  and 
giving  the  eye  an  enchanting  range  equal  to  its  strongest  power 
of  vision.  We  climbed  still  higher,  to  a  fortress  some  two  hun- 
dred feet  above,  where  there  seems  to  have  been  a  strong  citadel 
overlooking  the  castle,  and  serving  as  an  outwork  for  its  defence 
and  greater  security.  The  prospect  was  indescribably  fine.  We 
were  obliged,  however,  to  leave  our  elevation  and  the  chivalrous 
associations  around  us,  and  descend  to  the  valley,  to  start,  accord- 
ing to  arrangements,  for  Carlsruhe,  which  we  reached  that  even- 
ing. 

We  arrived  at  Carlsruhe,  the  capital  of  Baden,  in  time  to  visit  the 
extensive  gardens  of  the  grand  duke,  and  to  take  a  superficial  survey 
of  the  palace,  the  park,  the  public  squares,  fountains,  &c.    This  is 
a  very  pleasant  town,  containing  twenty  thousand  five  hundred  in- 
habitants.   The  streets  are  laid  out  in  the  form  of  a  fan,  all  radiating 
from  the  palace  as  a  centre.    Round  this  centre,  at  a  given  distance, 
is  struck  a  circle,  which  bounds  the  public  squares  in  front  of  the 
palace  and  the  gardens  in  the  rear.     The  public  gardens  are  hand- 
some ;  the  avenues  through  the  park,  which  is  a  noble  forest,  are 
straight  and  long,  and   the  perspective  is  very  beautiful.     The 
streets  of  the  city  are  ample  and  clean.     To  add  to  the  interest  of 
the  occasion,  it  was  the  time  of  one  of  their  semiannual  fairs,  and 
the  public  grounds  were  occupied  by  long  ranges  of  moveable 
shops,  which  are  erected  so  as  to  give  the  appearance  of  a  tem- 
porary city.     These  shops,  or  shantees,  as  we  should  call  them 
in  the  United  States,  are  taken  down  when  the  fair  is  over,  and 
the  parts  stored  until  the  next  exhibition.     To  these  fairs  persons 
come,  with  their  wares  and  merchandise,  from  quite  a  distance, 
rent  their  temporary  shop,  and  spread  out  their  goods  for  sale. 
The  lime  being  known  to  all  the  country  and  towns  around,  the 
people  and  village  retailers  come  hither  also  to  make  their  pur- 
chases.    In  this  way  many  people  are  drawn  together,  and  vari- 
ous amusements  are  connected  with  their  business  transactions. 
At  night  they  close  up  the  front  of  their  shops,  and  some  of  them 
pack  their  wares  in  their  boxes,  to  be  displayed  again  in  the  morn- 
ing.    The  Carlsruhe  fairs  are  twice  a  year,  and  continue  a  fort- 
night.    This  feature  of  commerce  is  entirely  unknown  among  us, 
but  has  been  continued,  in  many  towns  in  Europe,  from  the  cus- 
toms of  the  earlier  ages,  when  commerce  was  in  its  infancy,  and 


HABITS    OP    THE    FEMALES.  447 

might,  therefore,  require  such  extraordinary  seasons  and  concen- 
trated efforts  to  sustain  it ;  but  at  present  they  seem  to  me  un- 
necessary, and,  although  they  may  have  their  advantages,  are,  I 
should  think,  disadvantageous  both  to  commerce  and  to  morals. 
Carlsruhe  is  the  capital  of  Baden,  and  the  residence  of  the  grand 
duke. 

From  Carlsruhe  we  went  to  Heidelberg  to  lodge  and  spend  the 
Sabbath.  We  found  the  quality  of  the  land  less  fertile,  the  cottages 
and  villages  about  the  same,  but  the  common  people  seem  of 
rather  an  under  stature,  their  skin  shrivelled  and  seared.  This  is 
especially  true  of  their  women,  who,  from  exposure  and  hard  work 
in  the  fields,  have  lost  most  of  the  interesting  characteristics  of 
their  sex.  Their  appearance  was  very  coarse,  and  their  manners, 
in  many  instances,  what  with  us  would  be  considered  indelicate. 
We  passed  young  girls  of  eight  or  ten  years  of  age  bathing  in  a 
state  of  nudity  close  by  the  high  road,  in  the  centre  of  a  village, 
and  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  older  females,  who  did  not  ap- 
pear at  all  embarrassed  at  our  passing.  The  women  in  the  field 
have  the  habit  of  tucking  up  their  petticoats  when  they  are  at 
work  so  as  not  only  to  expose  their  most  interior  garment,  but 
also  to  leave  the  leg  naked  from  above  the  knee.  I  do  not  men- 
tion this  as  any  proof  of  the  want  of  chastity  in  their  females,  for 
they  are  probably  as  virtuous  as  others ;  but  to  show  how  that 
slavish  kind  of  labour  to  which  the  females  are  subjected  breaks 
down  those  delicate  sensibilities  whiph  are  so  prevalent  even  in 
the  lower  classes  among  us,  and  to  give,  as  far  as  I  may,  a  portrait- 
ure of  society  as  it  is  exhibited  to  the  passing  traveller. 

We  stopped  at  Scwhitzingue  to  visit  the  public  grounds  and 
edifices  of  the  grand  duke  in  this  village.  Here  he  has  a  palace, 
gardens  of  about  two  hundred  acres,  extensive  parks,  a  grotto,  a 
Temple  of  Apollo,  an  elegant  bathhouse,  an  artificial  lake,  jets  tfeau, 
on  which  danced  the  rainbow,  with  various  other  artificial  fountains 
and  waterworks,  statuary,  a  Chinese  bridge,  artificial  ruins  of  a 
Temple  of  Mercury,  and  a  Turkish  mosque  and  minarets ;  the 
whole  of  which  cost  more  than  three  millions  of  dollars,  and  re- 
quire six  thousand  dollars  annually  to  keep  them  in  order. 

Heidelberg  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  river  Neckar,  a  branch 
of  the  Rhine,  in  a  recess  of  a  narrow  valley,  where  the  former 
river  just  disembogues  itself  from  the  mountains  into  the  wide 


448  GERMANY. 

valley  of  the  Rhine.  It  contains  about  eleven  or  twelve  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  is  principally  remarkable  for  its  literary  institu- 
tions, and  for  its  noble  castle,  now  in  a  ruinous  state,  overhanging 
the  town. 

At  the  head  of  the  literary  institutions  is  the  University,  one 
of  the  most  ancient  in  Germany.  It  contains  about  five  hundred 
students.  Formerly  it  had  nearly  a  thousand.  But  there  has  been, 
as  I  was  informed  by  Professor  Schwarz,  who  is  at  the  head  of 
the  theological  department,  and  at  present,  in  fact,  pro  tempore 
at  the  head  of  the  University,  a  great  falling  off  throughout  Ger- 
many of  those  who  are  pursuing  a  liberal  and  a  professional  course 
of  study.  The  reasons  he  assigned  were,  that  the  learned  profes- 
sions were  full,  and  that  with  them,  as  with  us,  money-getting 
and  the  wants  of  the  physical  man  had  become  the  all-engrossing 
subjects  of  attention. 

The  University  of  Heidelberg  is  conducted  upon  the  same  gen- 
eral principles  of  the  other  German  universities.  The  instruction  is 
by  lectures,  and  these  lectures,  for  the  most  part,  support  the  pro- 
fessors. The  government  has  the  appointment  of  the  professors, 
and  it  allows  them  also,  either  from  the  public  chest  or  from  en- 
dowments, a  small  annual  stipend,  altogether  inadequate,  how- 
ever, to  their  support.  To  make  up  for  this  deficiency,  they  are 
allowed  to  give  a  private  course  of  lectures,  at  a  price  fixed  by 
authority.  The  result  is,  that,  in  many  cases,  the  public  course  is 
neglected  both  by  studentsnand  professors,  so  that  they  become 
rather  nominal  than  otherwise ;  while  all  the  labour  is  bestowed 
upon  the  private  course,  to  render  them  more  attractive,  and,  of 
course,  more  productive.  Hence  the  most  industrious  and  the 
most  popular  lecturer  secures  the  most  pupils  and  the  greatest 
income.  With  some  disadvantages,  this  course  has  some  striking 
advantages.  It  makes  it  for  a  man's  interest  to  be  industrious 
and  eminent ;  and  this,  taking  man  as  he  is,  has  a  powerful,  per- 
haps, on  the  great  whole,  the  most  powerful  influence,  to  produce 
vigorous  efforts  in  the  discharge  of  professional  duties. 

There  are  public  lecture-rooms  in  the  University  buildings,  but 
the  private  courses  are  generally  delivered  at  the  professor's  own 
house.  The  students  lodge  and  board  at  private  lodgings  in  the 
town.  They  are,  in  general,  a  restless  and  contentious  class  of  the 
community,  and  are  often  engaged  in  skirmishes  with  the  citizens 


UNIVERSITY    STUDENTS.  449 

and  duels  with  each  other.  I  speak  not  now  particularly,  much 
less  exclusively,  of  the  students  of  Heidelberg,  but  it  is  said  of  the 
students  of  the  German  universities  generally,  that  duelling  pre- 
vails among  them  to  a  great  extent,  and  the  authorities,  although 
they  do  not  actually  sanction  it,  nevertheless  wink  at  it.  It  is 
believed,  if  there  were  a  general  understanding  among  the  univer- 
sities to  put  it  down,  it  might  be  done  ;  but,  as  it  is,  no  one  institu- 
tion will  do  it,  lest  it  should  drive  away  their  students.  Thus,  as 
in  many  other  cases,  self-interest  and  rivalry  lead  to  the  tolera- 
tion of  popular  vices,  to  the  great  injury  of  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion and  of  morality.  These  duels,  however,  are  generally  fought 
with  swords,  and  seldom  end  fatally ;  but  faces  and  breasts  are 
hacked,  and  eyes  are  put  out,  and  sometimes  other  parts  wound- 
ed. The  more  scars  of  this  kind  they  can  exhibit,  the  greater 
the  proof  that  they  have  been  good  fellows  at  the  university.* 

Many  of  the  students  are  very  poor,  and  not  unfrequently  sup- 
port themselves  by  charity,  as  they  go  to  and  from  their  places 
of  study.  I  could  not  conceive,  at  first,  what  it  might  mean,  that 
decently-dressed  and  healthy-looking  young  men  should  accost 
us  on  the  road  with  solicitations  for  charity.  I  at  first  supposed 
that  they  did  it  for  sport,  and  replied  to  them  by  returning  the 
compliment,  and  held  out  my  hat  to  them  for  charity,  intimating 
that  I  considered  them  as  much  obliged  to  give  to  me  as  I  to 
them ;  and  that,  if  they  trifled  with  me,  I  should  answer  the  fool 
according  to  his  folly.  I  afterward  learned,  however,  that  these 
were  real  objects  of  charity,  and  that  they  were  begging  their  way 
through  the  world,  in  order  to  obtain  an  education. 

The  students  who  can  afford  it  generally  receive  private  in- 
struction from  tutors,  employed  and  paid  by  themselves,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  lectures  of  the  prefessors  ;  in  this  way  the  poor  stu- 
dents sometimes  find  employment,  especially  when  they  have 
advanced  in  their  studies,  and  not  unfrequently,  in  this  way,  they 
bring  themselves  into  notice,  and  prepare  the  way  for  an  enlarged 
sphere  of  action  as  private  lecturers  and  professors. 

The  lectures  are  so  arranged,  that   each  student  can,  if  he 

*  There  is  evidently  some  discipline  at  the  universities,  for  I  saw  posted  up  in  the 
public  halls  that  such  and  such  individuals  were  expelled,  others  censured,  &e. 
J  noticed,  too,  that  they  posted  up  in  a  similar  way  those  who  had  been  admitted  to 
degrees,  and  other  college  honours. 

38  3L 


JWMV 

I  notice 
degrees 


450  GERMANY. 

pleases,  attend  them  all.  All  religions  meet  together  at  Heidelberg, 
for  the  students  are  made  up  of  Protestants,  Catholics,  and  Jews. 
The  theological  professors,  however,  are  Protestants,  but  in  this 
department  the  Catholics  arid  Jews  are  not  obliged  to  attend. 

Connected  with  the  University  were  good  geological  and  minera- 
logical  collections,  and  a  library  of  sixty  or  seventy  thousand 
volumes.  This  institution  was  founded  in  1386,  and  was  early 
enlisted  in  the  Protestant  cause,  and  became  a  resort  for  many  of 
the  most  eminent  divinity  students  in  the  first  century  of  the  ref- 
ormation. It  was  here  that  the  famous  Heidelberg  Catechism 
was  formed,  which  was  incorporated  with  the  Belgian  Confession 
of  Faith,  and  was  so  often  appealed  to  in  the'  disputes  in  the 
Netherlands  between  Arminius  and  his  followers  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  high  Calvinists  on  the  other.  The  population  of  Heidel- 
berg, however,  at  present,  is  mostly  Lutheran. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  Heidelberg  is  situated  in  a 
narrow  valley,  under  the  mountains.  The  hills  rise  up  so  sud- 
denly and  abruptly,  that  they  overhang  the  houses  and  streets, 
and  give  a  picturesque  appearance  to  the  place  ;  and  especially 
as  on  one  of  these  eminences,  several  hundred  feet  above  the 
town,  is  the  famous  Heidelberg  Castle.  This  is  a  splendid 
memorial  of  feudal  times,  the  finest,  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  that 
we  visited.  It  is  in  some  sense  in  ruins,  having  been  tremend- 
ously shattered  by  the  French  in  the  war  that  arose  concerning 
the  succession,  at  the  extinction  of  the  reigning  family  in  1693. 
It  is  not,  however,  so  demolished  or  dilapidated  as  to  destroy  the 
principal  apartments ;  and  one  may,  by  attention,  ascertain  the 
general  divisions  and  arrangements  of  this  splendid  seat  of  feudal 
chivalry  and  strength.  Here  is  the  Hitter  Saal,  or  "  Hall  of 
the  Knights,"  still  hung  round  with  ancient  armour.  Here  are 
the  fortresses,  the  towers,  the  offices,  the  courts,  the  chapel,  the 
halls,  and  the  chambers,  in  a  tolerable  state  of  preservation — 
and  all  in  ruinous  and  solitary  grandeur.  What  affrays  have 
occurred  here !  what  revelling  and  banquetting !  what  broils 
between  contending  knights  !  what  sieges  and  defences  !  what 
deeds  of  heroism !  what  scenes  of  courtly  intrigue  !  In  true  chiv- 
alrous spirit,  love  and  war,  dancing  and  fighting,  sonnets  and 
blood,  have  been  commingled  together,  or  have  followed  in  quick 
succession  in  these  princely  halls.  But  now  all  is  silent !  In 


ROUTE    FROM   HEIDELBERG    TO   DARMSTADT.  451 

proof  that  the  ancient  inmates  were  fond  of  good  cheer,  the 
Heidelberg  Tun  is  a  stupendous  monument ;  it  is  still  seen  in 
one  of  the  lower  apartments  of  the  castle  ;  it  is  made  in  the  form 
of  a  hogshead,  but  is  the  size  of  a  small  cottage,  being  in  dimen- 
sions twenty-eight  feet  by  thirty-two,  and  will  hold,  it  is  said, 
two  hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  two  hundred  bottles  ;  they 
speak  also  of  two  or  three  times  in  which  this  gigantic  reservoir 
was  filled  with  wine.  Near  it,  as  large  as  life,  stands  the  image 
of  old  Clemens,  a  toper  (perhaps  a  tapster  of  the  castle)  of  noto- 
rious memory  in  the  history  of  this  chateau,  who  used  to  drink 
his  fifteen  bottles  per  day — a  real  John  Falstaff. 

The  grounds  around  this  chateau  are  very  interesting.  They 
are  romantically  rural  and  wild,  and  yet  have  upon  them  the 
stamp  and  order  of  art  and  of  science.  You  would  at  first  think 
it  was  Nature's  forest  encroaching  upon  what  was  once  the  seat 
of  a  military  court ;  but,  after  a  little  examination,  you  find  your- 
self in  the  midst  of  a  botanic  garden,  planted  with  a  numerous 
variety  of  trees,  shrubs,  and  flowering  plants,  labelled  and  named, 
and  yet  so  artfully  done  that  it  seems  but  the  spontaneous  growth 
of  Nature's  own  planting. 

Our  route  from  Heidelberg  to  Darmstadt  was  most  delightful. 
It  ranged  along  just  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  or  highlands, 
which  stretch  almost  the  whole  length  of  the  eastern  border  of 
Baden.  The  Rhine  was  at  our  left,  two  leagues  distant,  present- 
ing a  rich  intervening  valley  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  The 
sides  of  the  mountains  at  our  right  were  covered  with  vineyards, 
and  their  highest  points  were  crowned  with  towers  and  feudal 
castles  in  ruins,  rising  up  in  the  midst  of  extensive  forests,  as  the 
gloomy  monuments  of  a  semibarbarous  and  warlike  age.  These 
monuments  constitute  the  most  striking  feature  to  the  eye  of  the 
traveller  in  this  country.  This  gives  to  the  scene  the  air  of  ro- 
mance, and  makes  one  almost  imagine  that  he  still  sees  some 
ghostly  knight,  who  was  murdered  in  a  fatal  affray,  stalking  in  ar 
mour  amid  the  ruins.  No  wonder  the  inhabitants  in  the  vicinity 
of  these  castles  fancy  that  uncorporeal  knights  still  haunt  these 
ruins.  We  passed  this  day  a  castle  of  this  description,  which  is 
notorious  in  all  the  regions  round  for  the  ghostly  visitations  of 
these  chivalrous  heroes  of  a  former  age. 

This  day's  journey  finished  our  travels  in  the  Grand  Duchy  of 


452  GERMANY. 

Baden,  and  a  few  words  will  finish  what  more  I  have  to  say  of 
it.  This  was  formerly  a  margraviate,  and  was  founded  in  1009 
by  Hermander  I.,  who  died  in  1059.  We  saw  in  the  chateau  at 
the  town  of  Baden  the  portraits  of  all  the  margraves,  in  consecu- 
tive order.  This  formed  one  of  the  states  of  the  German  con- 
federacy previous  to  the  Bonapartean  conquests;  but  in  1806 
Napoleon  dissolved  that  confederacy,  enlarging  Westphalia,  which 
is  lower  down  on  the  Rhine ;  he  erected  it  into  a  kingdom,  and 
placed  upon  the  throne  his  brother  Jerome.  Bavaria  and  Wur- 
temberg  were  also  erected  each  into  a  separate  kingdom ;  and  the 
other  smaller  states,  with  Baden,  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  Bres- 
gau  on  the  north,  were  united  together  upon  certain  confederated 
principles  and  provisions,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Confederacy 
of  the  Rhine."  In  1815  the  Congress  of  Vienna  restored  the 
German  confederacy,  which  now  consists  of  thirty-five  different 
sovereignties,  besides  the  four  free  cities,  Hamburg,  Bremen, 
Lubeck,  and  Frarikfort-on-the-Maine,  which  latter  city  is  the  seat 
of  the  diet  for  the  confederacy.  In  this  diet  all  important  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  general  interests  of  Germany  are  settled. 
Each  state  furnishes  its  quota  of  delegates,  according  to  a  consti- 
tutional arrangement.  In  all  matters,  however,  relating  to  the  in- 
ternal government,  each  sovereignty  is  independent.  Some  of 
them  are  democracies,  like  Frankfort,  but  most  of  them  are  abso- 
lute monarchies ;  but  Baden,  whose  sovereign  bears  the  name  of 
grand  duke,  which  title  has  been  assumed  since  the  restoration 
of  the  confederacy,  has  a  legislature  and  a  constitution.  Of 
course,  he  must  keep  up  the  splendour  of  a  court,  as  must  all  the 
other  petty  sovereigns,  and  this  will  account  for  the  otherwise 
unaccountable  fact,  that  a  great  portion  of  the  common  people  la- 
bour hard  for  barely  a  livelihood ;  for,  to  meet  the  expenses  of  so 
many  sovereigns  and  courts,  taxes  are  enormous  and  oppres- 
sive. Commerce,  too,  and  the  freedom  of  trade  are  very  much 
embarrassed  by  these  numerous  states.  Resources  are  divided ; 
public  enterprises  are  obstructed ;  intercommunications  are  inter- 
rupted ;  so  that  a  fertile  and  a  populous  country,  which,  united 
under  one  government,  would  be  rich  and  powerful,  is  compara- 
tively feeble.  It  shows,  in  fact,  what  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica would  be  if  once  their  bond  of  union  were  dissolved.  Let 
American  citizens  be  jealous  of  the  spirit  of  disunion.  As  it  is 


SMOKING.  453 

personal  ambition  which  keeps  the  German  states  from  forming  a 
strong  consolidated  government,  so  it  will  be  personal  ambition 
that  will  dissolve  our  union,  if  it  is  ever  destroyed.  Will  Amer- 
ican citizens  ever  suffer  themselves  to  be  deceived  and  ruined  by 
such  a  spirit ? 

Baden  contains  about  five  thousand  six  hundred  square  miles, 
and  one  million  of  inhabitants. 

But  to  return  to  our  journal.  Ever  since  we  crossed  the  Ap- 
ennines we  have  noticed  that  the  practice  of  smoking  tobacco 
was  increasing.  There  was  more  of  it  in  Lombardy  than  in 
Southern  Italy,  still  more  in  Switzerland,  and  most  of  all  in  Ger- 
many. The  men  are  almost  universally  smokers,  and,  what  is 
worse,  they  smoke  everywhere;  in  the  shop  and  in  the  field,  and 
often  in  the  bed  the  pipe  is  seen  dangling  from  the  mouth ;  as 
their  pipes  are  secured  by  a  cap,  so  as  to  prevent  any  danger 
from  fire,  they  can  smoke  in  bed  with  safety.  These  pipes  are 
often  curiously  wrought  and  painted,  and  are  so  constructed  that 
when  the  stem  hangs  down  upon  the  breast  the  bowl  is  perpen- 
dicular, so  that  they  are  more  out  of  the  way,  and  more  easily 
held  by  the  teeth,  than  the  common  pipe  used  in  the  United 
States.  The  fabrication  and  sale  of  pipes  constitutes  a  very  im- 
portant item  of  manufacture  and  trade  in  this  country.  You  see 
many  shops  in  every  town  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  this  arti- 
cle. So  common  is  the  practice  of  smoking,  that  it  is  hardly 
considered  an  offence  in  any  place  or  company.  A  gentleman 
who,  I  was  afterward  told,  was  a  professor  in  the  University  of 
Heidelberg,  having  had  his  dinner  served  a  little  before  us,  at  the 
same  table,  lighted  his  segar  as  he  commenced  upon  the  dessert 
(for  he,  for  a  rarity,  had  a  segar  instead  of  a  pipe),  directly  at  my 
elbow,  while  I  was  eating.  I  begged  him  to  spare  me  the  fumes 
of  his  segar  until  after  dinner ;  he  very  politely  complied,  but  gave 
me  to  understand  that  he  had  no  idea  it  could  be  any  offence. 

We  lodged  at  Darmstadt,  the  capital  of  the  duchy  of  the  same 
name.  We  saw  in  it  nothing  remarkable.  It  is  a  neat  town,  with 
some  fine  buildings  and  spacious  streets,  containing  a  population 
of  about  twenty  thousand,  a  library  of  more  than  a  hundred  thou- 
sand volumes,  and  several  public  institutions,  and  collections  in 
literature  and  the  arts.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  with  what  attention 
every  government  in  Germany  fosters  literature  and  the  sciences ; 


454  GERMANY. 

and  this  is  extended  not  only  to  the  accommodation  of  the  favoured 
few,  but  all  classes  are  made  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  instruc- 
tion. The  primary  school  is  frequent,  and  the  children  of  both 
sexes  are  all  favoured  with  an  opportunity  of  at  least  some  degree 
of  education. 

The  Grand  Duchy  of  Darmstadt,  so  called  from  the  river  Darme, 
extends  to  the  north  and  south  of  Frankfort,  by  which,  with  some 
adjoining  territory,  it  is  divided  into  two  parts.  It  contains  four 
thousand  square  miles,  and  about  six  hundred  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, mostly  Lutherans. 

We  arrived  at  Frankfort  in  the  morning  of  June  21,  and  took 
lodgings  in  the  Hotel  de  Russie. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

FRANKFORT  is  a  distinct  sovereignty,  embracing  the  city  and 
some  few  square  leagues  of  territory  without  the  walls.  At  the 
arrangement  in  1814,  and  the  modifications  that  subsequently 
took  place,  the  government  was  established  on  democratic  princi- 
ples. It  is,  however,  a  part  of  the  Germanic  confederacy,  and  is 
itself  the  seat  of  the  Germanic  diet.  Its  situation  is  on  each  side 
wf  the  river  Maine,  about  twenty-two  miles  above  its  entrance  into 
the  Rhine  at  Mayence.  By  means  of  this  river,  which  is  navi- 
gable for  boats,  its  commerce  is  facilitated,  which,  in  consequence 
of  its  being  a  free  port  and  possessing  much  wealth,  together 
with  the  advantage  of  two  annual  fairs,  is  considerable.  Its 
population  is  from  fifty»eight  to  sixty  thousand,  the  greater  part 
of  which  is  Protestant.  There  are,  however,  seven  thousand 
Jews,  among  whom  are  the  Rothschild  family,  the  great  bankers, 
who  hold  the  purse-strings  of  Europe. 

They  have  a  large  banking-house  here,  as  also  in  London, 
Paris,  and  Vienna,  in  each  of  which  cities  one  of  the  brothers 
now  resides.  Frankfort,  however,  is  the  family  residence ;  and 
hither  the  families  from  London  and  Paris  had  come,  when  we 
arrived,  to  celebrate  the  nuptials  between  two  of  their  respective 
children,  who  were  intermarrying,  as  had  been  done  by  branches 
of  the  same  families  before,  to  preserve  the  wealth  of  the  parties, 


FRANKFORT.  455 

doubtless,  in  their  own  family.  One  of  the  families  was  lodging 
at  the  hotel  where  we  stopped,  and  what,  with  their  servants  and 
equipage,  their  visiters,  sorties,  and  returns,  they  kept  the  whole 
house  in  a  state  of  bustle  and  excitement.  They  constantly  rode 
in  state,  with  the  plumes  of  their  footmen  streaming  in  the  air 
like  princes.*  Not  many  of  their  countrymen,  however,  bear 
indications  of  an  approximation  towards  such  style.  We  passed 
through  the  Jews'  Quarter,  which,  as  in  all  other  cities,  was  the 
most  filthy  part  of  the  town.  The  houses  were  a  curiosity ;  they 
not  only  bore  evident  marks  of  antiquity  in  the  style  of  architec- 
ture and  materials,  but  they  were  covered  externally  with  soot  or 
smoke,  so  as  to  make  them  resemble  the  inside  of  a  smokehouse. 
The  inhabitants  looked  miserably  filthy,  and  their  narrow,  crowd- 
ed streets  were  lined  with  shops  full  of  old  clothes,  boots,  hats, 
iron,  &c. :  so  true  it  is,  that  to  this  day  this  people  are  a  prov- 
erb and  a  byword  among  the  nations  where  they  dwell.  How 
strikingly  do  they  authenticate  the  sacred  history ! 

If  any  caviller  chooses  captiously  to  inquire  for  existing  mira- 
cles in  confirmation  of  the  revealed  and  inspired  scriptures,  let 
him  look  at  the  dispersed  of  Judah,  and  note  in  their  history  and 
character  a  standing  miracle  of  the  fact  that  "  God  did,  at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  places,  speak  unto  the  fathers  by  the  proph- 
ets," and  afterward  "  by  his  Son."  If  they  credit  not  this  evi- 
dence, neither  would  they  believe  though  one  rose  from  the  dead. 

Frankfort  in  general,  notwithstanding  what  I  have  said  of  the 
Jews'  Quarter,  is  a  very  clean,  cheerful  city.  It  has  a  number 
of  fine  streets  and  many  well-built  houses,  both  in  the  city  and 
the  suburbs.  Its  public  buildings  are  not  numerous  or  splendid. 
In  the  City  Hall  are  the  portraits  of  the  German  emperors,  from 
Conrad  II.,  who  was  crowned  in  911,  to  Francis  II.,  who  died  in 
1806.  For  the  last  emperor  there  was  no  room.  They  paid  his 
successor,  however,  the  present  emperor,  due  honour ;  for,  at  his 
coronation,  they  roasted  two  oxen  in  the  square  before  the  state 
house,  and  the  fountain  in  the  court  was  made  to  run  with  red 
and  white  wine. 

The  churches  are  not  elegant,  but  several  of  them  are  ancient. 
The  cathedral,  which  is  an  edifice  of  the  fourteenth  century,  con- 

*  Soon  after  we  left  Frankfort  this  wealthy  banker  died.  "  All  the  glory  of  man  is  a» 
the  flower  of  grass;  the  grass  withereth,  and  the  flower  thereof  falleth  away." 


456  GERMANY. 

tains  the  chapel  where  the  ancient  emperors  were  crowned,  and 
the  tomb  of  one  who  was  assassinated  the  next  day  after  his  coro- 
nation, and  laid  his  bones  where  he  took  his  crown. 

There  is  a  collection  of  pictures  and  plaster  casts,  and  about 
thirty  thousand  engravings,  in  what  is  called  the  Staedel  Academy 
of  painting.  The  name  is  from  J.  F.  Staedel,  a  merchant  of 
Frankfort,  whose  liberality  in  1816  founded  the  institution. 
There  are  also  several  private  museums,  among  which  is  that  of 
Mr.  Bethmanns,  which  contains  a  celebrated  statue  of  Ariadne 
mounted  upon  a  leopard,  by  Dannaker.  Ariadne  is  certainly 
very  fine ;  but  if  the  leopard  is  a  good  one,  I  have  no  correct  idea 
of  what  a  leopard  ought  to  be.  There  are  various  literary,  and 
scientific,  and  humane  societies  and  institutions ;  but  the  schools 
were  what  most  interested  me.  Among  them  I  visited  a  gymna- 
sium of  one  hundred  and  fifty  boys,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  V., 
and  a  large  school  of  about  five  hundred  children  of  both  sexes, 
under  the  direction  of  M.  Bagge.  Both  of  these  gentlemen  were 
very  polite  in  showing  and  explaining  the  principles  of  their 
respective  schools.  Of  the  gymnasia  of  Germany  I  need  add 
but  little,  after  the  description  given  of  the  Hofwyl  school,  beg- 
ging the  reader,  however,  to  bear  in  mind  that  that  school  is 
more  extended,  and  unites  a  greater  number  of  objects,  than  most 
of  the  gymnasia  of  Germany.  This  gymnasium  in  Frankfort,  for 
example,  is  for  the  boys  of  the  city,  who,  except  at  the  hours  of 
school,  are  in  their  respective  families ;  others  frequently  lodge 
and  board  their  students,  but  have  not  the  department  of  industry 
connected  with  them  like  that  of  Hofwyl. 

These  institutions,  in  respect  to  the  kind  of  studies  pursued, 
correspond  with  our  highest  academical  institutions ;  but,  in.  re- 
gard to  the  perfection  with  which  instruction  is  imparted,  I  fear 
we  are,  in  general,  very  much  behind  the  institutions  of  Ger- 
many. 

The  great  object  seems  to  be  to  discipline  the  whole  man, 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral.  There  are  several  features  in 
the  German  system  of  education  that  seem  specially  worthy  of 
notice  :  one  is,  their  religious  instruction.  This  is  not  mere 
accidental  business ;  but,  as  it  is  considered  an  essential,  so  it 
constitutes  an  integral  part  of  the  regular  instruction.  Certain 
lessons  in  the  week  are  devoted  to  this,  in  which  the  appointed 


. 


SYSTEM    OF    EDUCATION.  457 

classes  are  duly  instructed  and  lectured,  not  in  the  speculative 
and  abstruse  points  of  theology,  but  upon  the  subjects  of  Christian 
and  moral  duties,  and  the  essential  doctrines  connected  therewith. 
In  some  instances,  to  meet  sectarian  jealousies,  teachers  of  differ- 
ent religious  sentiments  are  employed,  and  the  children  are  placed 
under  each  respectively,  according  to  the  wish  of  their  parents  or 
guardians.  In  this  instruction  the  Bible  is,  as  it  should  be,  the 
principal  text-book.  Nothing  more  surprises  the  Germans  than 
to  team  the  Bible  is  generally  excluded  from  the  regular  text- 
books in  our  schools,  high  and  low,  a  fact  which  they  hardly 
know  how  to  reconcile  with  the  idea  of  our  being  a  Christian 
nation.  "  Christianity,"  they  maintain,  "  should  be  the  basis  of 
all  education,  and  the  great  teachings  of  inspiration  paramount  to 
all  other  writings." 

Another  trait  in  the  German  system  of  education  is,  a  general 
attention  to  some  branches  which  are  commonly  neglected  in. 
America,  such  as  singing  and  drawing.  These  are  introduced 
into  their  common  schools,  especially  so  far  as  relates  to  the  ele- 
mentary principles*  In  one  of  the  schools  I  visited  at  Frankfort, 
for  example,  I  entered  a  room  where  the  teacher  was  instructing 
his  class  in  the  rules  of  music  upon  the  black  board,  and  for  my 
gratification  he  stopped  and  exercised  them  in  singing  a  beautiful 
tune,  which  their  young  and  sweet  voices  chanted  in  the  most 
exact  time.  I  think  this  an  improvement  in  education,  as  it  affords 
a  pleasing  relaxation  from  severer  studies,  and  secures  the  exer- 
cise of  voices  that  might  otherwise  remain  entirely  uncultivated. 
Drawing,  to  a  certain  extent,  is  important  for  every  person.  It 
is  next  to  writing  itself,  for  the  common  business  of  life  ;  and  yet, 
ultra-utilitarian  as  we  are  in  America,  we  count  drawing  as  be- 
longing only  to  the  ornamental  accomplishments.  The  mode  of 
instruction  is  also  a  subject  which  is  much  more  attended  to  here 
than  with  us.  It  is  true,  we  are  of  late  waking  up  to  the  science 
of  education,  but  it  is  still  an  infant  science  with  us.  Here  they 
have  numerous  normal  schools,  which  are  devoted  entirely  to  the 
work  of  forming  teachers.  The  business  of  teaching  is  a  business 
for  life — a  regular  profession  ;  and  hence  the  teachers  have  all  the 
advantages  which  a  regular  business  ever  has  over  a  mere  occa- 
sional employment.  The  teachers,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to 
judge,  keep  up  a  greater  interest  in  their  schools  than  is  common 
39  3M 


judg 


458 


GERMANY. 


with  us.  A  specimen  of  instruction  in  geography  in  a  class  I 
visited  shall  illustrate  what  I  mean.  I  found  a  teacher,  surround- 
ed by  about  fifty  happy  faces,  lecturing,  with  a  little  globe  in  his 
hand,  on  the  different  astronomical  and  other  divisions  of  the 
earth,  its  form,  motion,  &c.  Every  eye  was  fixed  upon  him ;  and, 
as  he  walked  from  one  end  of  the  room  to  the  other,  he  put  his 
questions  sometimes  generally  to  any  or  all,  and  sometimes  to 
individuals,  and,  in  either  case,  all  who  understood,  or  thought 
they  understood  the  question,  would  reach  out  their  hands,  and 
sometimes  rise  up,  to  give  indications  that  they  were  ready  to 
answer.  The  scene  cannot  be  described,  but  the  impression  on 
my  mind  was,  that  I  had  rarely,  if  ever,  seen  so  happy  a  teacher 
amid  such  happy  pupils.  Another,  a  female  teacher,  was  exer- 
cising her  class  on  orthography  and  etymology  :  she  gave  a  word, 
and  they  wrote  upon  a  slate  the  primitive  and  derivative  words, 
and  such  various  modifications  in  the  declinations  and  conjuga- 
tions as  were  proposed  to  them.  In  short,  they  were  taught  to 
think,  and  thus  the  powers  of  the  mind  became  developed  and 
strengthened  in  the  same  proportion  as  their  stock  of  ideas  was 
increased,  and,  in  learning  the  rules  of  grammar,  they  became 
initiated,  almost  imperceptibly,  into  the  philosophy  of  language. 
In  addition  to  the  schools  I  have  mentioned,  they  have  in  Frank- 
fort two  infant  schools,  for  those  who  are  able  to  pay,  consisting 
of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  scholars  each,  besides  infant 
schools  for  the  poor,  and  four  large  primary  schools  for  the  same 
class,  with  many  other  smaller  and  more  private  seminaries. 
Frankfort  has  a  public  library  of  about  fifty  thousand  volumes, 
an  academy  of  medicine,  with  a  botanic  garden,  an  anatomical 
theatre,  and  a  museum  of  natural  history. 

In  Frankfort,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  the  valley  of  the  Rhine 
and  in  Switzerland,  we  found  many  English  ;  more,  indeed,  than 
we  met  with  in  Italy.  The  English,  it  would  seem,  must  ulti- 
mately take  the  Continent.  They  are  everywhere.  Switzerland 
at  this  season  of  the  year  swarms  with  them.  They  are  out  "  in 
search  of  the  picturesque,"  and  inquiring  everywhere  what  there  is 
worth  seeing.  The  Americans  are  uniformly  taken  for  English- 
men ;  and  we  are  known  before  we  speak.  I  have  been  surprised 
to  see  with  what  instinctive  knowledge  we  are  recognised  by  all 
classes.  The  beggars  will  pass  their  own  countrymen  in  a  crowd 


DIFFICULTIES    WITH   A   VETURINO.  459 

of  thousands,  and  come  directly  to  the  Englishman  for  alms ;  so 
also  the  veturinos  and  the  servants  of  the  hotel.  You  are  often 
surprised  to  hear  a  servant's  voice  in  broken  English,  before  you 
have  uttered  a  word,  as  you  are  stepping  from  the  diligence  or 
the  packet  boat,  "  Will  you  take  lodgings  in  our  hotel,  sir  ?"*  Many 
voung  Englishmen  are  visiting  Switzerland  at  this  season  to  travel 
among  the  mountains  on  foot,  which,  if  one  has  time  and  strength, 
is  much  the  pleasantest,  cheapest,  and  most  healthy  way  of  visit- 
ing the  Alpine  scenery. 

At  Frankfort  we  have  had  our  last  trouble,  as  I  hope,  with  a 
veturino.  Most  of  the  way  from  Bale  our  German  coachman 
had  greatly  annoyed  us  by  setting  up  additional  claims  for  extra 
services,  detentions,  &c.,  which  were  perfectly  groundless  and  un- 
reasonable, but  which,  he  supposed,  we  would  sooner  pay  than 
contend  with  him.  Determined,  however,  not  to  yield  to  imposi- 
tion, though  it  cost  additional  time  and  money,  I  absolutely  refused 
his  claim,  and  tendered  him  the  money  which  was  his  due ;  but 
he  refused  to  take  it,  and  I  could  get  no  settlement  with  him  up 
to  the  time  of  my  departure.  I  left  the  money  with  the  master 
of  the  hotel,  and  departed  in  the  diligence,  not  without  serious  ap- 
prehensions that  we  should  meet  a  police  officer  at  the  gate  to  ar- 
rest us.  This  was  the  first  time,  I  think,  that  I  ever  left  a  city 
with  apprehensions  of  an  arrest.  However,  we  were  not  molested ; 
and,  after  a  very  pleasant  ride  of  about  three  hours  down  the  Maine, 
we  crossed  the  Rhine  on  another  bridge  of  boats,  and  took  lodgings 
in  Mayence  or  Mentz.  This  town  belongs  to  Hesse  Cassel,  but 
is  garrisoned  by  Austrian  and  Prussian,  as  well  as  Hessian  troops. 
This,  also,  is  the  case  with  Coblentz  and  seme  other  cities.  It  is 
by  an  arrangement  entered  into  by  treaties  between  the  respective 
powers,  and  is  caused  by  their  mutual  jealousies  of  each  other, 
and  by  the  insufficiency  of  the  small  states  of  the  Germanic  con- 
federation to  support  a  garrison  adequate  to  the  supposed  necessi- 
ties of  the  case.  These  towns  are  the  great  portals  of  Germany, 
especially  on  the  side  of  France,  and  hence  the  necessity  of  guard- 
ing them  with  great  caution  and  ample  forces.  Mayence  and  the 
little  town  of  Cassel  opposite  to  it  are  strongly  fortified  and  garri- 
soned. It  is  finely  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  deligthful  and  fertile 

*  In  Switzerland  and  Germany  you  find  servants,  and  sometimes  masters,  in  the  prin- 
cipal hotels  speaking  English. 


460  GERMANY, 

country,  and  contains  a  population,  including  the  garrison,  of  about 
thirty-two  thousand.  It  was  originally  a  Roman  fortress,  and  va- 
rious Roman  antiquities  have  been  found  in  the  neighbourhood, 
some  of  them  dating  back  to  a  period  as  early  as  the  Christian 
era.  Here  the  twenty-second  legion  of  the  Roman  army,  which 
had  served  under'  Titus  in  the  taking  of  Jerusalem,  came  as  a 
garrison  in  the  seventieth  year  of  the  Christian  era,  at  which  time, 
it  is  said,  Christianity  was  first  preached  on  the  Rhine  by  Cres- 
centius,  who  came  with  this  legion. 

The  town  was,  however,  destroyed  in  the  wars  between  the 
Romans  and  the  Germans,  but  was  restored  about  the  time  of 
Charlemagne.  This  town  has  the  honour  of  originating,  by  one 
of  its  citizens,  Arnaud  Walpoden,  the  Hanseatic  League,  in  1355. 
It  was  a  combination  entered  into  by  numerous  towns  to  secure 
the  navigation  of  the  Rhine,  which  was  greatly  interrupted  and 
embarrassed  by  the  rude  chieftains,  who  had  built  castles  upon 
the  borders  of  the  river,  and  plundered,  or,  at  least,  laid  heavy  im- 
posts upon  all  merchandise  that  passed  the  Rhine.  Their  ch&- 
teaux  were  burnt,  and  the  banditti  were  driven  from  their  positions 
by  the  arms  of  the  confederates.*  The  ruins  of  these  castles  still 
remain,  and  form  a  principal  feature  in  the  scenery  of  the  Rhine 
between  Mayence  and  Bonn.  Mayence  also  claims,  and  perhaps 
justly,  the  honour  of  inventing  the  art  of  printing  by  one  of  its 
citizens  by  the  name  of  Guttemberg.  We  saw  the  statue  of  the 
inventor,  with  the  appropriate  symbols  and  inscriptions,  commem- 
ora*:ve  of  the  event,  in  a  court  of  a  large  public  house  in  the  city. 
Haerlem  and  Strasburg  lay  claim  to  the  same  honour,  but  Gut- 
temberg is  generally  acknowledged,  I  believe,  to  have  been  the 
original  inventor,  although  it  is  not  impossible  but  Laurence  Cos- 
ter of  Haerlem  might  also  have  originated  the  same  invention,  and 
about  the  same  time.  Faust,  to  whom  this  honour  has  been  some- 
times, although  incorrectly,  attributed,  was  also  a  native  of  May- 
ence, and  was  the  first  to  make  use  of  cast  types  for  printing.  It 
was  this  that  enabled  him  to  make  Bibles  so  cheap  as  to  cause 
him  to  be  suspected  of  having  made  a  league  with  the  devil,  and 
gave  rise  to  the  old  romance  of  "  John  Faust,  or  Faustus,  and  the 

*  This  confederation  in  favour  of  commerce  was  extended  not  only  to  the  valley  of  the 
Rhine,  but  a  great  number  of  cities  in  France  and  other  countries  of  Europe  entered  Ike 
league  for  the  purpose  of  commercial  security. 


PASSAGE    DOWN   THE    RHINE.  461 

Devil,"  the  reading  of  which,  I  well  remember,  in  early  childhood* 
almost  chilled  my  blood  with  horror.  There  are  preserved  in  the 
library  of  this  city,  which  consists,  it  is  said,  of  about  eighty  thou-- 
sand  volumes,  a  number  of  the  books  printed  as  early  as  1460,. 
especially  a  Psalter,  Bible,  &c.  This  library  is  open  to  the  pub- 
lic every  day  except  Saturdays  and  Sundays.  Mayence  has  been 
celebrated,  not  only  for  its  printing,  but  for  its  poets  and  musi 
cians.  It  was  the  principal  seat  of  the  Troubadours,  so  celebra^ 
ted  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  We  were  shown 
m  the  court  of  the  cathedral  a  tombstone  of  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated of  these,  by  the  name  of  Henry  Frauenlob,  who  died  in 
1318,  and  who  was  such  a  favourite  with  the  women  of  the  cityr 
that  they  honoured  his  memory  by  bearing  his  coffin  to  the  grave. 
The  cathedral  also  contains  the  tomb  of  Fastrada,  the  wife  of 
Charlemagne,  and  of  several  other  eminent  personages.  A  part 
of  this  cathedral  was  built  as  early  as  the  ninth  century.  There 
is  also  in  Mayence  a  museum  of  Roman  monuments  found  in  the 
neighbourhood,  which  is  said  to  be  more  complete  than  any  other 
this  side  of  Italy,  and  a  gallery  of  pictures.  This  city  was  sub- 
jected to  the  French  in  1797,  but  was  restored  to  Germany  in 
1814,  and  is  the  capital  of  Rhenish  Hesse. 

From  Mayence  we  commenced  our  passage  down  the  Rhine 
on  board  the  steamboat,  with  a  great  number  of  other  passengers,, 
with  their  charts,  and  guides,  and  panoramas  of  the  Rhine,  all 
prepared  to  enjoy  the  celebrated  scenery  of  this  famous  river. 

For  a  number  of  leagues  we  passed  through  a  valley  called  the 
RheingaUj  which  is  very  fruitful,  and  exhibiting  numerous  coun- 
try-seats, castles,  &c.  The  hills  were  covered  with  vineyards ; 
but  the  vine  here  is  not  the  garland  vine  of  Italy,  but  the  low 
bush  vine.  In  general,  the  wine  made  on  the  Rhine  is  white,  al- 
though there  are  some  exceptions,  and  is,  as  is  well  known,  an 
acid  wine.  It  was  not  agreeable  to  my  taste,  although  many  pre- 
fer it  to  any  other.  The  productions  of  some  years  are  more  es 
teemed  than  those  of  others,  and  some  particular  spots  are  famous 
for  the  peculiar  flavour  of  their  wine,  the  most' celebrated  of  which 
is  a  vineyard  we  passed  about  two  leagues  before  we  reached 
Mentz,  on  our  way  from  Frankfort. 

The  principal  features  of  the  Rhine,  in  this  celebrated  section 
of  its  course*,  are  the  picturesque  highlands  that  rise  in  varied 
39 


462  GERMANY. 

beauty  on  either  side ;  the  verdant  intervening  slopes  and  vales , 
especially  the  frequent  towns  and  villages,  and,  above  all,  the  old 
feudal  castles  and  convents  that  crown  almost  every  eminence. 
These  castles  are,  most  of  them,  in  a  ruinous  state,  although  a 
few  have  been  repaired  as  summer  residences  for  German  princes, 
and  are  situated  sometimes   upon  the  top  of  the  mountain  that 
rises  up  upon  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  sometimes  down  the 
side,  and  occasionally  based  even  in  the  water's  edge,  so  that  the 
chieftains  and  their  households  used  to  fish  out  of  their  windows. 
Here,  too,  they  had  their  fortresses  and   their  towers,  by  which 
they  commanded  the  entire  channel  of  the  river,  narrowed,  as  it 
frequently  is,  by  the  obtrusive  mountains,  which  seem  to  grudge 
to  this  princely  river  a  channel  for  his  accumulated  waters.     He 
has  been  able,  however,  to  force  himself  through  in  spite  of  rocks 
and   opposing  hills,  although,  according  to  appearance  at  one 
place  near  Bingen,  the  contest  was  long  and  difficult,  and  was 
not  effected,  probably,  until  the  immense  valleys  above,  as  far  up 
as  Strasburg  and  Baden,  had  collected  all  the  watery  forces  of 
the  Alps  into  mighty  inland  seas,  which  pressed  down  upon  the 
rocky  fortresses  of  the  enemy  with  such  tremendous  power  as 
to  make  an  entire  breach  in  the  ramparts,  and  smooth  for  themselves 
a  navigable  passage  to  the  ocean.     The  interests  of  commerce, 
however,  have  greatly  deepened  this  channel  by  the  improvements 
that  have  been  made  in  it,  at  different  times,  to  facilitate  the  pas- 
sage of  boats.     The  Frankfort  merchants,  since  the  invention  of 
gunpowder,  have  done  good  service  here  by  blowing  a  channel 
through  a  ridge  of  rocks  that  crosses  the  river,  so  that  now,  with 
a  good  pilot,  large  steamboats  may  pass  in  safety. 

I  have  heard  the  passage  of  the  Rhine,  from  Mayence  to  Co- 
logne, compared  to  that  of  the  Hudson  from  New-York  to  Albany ; 
but  the  natural  scenery  of  the  former  will  not  compare  with  that  of 
the  latter.  The  passage  of  the  Hudson  is  bolder  and  more  magnifi- 
cent, even  Mrs.  Trollope  herself  being  judge  ;  for  this  she  has  con- 
ceded, as  we  were  informed  by  a  gentleman  on  board  the  boat  who 
had  sailed  through  this  passage  with  her.  But  we  have  nothing 
on  the  Hudson  to  compare  with  the  feudal  and  ecclesiastical  ruins, 
the  churches,  convents,  palaces,  and  castles  that  hang  over  this 
picturesque  valley  of  the  Rhine.  Many  of  these  fortresses  are 
rich  in  historic  associations,  and  some  of  them  are  veiled  in  all 


SUPERSTITIOUS   ROMANCES.  463 

the  witchery  of  superstition  and  romance  by  the  mysterious  fa- 
bles that  a  dark  and  superstitious  age  has  hung  over  their  remote 
history.  In  one  place,  near  Rudesheim,  in  the  Rheingau,  the  wa- 
ters are  rough  and  turbulent,  which  were  occasioned  on  this  wise. 
A  chieftain  of  Rudesheim,  who  was  one  of  the  crusaders,  and  had 
been  taken  prisoner  by  the  Saracens,  made  a  vow  that,  if  he  should 
be  rescued,  he  would  return  home  and  dedicate  his  daughter,  the 
beautiful  Giesela,  to  Heaven.  She  had  other  thoughts,  and  had 
plighted  her  love  to  a  knight  by  the  name  of  Odon,  and  was  only 
waiting  the  return  of  her  father  to  consummate  her  fondest  wishes. 
The  crusader  T?  turned,  and,  learning  the  facts,  in  a  transport  of 
rage  he  cursed  his  daughter.  In  the  bitterness  of  her  anguish  she 
precipitated  herself  into  the  river,  and  was  drowned  ;  from  that 
time  the  troubled  river  has  exhibited  upon  its  disturbed  estuary 
the  turbulent  monument  of  the  event. 

At  another  place  near  the  .town  of  Lorch,  which  forms  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  Rheingau,  is  a  precipitous  mountain, 
which  "  has  received  the  name  of  the  Devil's  Ladder,  because  it 
is  said  the  devil  himself  rode  up  this  hill  on  horseback."  A 
famous  knight  also  rode  up  this  precipice  to  rescue  his  "  ladye- 
love,"  whom  the  gnomes,  a  ghostly  race  that  dwelled  near,  had  con- 
fined in  a  lofty  tower.  In  proof  of  this  exploit,  the  saddle  on 
which  he  rode  is  still  shown  in  the  town-house.  At  another 
place  is  the  site  of  the  former  residence  or  haunt  of  a  water- 
spirit  by  the  name  of  Lurley,  whom  the  boatmen  still  invoke  as 
they  pass,  and  she  answers  in  an  echo  sounding  like  her  name — 
Lurley  or  Lurely.  An  enormous  rock  near  by  is  called  Lurley- 
berg.  The  origin  of  the  fable  seems  to  be  the  remarkable  echo 
produced  here,  which  repeats  a  sound  five  times.  A  more  interest- 
ing, because  a  more  real  character,  occupies  these  haunts  for  the 
present.  It  is  an  old  man  who  seems  to  be  partially  insane,  and 
spends  his  time  chiefly  in  firing  muskets  as  boats  pass  up  and 
down  the  Rhine,  that  the  passengers  may  enjoy  the  echo.  For 
this  service  he  gets  no  other  fee  than  the  gratification  of  giving 
pleasure  to  others.  This  must  be  called,  I  think,  a  species  of 
benevolence. 

I  might  mention  other  fables,  and  numerous  tender  or  heroic 
historical  events  connected  with  these  feudatory  castles,  but  my 
limits  will  not  permit.  The  part  of  the  passage  richest  in  these 


464  GERMANY. 

historical  associations  is  below  Coblentz,  between  that  and  Bonn, 
in  Westphalia.  This  is  the  region  of  the  "  Seven  Mountains ;" 
they  are  seven  distinct  heights,  that  rise  on  or  near  the  right  bank 
of  the  river,  all  of  which  are  crowned  with  fine  ruins  towering  in 
gloomy  grandeur  over  the  valley  of  the  Rhine.  Some  of  these 
castles,  it  is  said,  were  built  in  the  fourth  century  ;  most  of  them, 
however,  are  works  of  from  the  ninth  to  the  twelfth  centuries. 

The  territories  on  the  Rhine  were  formerly  divided  into  four 
Electorates,  or  Circles,  called  the  Circles  of  the  Rhine ;  they  were 
Mayence,  Treves,  Cologne,  and  the  Palitinate.  The  electors  of 
these  four  territories  often  made  and  deposed  the  emperors,  and 
otherwise  controlled  and  directed  the  destinies  of  Germany  ;  and 
they  still  show  near  the  small  town  of  Rhense,  a  little  above 
Coblentz,  the  site  of  the  Konigstuhl,  "  King's  Stool"  or  Royal 
Seat,  where  these  electors  met  to  consult  upon  the  interests  of  the 
empire.  This  spot  was  selected  because  the  four  territories 
cornered  here,  or  so  near  this,  that  one  town  or  more  in  each 
territory  could  be  seen  from  this  spot.  This,  like  many  other 
royal  seats,  was  destroyed  in  the  revolution,  and  will  probably 
never  be  restored.  At  the  restoration,  after  the  dethronement  of 
Bonapart,  this  country,  from  Bingen,  a  little  below  Mayence,  to 
the  Netherlands,  was  given  to  Prussia,  embracing  about  eight 
thousand  three  hundred  square  miles,  and  containing  a  million  of 
inhabitants.  This  is  called  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Westphalia.  It 
is  thus  that  the  larger  European  powers  took  advantage  of  the 
derangement  occasioned  by  the  changes  of  Napoleon  to  help 
themselves  to  a  portion  of  the  spoils.  The  settlement,  therefore, 
was  not  exactly  a  restoration,  but,  to  some  extent,  a  partition,  so 
that  the  larger  powers  increased  their  own  territories  by  swallow- 
ing up  a  portion  of  the  smaller.  This  was  a  crime  in  Napoleon, 
because  he  did  it  on  such  a  large  scale,  and  took  it  all  himself ;  but 
in  the  allies  it  was  a  legitimate  virtue,  I  suppose,  because  they 
only  helped  themselves  and  one  another,  each  to  a  few  slices  !  I 
know  not,  however,  as  it  would  have  been  any  worse  for  the 
world,  nay,  I  am  not  sure  but  it  would  have  been  better,  if  all  the 
little  states  had  in  this  way  been  swallowed  up,  except  so  far  as 
the  principle  of  doing  it  because  they  had  the  power  would  have 
been  a  dangerous  one  to  be  sanctioned  by  those  who  were  fighting 
"  for  the  liberties  of  Europe."  But  the  principle  was  sanctioned, 


CHARACTER   OF   FREDERIC  WILLIAM  III.  465 

at  any  rate,  to  some  extent;  and,  after  they  had  commenced, they 
might  as  well  have  carried  it  through ;  as  it  is,  all  the  evil  of  sane 
tioning  a  bad  principle  stands  out  in  bold  relief  upon  the  historic 
tablet  that  records  the  transactions  of  the  allies  ;  and,  at  the  sama 
time,  most  of  the  inconvenience  of  these  petty  sovereignties  re- 
mains. 

The  allies  professed  much  and  promised  fair,  but  their  practice 
is  quite  another  thing.  This  practice  is  what  might  have  been 
expected  of  the  northern  autocrat,  and  also  of  the  Austrian  court, 
the  counsels  of  which  are  governed  by  that  sworn  enemy  to 
liberty,  and  that  notoriously  practical  enemy  to  truth  and  honesty, 
Prince  Metternich  j  but  not  of  the  King  of  Prussia.  In  many 
respects  he  certainly  appears  to  be  a  good  man ;  he  makes  a  pro- 
fession— which,  by-the-way,  is  a  rare  thing  for  kings — of  experi- 
mental piety.  The  venerable  and  learned  Tholcuk,  professor  at 
Halle,  stated,  in  a  speech  before  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society 
in  London,  that  his  sovereign  had  declared,  alluding  to  the 
memorable  campaign  of  1813  and  1814.  when  Napoleon  was 
overthrown,  that  the  "  snows  of  Russia  had  kindled  up  the  fires 
of  devotion  in  his  heart ;"  and  with  this  profession  there  are,  ac- 
cording to  all  accounts,  many  correspondences  in  his  life.  And 
since  I  have  introduced  this  subject  here,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
allude  to  a  few  things  connected  with  the  character  and  policy  of 
the  reigning  King  of  Prussia,  Frederic  William  III. 

To  Frederic  William's  religion  I  have  just  alluded,  and  his  re 
gard  to  vital  piety,  and  his  wish  to  promote  it  in  his  realm,  ap- 
pear in  his  continued  efforts  to  put  down  Neology,  which  is  so 
prevalent  in  Germany  at  the  present  day.  Perhaps,  for  the  ben- 
efit of  some  of  my  younger  readers,  I  ought  here  to  say  that  by 
Neology  is  meant  a  sort  of  philosophical  religion,  which  takes 
some  cognizance  of  the  scriptures,  and  claims  to  be  founded  on 
the  principles  of  Christianity,  but  which  so  effectually  discards 
all  the  essential  principles  of  the  gospel,  and  so  fabulously  and 
figuratively  explains  away  all  its  miracles  and  spirituality,  that 
it  is  no  other  than  downrighr  undisguised  Deism.  I  say  undis- 
guised, for  it  has  no  other  disguise  than  the  name  of  Christianity 
and  the  forms  and  ordinances  of  a  Christian  church.  Its  doctrines, 

I  philosophy,  are  plain,  palpable  Deism,  or  rather  worse  than 
me  kinds  of  Deism,  for  some  of  its  supporters  seem  to  give  to 
.„ 


466  GERMANY. 

the  Deity  himself  no  other  personality  than  a  kind  of  all  pervading 
energy,  the  anima  mundi  of  the  ancients.  That  the  character  and 
extent  of  this  philosophy  may  be  seen,  I  take  the  liberty  to  intro- 
duce here  some  extracts  which  my  esteemed  friend  and  Christian 
brother,  the  Reverend  John  Beacham,  one  of  the  Wesleyan  Mis- 
sionary secretaries  in  London,  permitted  me  to  make  from  a  letter 
which  he  had  just  received  from  Professor  Tholuck,  to  whom 
allusion  has  been  already  made. 

"  Quite  recently  a  book  has  been  published,  the  name  of  which 
I  am  sure  will  reach  England  also,  for  it  will  commence  a  new 
era  in  theology  and  religion  in  our  country — .The  Life  of  Christ, 
by  Straus  of  Tubingen.  This  book  intends  to  prove  that  all  our 
gospels  are  spurious  and  supposititious  productions,  and  all  the 
relations  about  Christ  mystical."  "  Hundreds  of  clergymen,  pro- 
fessors, and  laymen  have  received  his  assertions,  and  many  be- 
lievers despair  of  its  being  answered.  I  am  just  about  to  write  a 
volume  for  its  refutation."  "A  general  separation  must  take 
place  ;  a  small  flock  of  believers  will  range  on  one  side,  the  large 
bulk  of  complete  infidels  on  the  other.  Straus  is  not  a  Deist,  but 
a  Pantheist.  He  believes  in  no  God,  but  some  eternal  impersonal 
principle  spread  and  manifested  in  the  world." 

Such  is  the  character  and  prevalence  of  the  German  theology. 
Against  this  enemy,  which  has  come  in  like  a  flood,  "  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  has  lifted  up  a  standard,"  a  revival  of  evangelical  re- 
ligion has  been  experienced  to  some  extent  in  Germany,  and  a 
few  are  struggling  against  the  tide  that  has  overspread  the  land. 
The  court  throws  its  influence  into  this  side,  and  the  king  does 
what  he  can  to  accomplish  a  change  in  the  creed  and  religious 
character  of  the  country.  He  does  this  by  extending  court  pat- 
ronage to  the  evangelical  clergy ;  by  promoting  to  professorships, 
chaplaincies,  &c.,  as  vacancies  occur,  such  as  favour  orthodoxy ; 
and  also  by  attempting  a  kind  of  an  amalgamation  creed  and  re- 
ligious establishment,  by  which  he  is%ndeavouring  to  persuade,  and, 
in  some  sense,  coerce*  the  Calvinists  and  Lutherans  to  coalesce. 

*  A  law  was  passed  in  1830,  commanding  the  use  of  the  new  national  liturgy,  by 
which  it  is  proposed  to  unite  the  Lutheran  and  reformed  churches.  Under  the  operation 
of  this  ordinance  many  nonconformists  have  been  dismissed  from  office  and  fined,  and  a 
number  of  ministers  imprisoned. 


STATE    OF   THEOLOGY.  467 


That  he  is  sincere  in  this  there  is  little  doubt,  and  that  he  is  taking 
the  wrong  course  to  accomplish  his  object  is  not  so  much  his 
fault  as  the  fault  of  the  times — the  fault  of  all  Europe.     But  it 
is,  nevertheless,  a  serious  fault.     When  did  the  church  ever  ex- 
tensively and  grossly  apostatize,  except  in  its  connexion  with  the 
secular  power,  and  by  reason  of  that  connexion  ?     And  when  did 
a  reform  from  such  gross  apostacy  ever  take  place,  except  inde- 
pendently of  the  secular  power,  and,  for  the  most  part,  in  opposition 
to  it  ?     Let  the  readers  of  church  history  examine  this  subject, 
and  find  the  true  answer  to  these  questions  ;  for  an  answer  to  them 
is  of  vital  consequence  to  the  religious  operations  of  the  present  day. 
The  secular  power  introduced  the  apostacy  of  Rome.     The  Prot- 
estants commenced,  in  opposition  to  the  governments,  to  reform 
the  church ;  but  most  indiscreetly,  as  soon  as  they  obtained  the 
power,  strengthened  their  own  cause,  for  the  time  being,  by  form- 
ing the  same  unholy  alliance.     And  what  has  been  the  conse- 
quence ?     Like  causes,  in  the  moral   as  in  the  physical  world, 
produce  like  effects,  and  will  to  the  end  of  time.    Protestantism 
has  become  corrupted  in  every  case  where  such  alliance  has  ex- 
isted.    This  is  pre-eminently  true,  I  apprehend,  in  Germany,  and 
hence  the  greater  folly  for  the  King  of  Prussia  to  make  use  of  that 
as  an  antidote  to  cure  the  poison  of  infidelity  in  his  church,  which 
is  the  very  bane  that  has  infused  that  poison  into  the  ecclesiastical 
sy stern.     Would  these  men  that  are  now  professedly  Christian 
clergymen  in  Germany  have  been  clergymen,  or  even  nominal 
Christians  at  this  time,  but  for  the  legalized  salaries  of  ecclesias- 
tical benefices  and  the  honours  of  ecclesiastical  preferments  ?     It 
is  this  that  has  kept  up  the  forms  of  Christianity,  and  deluded  the 
people  with  the  idea  that  they  were  the  members  of  a  Christian 
church,  while  their  entire  system  was  becoming  perverted.     It  is 
this  that  has  kept  out  an  influence,  which,  but  for  the  strength  of 
government  patronage,  would  have  combated  these  growing  er- 
rors in   their  early  development,  and  would  have   purified   the 
church.     But,  as  it  is,  all  has  been  lost,  and  one  can  but  regret 
that  a  prince  who  seems  well  disposed   towards  the    Christian 
cause,  not  merely  for  state  purposes,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  truth, 
should,  now  that  the  inherent  energy  of  truth  is  beginning  to  com- 
bat with  error,  run  into  the  same  old,  oft-tried,  and   fallacious 
method  of  restoring  the  purity  of  the  gospel.     The  orthodox  cause 


468  GfcttMANY. 

may  in  this  way  be  strengthened  for  the  time  ;  nominal,  and,  per- 
haps, in  some  cases,  real  converts  may  be  multiplied;  but  the 
church  can  never  in  this  way  in  Prussia,  or  anywhere  else,  be 
essentially  and  permanently  purified  and  reformed.  Reason,  his- 
tory, common  sense,  and  revelation,  all  combine  to  establish  this 
proposition. 

But  much  as  Frederic  William  is  missing  the  mark  in  his  at- 
tempts to  promote  the  interests  of  religion  in  his  realm,  the  evil 
will  be  remedied,  in  part  at  least,  by  his  excellent  system  of  gen- 
eral education  ;  a  system  which,  for  its  symmetry,  energy,  practi- 
cal efficiency,  and  utility,  has  become  the  admiration  and  imitation 
of  both  hemispheres.  Absolute  monarch  as  he  is,  the  King  of 
Prussia  has,  in  this  respect,  shown  himself  to  be  the  father  and 
friend  of  his  people.  I  would  do  nothing  more  than  allude  to  this 
subject  here,  were  it  not  that  this  system  of  education  is,  after  all, 
but  partially  known  in  our  country ;  and  I  should  rejoice  in  being 
instrumental  in  calling  to  it  the  attention  of  such  as  may  not  have 
examined  it,  by  briefly  noticing  a  very  few  of  its  leading  features. 
I  have  less  need,  however,  of  going  into  detail  on  this  subject, 
because  I  have  done  this  to  some  extent  with  the  French  system, 
which  corresponds,  in  many  respects,  with  this  of  Prussia. 

1 .  One  of  the  features  of  education  in  Prussia,  as  in  France,  is, 
that  the  superintendency  of  the  schools  is  made  a  distinct  department 
of  government,  with  an  efficient  minister  at  its  head.*  He,  with  his 
council  and  subordinate  officers,  looks  after  the  whole  system.  He 
not  only  takes  care  of  the  funds  and  of  their  distribution,  but  he  sees 
that  well-qualified  teachers  are  employed,  proper  text-books  intro- 
duced, suitable  houses  provided,  &c.  To  carry  out  the  system  effi- 
ciently, the  country  is  divided  into  provinces,  and  these  into  regency 
circles,  and  these  again  into  smaller  circles,  and,  finally,  the  smal- 
ler circles  into  parishes.  Each  parish  must  have  a  school.  This 
school  is  under  a  parochial  committee  and  inspector,  subject  to  the 
supervision  of  the  higher  councils,  and  of  the  minister  of  instruction. 

2.  Every  parent  is  obliged  by  law  to  send  his  child  to  school 
from  the  age  of  seven  years  to  fourteen.  He  can,  however,  by 
permission  of  the  committee,  take  out  his  child  before  the  age  of 

*  Why  should  not  this  feature  be  introduced  into  the  respective  states  in  our  country  ? 
In  Connecticut  there  is  an  officer  to  superintend  the  school  fund.  But  of  how  little  avail 
•is  it  to  have  a  fund  and  have  it  well  taken  care  of,  unless  it  is  also  properly  expended  I 


PRUSSIAN    SYSTEM    OF    EDUCATION.  469 

lourteen,  if  the  pupil  shall  have  gone  through  the  course  of  primary 
instruction ;  and,  if  the  parent  is  not  able  to  furnish  the  child 
with  suitable  clothing,  &c.,  to  attend  school,  the  public  furnishes 

them. 

3.  Each  parish  is  obliged  by  law  to  establish  and  maintain  a 
primary  school, 

4.  The  schoolhouses  are  well  fitted  and  suitably  located.     A 
play-ground  is  generally  laid  out  in  connexion  with  the  school- 
house,  and  often  a  garden,  orchard,  &c. 

5.  In  addition  to  suitable  books   and  maps,  cheap  apparatus 
and  collections  in  natural  history  are  required. 

!  6.  Religion  is  taught  in  the  schools,  and,  where  there  are  differ- 
ent religions,  a  spirit  of  accommodation  is  enjoined ;  and,  if  there 
is  more  than  one  master,  when  the  parish  is  divided  in  its  reli- 
gious views,  the  head-master  is  to  be  of  the  religion  of  the  major- 
ity, and  the  assistant  of  that  of  the  minority.* 

7.  Girls'  schools  are  required,  as  far  as  practicable,  to  be  sep- 
arate from  the  other  sex. 

8.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  branches  of  a  primary  education 
as  given  in  our  country,  drawing,  singing,  and  the  elements  of  ge- 
ometry are  required.     Agricultural  instructions  and  gymnastic  ex- 
ercises are  also  insisted  on.  ; 

9.  But  that  which,  more  than  anything  else,  gives  character  to 
these  schools  is  the  competency  of  the  instructers.     To  secure 
this  there  are  forty-two  normal  schools,  where  teachers  are  trained 
to  their  profession.     They  are  not  only  taught  wliat  to  teach,  but 
how  to  teach  ;  and,  to  this  end,  they  are  required  to  take  a  three 
years'  course  ;  at  the  end  of  which,  if  found  qualified,  they  receive 
a  certificate,  specifying  their  qualifications,  aptness  to  teach,  &c. 
As  these  teachers  are  educated  at  the  public  expense,  they  are 
required  to  pursue  the  business  of  teaching  where  the  consistories 
appoint.    Those  who  excel  are  promoted  ;  those  who  are  negligent 
are  fined,  and,  if  they  continue  unprofitable,  they  are  dismissed. 
No  one  is  allowed  to  teach  who  has  not  his  regular  diploma  or 
certificate. 

*  It  should  be  recollected  that  this  accommodation  is  effected  where  the  population  is 
divided  between  Catholics  and  Protestants ;  as  is  the  case  in  a  great  part  of  Prussia. 
How  much  easier  might  this  accommodation  be  effected  between  different  Protestant 
sects? 

40 


470  GERMANY. 

10.  Although  there  seems  to  be  much  of  the  exercise  of  strong 
authority  in  this  system,  it  is  nevertheless  remarkable  that  a  great 
portion  of  the  machinery  that  enters  into  it  is  made  of  the  man- 
aging committees  and  councils  appointed  by  the  different  parishes 
and  circles  ;  so  that  the  business  of  government,  after  all,  seems 
to  be  to  form  the  general  plan  and  exercise  a  general  supervision, 
while  the  immediate  superintendency  falls  upon  the 'people  imme- 
diately concerned.  This  gives  a  general  interest  in  the  schools, 
which  could  not  otherwise  be  secured,  and  which  is  indispensable 
to  the  success  of  the  plan.  So  satisfied  is  the  government  of  the 
necessity  of  enlisting  the  popular  feeling  in  order  to  secure  suc- 
cess, that,  when  the  new  provinces  on  the  Rhine  were  acquired 
by  the  arrangement  of  1815,  the  law  requiring  parents  to  send 
their  children  to  school  under  the  sanction  of  severe  penalties 
was  suspended  until,  by  gentler  means,  a  public  sentiment  could 
be  formed  in  favour  of  popular  education.  In  1825  this  law  was 
also  put  in  force  in  these  provinces. 

It  is  supposed  that  there  is  now  scarcely  a  child  in  all  the 
Prussian  dominions  capable  in  body  and  mind  of  attending  and 
receiving  instruction  between  the  ages  of  seven  and  fourteen,  who 
is  not  in  a  process  of  primary  or  higher  instruction.  In  1831, 
out  of  a  population  of  twelve  millions,  seven  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  thousand,  eight  hundred  and  twenty-three,  which  was  the  re- 
ported population  of  the  entire  kingdom,  there  were  attending  the 
public  primary  schools  two  millions,  twenty-one  thousand,  four 
hundred  and  twenty-one. 

In  addition  to  her  primary  schools  and  private  seminaries, 
Prussia  has  one  hundred  and  ten  higher  schools  called  gymnasia ; 
and,  above  these,  she  has  six  universities ;  viz.,  at  Berlin,  the 
capital  of  the  kingdom ;  at  Halle  in  Saxony  ;  at  Bonn  on  the 
Rhine  ;  at  Breslau  in  Silesia  (this  is  principally  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Catholics) ;  at  Konigsberg  in  East  Prussia ;  and  at 
Greifswalde  in  Pomerania.  These  universities  are  generally  in  a 
very  flourishing  condition,  and  are,  as  well  as  the  other  universi- 
ties of  Germany,  supplied,  for  the  most  part,  with  splendid  libraries. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  an  extended  and  very  agreeable  travel- 
ling acquaintance  while  passing  down  the  Rhine,  during  our  stay 
at  Rotterdam,  and  on  our  passage  to  London,  with  Count  Falken 
stein    a  counsellor  of  Saxony,  and  royal  librarian  at  Dresden  , 


LIBRARIES    AND    UNIVERSITIES.  471 

from  whom  I  derived  much  information  concerning  the  character 
and  management  of  the  German  libraries.  The  following  facts 
respecting  the  Dresden  library  may  give  some  general  idea  ot 
the  regulations  and  extensive  advantages  of  the  German  libraries. 
The  number  of  volumes  is  three  hundred  thousand.  To  manage 
the  library  there  are  one  principal  librarian,  two  assistants,  and 
four  secretaries.  Every  man,  high  or  low,  appertaining  to  Sax- 
ony, may,  by  giving  a  sufficient  guaranty  that  the  books  shall  be 
returned,  take  out  three  or  four  volumes  ;  and  even  strangers 
and  foreigners  are  favoured  with  the  advantages  of  the  library. 
During  the  last  year  (1835)  there  were  two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  eighty-five  readers  in  Dresden,  and  five  hundred  and 
twenty  out  of  the  city,  making  three  thousand  and  five  different 
readers  for  the  year. 

The  library  at  Gottingen  has  three  hundred  thousand  volumes  , 
at  Munich  four  hundred  thousand  ;  at  Berlin  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand ;  at  Vienna  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  with 
numerous  others.  Every  important  town,  in  fact,  has  its  library 
of  a  greater  or  less  extent. 

The  universities  of  Germany  are  also  well  attended.  The 
most  prominent  are  that  of  Berlin,  with  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred students,  and  that  of  Halle,  with  seven  hundred.  The  uni- 
versity of  Gottingen,  also,  in  the  Duchy  of  Brunswick,  has  nine 
hundred  students ;  and  that  of  Leipsic  in  Saxony  eight  hundred 
and  twenty.  The  German  universities  vary  considerably  at  dif- 
ferent times  in  the  number  of  their  students,  according  to  the 
celebrity  of  their  professors.  A  popular  lecturer,  in  any  one  de- 
partment, will  draw  students  from  the  different  sovereignties  far 
and  near,  and  thus,  for  the  time,  increase  the  patronage  of  the  in- 
stitution. From  the  above  specimens,  it  is  evident  that  there  are 
at  this  day  very  many  who  are  pursuing  a  liberal  and  a  profes- 
sional course  of  study  in  Germany.  Many  of  these  become, 
in  their  turn,  professors,  authors,  and  teachers  of  various  grades. 
It  is  here,  and  here  only,  in  many  of  the  states,  that  the  lower 
classes  have  a  chance  to  rise.  In  the  republic  of  letters  the  field 
is  open  for  competition,  and  the  rush  to  this  theatre  of  action,  and 
the  press  for  distinction,  is  surprisingly  great.  Poverty  is  re- 
sisted, obstacles  are  overcome,  and  thousands  are  stretching  on- 
ward in  their  eager  course  for  knowledge.  The  entire  public 


472  GERMANY. 

mind  feels  the  impulse,  and  absolute  royalty  itself  swells  and  fa- 
cilitates the  tide  of  mental  elevation  by  the  salutary  regulations 
and  princely  munificence  of  the  throne. 

Whether  the  King  of  Prussia  perceives  that  this  will  ultimately 
subvert  the  irresponsible  exercise  of  absolute  power,  or  vvhethei 
he  vainly  imagines  that  absolutism  and  universal  education  can 
subsist  together,  does  not  appear.  The  result  will  show,  doubt- 
less, that  a  constitutional  government  in  fact,  if  not  in  form,  must 
follow  this  general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  And  who  can  say 
that  this  is  not  the  intention  of  Frederic  William  ?  I  see  no  other 
way_after  all  that  has  been  said  of  his  religion — to  vindicate  his 
character  as  an  honest  man.  He,  with  other  sovereigns  of  Eu- 
rope, who,  like  him,  have  hitherto  disregarded  their  solemn 
pledges,  promised  his  subjects  a  constitutional  government  if  they 
would  rally  and  unite  in  putting  down  Napoleon.  They  took  him 
at  his  word.  The  farmer  left  his  plough  in  the  furrow ;  the  me- 
chanic closed  the  door  of  his  shop ;  the  student  left  his  books, 
and  all  rushed  to  the  field  of  conflict.  This  unanimity  and  ardour 
ensured  success.  Napoleon  fell ;  and  up  to  this  hour  the  reward 
of  their  zeal  has  been  perfidy,  falsehood,  and  disappointed  hopes. 
But,  if  the  king  hesitates  to  adopt  this  form  of  government,  not 
because  he  loves  power  and  disregards  the  truth,  but  because  he 
fears  the  consequences  until  the  people  are  educated  ;  and  if  he  is 
diffusing  light  over  his  subjects  that  he  may  safely  give  them  lib- 
erty, then  is  he  worthy  to  be  reckoned  among  the  benefactors  of 
the  world  The  result  will  be  seen,  and,  in  the  mean  time,  suspi- 
cion darkens  by  this  long  delay,  and  by  certain  rigorous  measures 
of  government  against  those  who  hold  and  teach  constitutional 
doctrines,  and  especially  by  that  cruel  intolerance  that  incarce- 
rates a  minister  of  the  gospel  because  he  conscientiously  refuses 
to  conduct  Divine  service  in  accordance  with  a  royal  dictation  of  a 
newfangled  liturgy.  Every  day  the  plague-spot  of  perfidy  grows 
darker  upon  the  crest  of  the  Prussian  monarch  ;  and,  if  he  dies 
leaving  it  an  inheritance  to  his  successor,  it  will  be  infamous  to 
his  character  and  a  curse  to  his  house. 


COBLENTZ.  473 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

BUT  it  is  time,  perhaps  the  reader  will  think,  to  return  to  the 
passage  of  the  Rhine.  Our  first  stopping-place  was  at  Coblentz, 
eighteen  leagues  from  Mayence.  This  town  derives  its  name  by 
corruption,  it  is  said,  from  Confluens,  because  it  is  situated  at  the 
confluence  of  the  rivers  Moselle  and  Rhine.  The  business  of 
the  city  consists  principally  in  storing  and  forwarding  the  mer 
chandise  of  the  Moselle ;  over  this  river  is  a  bridge,  built,  it  is 
said,  by  Bishop  Baldwin,  with  money  collected  by  the  sale  of  in 
dulgences.  There  is  also  a  bridge  of  boats  over  the  Rhine,  con- 
necting the  town  with  the  valley  of  Ehrenbreitstein.  These 
bridges  of  boats  are  very  common  on  this  river,  and  they  are  very 
convenient.  The  platform  of  the  bridge  is  laid  upon  the  top  of  a 
succession  of  boats,  which  are  moored  close  to  each  other,  being 
made  fast  to  posts  or  anchors  above  by  means  of  cables.  The 
rapidity  of  the  current  is  favourably  resisted  by  the  sharpness  of 
the  prows,  and  the  cables  permit  the  entire  mass  to  rise  and  fall 
with  the  waters  of  the  river. 

Coblentz,  though  small,  containing  but  about  eleven  thousand 
inhabitants,  is,  nevertheless,  in  connexion  with  the  fortresses  in 
its  immediate  neighbourhood,  one  of  the  strongest  positions,  prob- 
ably, in  the  Prussian  dominions.  It  appears  to  be  strongly  gar- 
risoned also  ;  for  the  Place  d'Armes  was  full  of  soldiers  the  day  we 
called,  whose  gay  uniforms,  contrasted  with  the  verdant  Linden- 
trees  that  surround  this  public  square,  made  a  very  beautiful 
appearance. 

The  next  town  of  importance  is  Bonn,  which,  like  Coblentz,  is 
situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  and  contains  about  twelve 
thousand  inhabitants.  This  town  is  principally  noted  for  its  uni- 
versity, which  now  occupies  the  buildings  formerly  called  the 
castle.  The  situation  is  elevated,  and  commands  a  fine  view  of 
the  Rhine  and  the  "  Seven  Mountains,11  The  old  Rheister  Saal,  or 
"  Knights'  Hall,"  once  the  scene  of  feudal  conviviality  and  mirth, 
Is  now  a  place  of  intellectual  refreshment ;  it  is  the  room  for  the 
40  30 


474  GERMANY. 

library.  One  would  think  the  students  of  Bonn  would  be  inspired 
with  romance  and  poetry.  Their  academic  halls,  and  the  entire 
circle  of  their  sensible  horizon,  are  all  rife  with  the  associations 
of  romance  and  chivalry  ;  and  the  scenery  itself  is  most  poetically 
picturesque. 

We  arrived  at  Cologne,  and  debarked  for  the  night,  for  these 
Rhenish  boats  afford  us  no  berths  for  sleeping.  Here  all  the 
interest  of  the  Rhine  ceases  ;  below  this  the  banks  are  flat  and 
low,  and  the  entire  scene  is  as  monotonous  and  dull  as  it  is  pic- 
turesque and  animating  above.  Hence  many  travellers  leave  the 
river  here  and  strike  across  Belgium,  and  taking  Brussels,  and 
Ghent,  and  the  Field  of  Waterloo  in  their  route,  they  embark  for 
London  or  Dover  at  Ostend.  We  were  somewhat  in  doubt  which 
route  would  afford  us  the  most  interest;  but  having,  from  my  earliest 
recollections,  associated  something  peculiar  with  my  idea  of  that 
land  which  has  been  wrested  from  the  domains  of  Neptune,  and 
presuming  that  this  would  be  my  only  opportunity  of  gratifying 
curiosity  in  reference  to  it,  I  determined  to  retain  my  berth  and 
visit  Holland. 

We  had  a  little  time  in  the  evening  and  morning  for  examining 
this  ancient  city,  which  dates  back  to  the  time  of  Marcus  Agrippa, 
who  laid  the  first  foundation  of  the  city  by  making  this  site  a  place 
of  encampment  for  the  Roman  army.*  It  is  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhine,  and  lies  in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  extending  on  the 
river  about  one  league.  It  contains  about  sixty  thousand  inhabi- 
tants. Formerly  it  was  entirely  under  the  influence  of  Romanism 
and  superstition,  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  its  government  was  ty- 
rannical and  oppressive.  At  one  time,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  on 
account  of  an  insurrection  among  the  weavers,  seventeen  hundred 
looms  were  burnt  by  order  of  government,  which  impolitic  act 
drove  the  cloth  manufacturers  from  the  city.  In  1618  all  the 
Protestants  were  expelled  the  city ;  in  1425  all  the  Jews  were 
banished.  No  wonder,  after  such  a  course  of  bad  policy,  the 
French,  when  they  took  the  city  in  1794,  should  find  in  it  twelve 
thousand  mendicants,  whose  particular  stations,  in  many  instances, 
had  become  a  sort  of  property,  and  descended  to  their  children 
as  an  inheritance.  These,  with  twenty-five  thousand  ecclesiastics, 
were  enough,  one  would  think,  to  drink  up  all  the  lifeblood  of  the 

'*  By  some  it  is  supposed  that  this  was  the  site  of  the  capital  of  the  ancient  Uhlans, 


COLOGNE.  475 

city.     The  French,  however,  broke  in  upon  this  system  of  men- 
dicity and  superstition,  and  the  city  is  improving. 

Cologne  contains  a  fine  specimen  of  German  architecture  in 
its  unfinished  cathedral,  which  was  commenced  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  Among  other  tombs  and  monuments,  this  cathedral,  it 
is  said,  contains  the  relics  of  the  magi,  or  "  three  kings,"  who 
came  from  the  east  to  worship  the  babe  Jesus  in  the  stable. 
The  sarcophagus  was  superbly  ornamented  with  gold,  and  silver, 
and  precious  stones,  but  it  suffered  much  by  removing  it  when 
the  chapter  fled  at  the  time  of  the  French  invasion  in  1794.  It 
was  returned  in  1804,  much  mutilated,  but  has  since  been  par- 
tially restored.  Here,  too,  is  the  tomb  of  Queen  Mary  de  Medicis, 
mother  of  Louis  XIII.  The  sainted  Empress  Helena  built  a 
church  here,  as  well  as  at  Bonn,  thus  showing  that  the  enter- 
prising spirit  of  this  Christian  heroine  led  her  to  the  West  as  well 
as  to  the  East;  a  missionary  of  unremitting  zeal  in  Palestine,  in 
the  deserts  of  Arabia,  and  in  the  barbarous  regions  of  Transalpine 
Gaul.  Bating  her  superstition,  which  was  rather  the  fault  of  the 
age  than  of  any  one  individual,  what  a  worthy  example  of  Christian 
enterprise  was  exhibited  in  this  extraordinary  woman  ?  Who  of 
modern  days  can  compare  with  her  ?  On  the  site  of  the  church 
which  she  built  in  Cologne  stands  now  the  church  of  St.  Gereon, 
which  is  a  fine  structure,  built  in  the  eleventh  century. 

P.  P.  Rubens,  who  was  born  in  a  house  in  this  city,  still  shown 
to  the  stranger,  was  baptized  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter.  The 
fount  in  which  he  was  baptized,  and  the  tombstone  of  his  father, 
are  still  preserved  in  the  church,  as  also  a  beautiful  picture  of  his, 
representing  the  crucifixion  of  the  Apostle  Peter. 

Cologne  is  almost  wholly  Catholic,  there  being  less,  probably, 
than  two  thousand  of  Jews  and  Protestants  within  its  walls. 

Among  various  other  manufactories,  the  famous  eau  de  Cologne 
or  Cologne  water,  which  takes  its  name  from  this  city,  where  it 
was  first  invented,  is  still  very  extensively  manufactured  here  We 
were  told  there  were  fifteen  manufactories  of  this  article,  which 
furnish  for  exportation  to  the  amount  of  three  hundred  thousand 
francs  annually.  We  went  to  the  old  shop  of  M.  Jean  Marie  Fa- 
rina, and  bought  several  bottles,  so  that  we  might  be  sure,  for 
once  in  our  lives,  that  we  had  obtained  the  "genuine  article" 

Our  next  day's  sail  was  to  Nimeguen,  the  capital  of  the  prov« 


476  GERMANY. 

ince  of  Guelderland,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  from  Co- 
logne. On  going  on  board  in  the  morning  we  found  our  compa- 
ny had  very  much  changed,  and  had  become  considerably  dimin- 
ished. One  party,  however,  in  which  we  had  become  very  much 
interested,  was  with  us  still.  It  was  that  of  a  German  princess 
and  her  suite,  consisting  of  a  young  lady,  Count  Falkenstein,  be- 
fore mentioned,  a  colonel  of  the  Austrian  service,  &c.  They 
were  all  fine  companions,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  inter- 
est of  the  rest  of  our  voyage,  not  only  to  Holland,  but  thence  to 
England.  They  were  intelligent,  social,  and  courteous,  and  uni- 
ted, to  a  great  degree,  simplicity  of  manners  with  dignity  of  char- 
acter. By  some  means  we  became  acquainted  with  each  other, 
and  consorted  together  with  a  freedom  and  an  attachment  not  com- 
mon with  strangers,  especially  with  strangers  so  unequal  in  rank 
as  that  of  plain  republicans  on  the  one  side  and  princes  on  the 
other.  All  etiquette  in  the  matter  was  waived,  and  we  became, 
for  the  rest  of  the  way,  in  a  manner,  of  one  party.  The  intimacy 
commenced,  I  believe,  in  the  first  place,  between  the  ladies,  who, 
although  generally  more  wary  and  tenacious  of  etiquette  than  the 
opposite  sex,  have  also  stronger  sympathies,  which,  under  some 
circumstances,  will  strangely  draw  together  and  cement  in  one 
distant  and  unaffiliated  minds.  And  when  this  union  is  once  ef- 
fected between  them,  we  of  the  other  sex,  whose  affinities  are  not 
so  strong,  are,  as  a  matter  of  course,  readily  drawn  into  the  same 
association.  On  this  account,  as  well  as  many  others,  I  should 
advise  travellers  to  take  their  ladies  with  them.  True,  they  will, 
by  this  means,  be  retarded  somewhat  in  their  speed ;  will  be  en- 
cumbered with  more  baggage,  in  the  ratio  of  three  to  one,  and  will 
have  more  solicitude  and  responsibility ;  but  not  more  than  they 
ought  to  have,  to  form  a  proper  ballast  to  the  mind.  And  then 
how  does  such  company  heighten  the  pleasures  of  the  traveller ! 
how  does  the  female  influence  open  the  way  for  the  stranger, 
where  otherwise  he  could  not  go !  How  does  it  attract  to  him 
sympathies  and  courtesies  in  a  foreign  land  which  otherwise  he 
could  not  secure ;  and,  in  addition  to  all,  and  I  speak  feelingly 
here,  if  sickness  come  upon  him  in  that  far-off  land,  how  cheering 
to  his  heart  to  enjoy  her  soothing  and  assiduous  attentions,  when 
otherwise  he  must  be  abandoned  to  the  mercenary  sympathies  of 
a  hireling  stranger ! 


BRANCHES  OF  THE  RHINE.  477 


Our  passage  to  Nimeguen  was  mostly  devoid  of  interest  from 
without.  We  passed  a  number  of  small  towns  on  the  low  banks 
of  the  Rhine,  which  afforded  a  little  variety  to  the  flat,  tame  scenes 
that,  in  every  direction,  and  hour  after  hour,  met  our  sight. 

In  fifteen  or  eighteen  miles  of  Nimeguen  we  came  to  the  point 
of  the  division  of  the  waters,  the  old  Rhine,  as  it  is  called,  pass- 
ing off  to  the  right,  while  the  branch  called  Waal  keeps  to  the  left 
to  Nimeguen,  and  thence  to  the  sea  ;  not,  however,  in  one  channel, 
for  the  arms  are  multiplied  as  you  approach  the  sea,  and  run  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  and  are  subdivided  into  various  subordinate  chan- 
nels, natural  and  artificial.  The  Rhine,  in  fact,  is  like  a  mighty 
tree,  with  various  and  extended  roots  and  multitudinous  branches. 
By  its  roots  it  connects  with  the  sea,  and  with  its  branches  it  pen- 
etrates the  Continent,  and  spreads  out  over  the  Alpine  mountains. 
I  said  by  its  roots  it  connects  with  the  sea.  This,  however,  is 
not  true  of  all  its  roots.  The  right  branch,  or  the  old  Rhine, 
passes  down  to  Utrecht,  where  a  small  arm  shoots  off  to  the  north 
into  the  Zuyder  Zee,  and  the  principal  branch,  passing  down  by 
Leyden,  seems  to  labour  much  to  bear  its  accumulated  treasures 
to  the  ocean ;  but  is  overpowered  by  the  opposing  sands,  which, 
like  a  mighty  leviathan,  "  drink  up  the  river,"  and  are  thirsty  still. 

At  the  point  of  division  first  mentioned,  hydraulic  works  are 
erected  to  regulate  the  course  of  the  waters,  on  which  depends,  it 
is  said,  the  very  existence  of  Holland.  But  for  these  works,  in 
the  great  flood  of  1784  that  province  would  have  been  deluged 
and  destroyed. 

Nimeguen  is  an  interesting  town,  and  the  more  so  as  contrasted 
with  the  flatness  of  the  surrounding  region,  being  itself  so  eleva- 
ted and  precipitous  as  to  enable  one  to  overlook  the  tops  of  one 
range  of  houses  from  the  windows  of  the  other ;  and  from  the  high- 
est part  is  a  fine  and  an  extensive  view  of  the  country  around,  and 
of  the  four  rivers,  Meuse,  Waal,  Rhine,  and  Issel.  Here  Julius 
Caesar  built  a  castle,  which  was  afterward  inhabited  by  Charle- 
magne. At  this  place  we  lost  more  of  our  company,  who  took  a 
route  to  Utrecht,  and  thence  to  Amsterdam ;  but  we  preferred  to 
keep  on  our  course  to  Rotterdam,  especially  as  it  was  now  the 
last  day  of  the  week. 

In  the  remainder  of  our  voyage  we  had  very  little  to  interest 
us  except  the  dikes  by  which  this  stolen  world  is  kept  from  re- 


478  GERMANY. 

turning  to  the  dominion  of  the  ocean,  and  here  and  there  a  village, 
which,  if  it  had  no  other  attraction,  was  sure  to  be  connected  with 
some  historic  event  that  made  it  a  spot  of  associated  interest. 
Among  these  was  Loevestein,  where  that  great  and  good  man, 
Grotius,  was  imprisoned  three  years  for  daring  to  be  a  friend  of 
liberty,  and  afterward  made  his  escape  by  the  stratagem  of  his 
wife  (what  will  not  conjugal  affection  in  a  woman's  breast  accom- 
plish ?)  who  caused  him  to  be  conveyed  away  in  a  box  used  for 
carrying  books.  A  very  expressive  transaction  this  ;  for  any  box 
containing  the  living  head  of  Grotius  might  well  be  represented 
as  full  of  books ;  for  Grotius's  head  contained  all  the  books  of  the 

age. 

We  also  passed  the  town  of  Dort,  or  Dordrecht.  This  place  is 
celebrated  on  various  accounts.  The  land  on  which  it  is  situated 
was  constituted  an  island  by  being  torn  from  the  shore  in  a  ter- 
rible inundation  which  occurred  in  1421,  and  which  destroyed 
seventy-two  villages  and  one  hundred  thousand  persons.  Here 
also  was  born  the  celebrated  Dewitt.  Dort  is  famous,  moreover, 
for  enduring  a  number  of  sieges  without  ever  being  taken  ;  so 
strong  is  its  natural  situation.  But  not  floods,  nor  wars,  nor  great 
men  have  done  half  as  much  to  give  this  city  celebrity  as  the  fa- 
mous (I  might  j.ustly  say  infamous]  synod  which,  in  1618  and  '19, 
was  convened  here  to  CONDEMN,  what  had  already  been  prejudged, 
the  tenets  of  James  Arminius.  I  believe  the  great  body  of  the 
Christian  world  now,  both  Calvinistic  and  Arminian,  unite  in  con- 
demning the  course  of  this  council,  whatever  may  be  thought  of 
the  truth  or  falsity  of  many  of  their  decisions.  That  a  Protestant 
council  should  proceed  with  such  partiality,  bigotry,  and  violence 
against  men  of  eminent  learning,  and  amiable  manners,  and  unim- 
peachable lives,  high  in  office,  and  sustained  by  a  large  circle  of 
friends  and  followers,  merely  because  they  differed  from  their 
brethren  on  the  vexed  abstrusities  growing  out  of  the  doctrine  of 
predestination,  is  a  disgrace  to  the  Protestant  name.  As  one  sails 
by  this  noted  city,  he  may  almost  fancy  he  hears  the  rough  and 
angry  voice  of  the  president,  Bogerman,  driving  the  defenceless 
remonstrants  from  the  council  with  their  cause  unplead ;  and  fan- 
cy pursues  them  still  as  they  walk  back  to  their  lodgings  with 
their  dignified  spirits  unbroken  ;  the  hisses  and  scoffs  of  the  cit- 
izens, and  of  the  very  rabble  of  the  streets,  assail  them  as  they 


A   FORTUNATE    ESCAPE.  479 

pass.  What  an  unenviable  character  have  that  council  and  the 
citizens  of  that  age  entailed  upon  Dort.  I  know  this  generation 
is  not  to  be  criminated  for  the  transactions  of  more  than  two  cen- 
turies' standing ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  pass  the  city  without  feeling 
that  this  generation  "  are  the  children  of  them  that  did  these  things." 
Would  that  the  doings  of  that  council  could  be  blotted  from  the 
history  of  Protestantism.  There  is,  however,  one  consolation, 
and  that  is,  that  such  transactions  are  not  only  not  in  accordance 
with,  but  directly  opposed  to,  the  teachings  and  spirit  of  genuine 
Protestantism. 

A  sail  of  ninety-five  miles  from  Nimeguen  brought  us  to  Rot 
terdam  early  in  the  afternoon ;  in  time,  in  fact,  to  take  a  genera, 
view  of  most  that  is  interesting  to  a  stranger  in  this  commercial 
city. 

We  sallied  out,  as  soon  as  the  necessary  arrangements  could  be 
made  and  a  valet  procured,  to  examine  Rotterdam.  We  had 
walked  but  a  few  paces  before  we  passed  a  dog  on  the  sidewalk 
in  violent  convulsions,  and  a  moment  after  he  passed  us  at  full 
speed,  snapping  at  us  as  he  went  by,  and  just  in  advance  of  us  he 
turned  aside  to  a  man  who  was  at  work  upon  the  quay,  who  for- 
tunately had  on  thick  boots.  With  these  the  rabid  animal  pitched 
battle,  and,  after  repeated  repulses,  he  was  at  length  kicked  off 
the  wharf  into  the  dreaded  element  of  the  dock,  where  he  was  fal- 
len upon  by  numbers,  and  undoubtedly  soon  despatched.  We 
have  had  no  hairbreadth  escapes  to  give  life  and  incident  to  our 
journal,  but,  in  this  case,  we  had  occasion  at  least  for  gratitude  to 
a  protecting  Providence  that  saved  us  from  so  dangerous  a  foe. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  the  attention  of  the  stranger  in  this 
country  is  the  extreme  cleanliness  of  the  place  and  of  the  people. 
Cloacina,  it  must  be  confessed,  after  all,  holds  her  court  in  Hol- 
land ;  and  well  does  she  administer  her  government.  Her  chief 
executive  officers  appear  to  be  females,  whose  banner  is  a  scour- 
ing-cloth.  And  as  Saturday  is  the  day  of  general  exercise  and 
review,  we  had  an  opportunity,  to  our  great  annoyance,  of  noticing 
a  full  share  of  the  administration ;  for  it  must  be  understood  that 
the  outside  has  to  be  scoured  as  well  as  the  inside.  The  streets, 
the  sidewalks,  the  walls,  all  must  undergo  a  lustration  once  a 
week ;  and  the  pedestrian  may  think  himself  well  off  if,  after  a 
good  look-out,  he  has  not  a  share  of  the  rinsings  upon  his  clothes. 


480  GERMANY. 

Some  features  of  this  town  are  like  those  of  Venice.  It  is  pen- 
etrated by  numerous  canals  of  different  sizes,  and  vessels  go  into 
the  very  interior  of  the  city  in  various  directions.  These  canals 
and  water-channels,  however,  are  lined  with  trees,  which  grow  in 
abundance  in  the  city,  and  the  streets  are  wide  and  commodious 
for  carriages  in  every  part  of  the  city ;  and  there  are  also  beauti- 
ful quays,  the  most  magnificent  of  which  is  called  the  Boom-Tees, 
beautifully  ornamented  with  double  rows  of  trees.  A  street  runs 
through  the  centre  of  the  city  called  High-street,  which  is  on  the 
top  of  a  dike  erected  to  protect  Holland  from  inundations.  How 
necessary  this  may  be,  the  reader  will  judge  when  he  is  informed 
that  so  late  as  1825  the  water  rose  to  the  height  of  twenty -four 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  province  of  Holland ;  and  but  for  this 
dike  the  whole  must  have  been  submerged  to  that  depth  under 
the  water.  Truly,  these  inhabitants,  with  such  exposures  contin- 
ually menacing  them,  ought  to  be  aquatics,  or,  at  least,  amphibious. 
As  the  neighbourhood  of  Naples  is  continually  threatened  with  a 
deluge  of  fire,  so  this  is  constantly  exposed  to  a  deluge  of  water. 
The  inhabitants  of  both,  however,  seem  to  have  become  used  to  it, 
and  live  without  fear.  What  a  paradox  is  man !  There  are  also 
other  dikes,  and  all  of  them  are  planted  with  double  rows  of  trees, 
with  an  intervening  pavement.  Under  the  dikes  there  are  sluices 
and  tide-gates,  by  which,  at  low  tide,  the  interior  country  is  drained 
of  its  surplus  water,  the  pressure  of  which  opens  the  gates  for  the 
purpose  ;  but  when  the  tide  rushes  in  it  shuts  these  gates,  and 
prevents  the  interior  country  from  being  flooded.  Windmills  are 
also  used  for  the  purposes  of  draining  off  the  surplus  water. 

Many  of  the  edifices  of  Rotterdam,  both  public  and  private,  are 
elegant.  The  great  church  or  cathedral  is  one  of  the  four  princi- 
pal churches  that  belong  to  the  Dutch  Reformed.  This  has  a 
tower  two  hundred  feet  high,  which  gives  a  most  extended  view 
to  the  spectator  over  this  flat  country,  embracing  arms  of  rivers, 
and  canals  almost  innumerable,  and  a  great  number  of  towns  and 
villages.  The  organ  is  thought  to  be  the  most  magnificent  in  the 
kingdom.  It  was  thirty-five  years  in  being  built,  and  cost  three 
hundred  thousand  florins.* 

There  is  an  English,  and  also  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  church, 
an  English  Episcopal  church,  a  French  Reformed  church,  an 

*  A  florin  is  about  forty-two  cents. 


KIJ1 
_..! 


BRASS  STATUE  OF  ERASMUS.  481 

Evangelical  Lutheran,  two  churches  for  the  Remonstrants,  one 
for  the  Anabaptists,  and  six  for  the  Roman  Catholics  (two  of  these 
last  are  for  the  Jansenists),  and  a  synagogue  of  the  Jews.  I 
mention  these  to  show  how  vain  was  the  mighty  effort  of  the 
Synod  of  Dort  to  introduce  uniformity,  and  stop  the  spread  of 
what  they  called  heresy,  by  the  strong  arm  of  authority.  One  thing 
they  have  accomplished,  I  believe ;  and  that  is,  they  have  banished 
the  power  and  spirit  of  the  gospel  from  among  them  almost  en- 
tirely. While  contending  violently  for  the  peculiarities  of  doctrine, 
and  persecuting  others,  the  holy  fires  upon  the  sacred  altars  ap- 
pear to  have  become  almost  extinct.  Of  a  great  part  of  the 
churches  of  the  Netherlands  it  might,  perhaps,  be  said  in  truth — 
"  Having  the  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the  power  thereof."* 

In  the  public  square  of  the  great  market  is  a  beautiful  brass 
statue  of  Erasmus,  having  on  his  doctor's  hat  and  toga,  and  hold- 
ing a  book  in  one  hand,  while  the  other  is  employed  in  turning 
over  the  leaves.  Among  other  inscriptions  is  one  in  Dutch, 
which  has  been  translated  as  follows : 

"  Here  rose  the  great  sun  that  set  at  Bale.  May  the  imperial 
town  honour  and  celebrate  the  saint  in  his  tomb ;  the  city  that 
gave  him  birth  gives  him  this  second  life.  But  the  luminary  of 
the  languages,  the  spirit  of  morality,  t{ie  glorious  wonder  that 
shone  in  charity,  peace,  and  divinity,  is  not  to  be  honoured  by  a 
mausoleum  nor  to  be  rewarded  by  a  statue.  Hence  must  the 
heavenly  vault  alone  cover  Erasmus,  whose  temple  scorns  a  more 
limited  space*" 

The  house  where  he  was  born,  in  1467,  stands  near  this  public 

uare.  It  is  said,  when  the  statue  was  first  erected,  it  was  annu- 
ally scoured  so  bright  that  it  shone  in  the  sun  like  gold  ;  but  as 
this  would  in  time  mar  the  likeness,  by  wearing  out  the  more  del- 
icate lineaments,  it  was  discontinued. 

Rotterdam  has  little  in  it  of  interest  to  the  stranger,  except  the 
general  features  of  the  town,  the  principal  of  which  have  been  al- 
ready alluded  to.  In  its  population  and  trade  it  is  only  second  to 
Amsterdam  among  the  cities  of  Holland ;  and  it  may,  perhaps,  in 
time,  rival  Amsterdam  itself.  Its  ship  channel  is  about  to  be  im- 
proved by  a  new  passage,  which,  it  is  said,  will  give  a  depth  of 

*  The  Sabbath  is  much  abused.  The  tea-gardens  around  Rotterdam  are  crowded  in 
fce  afternoon  of  the  Sabbath  with  pleasure-taking  multitudes. 

41  3P 


482  GERMANY. 

thirty  feet  instead  of  twenty,  which  is  the  depth  of  the  present 
channel.  The  ice  leaves  the  port  sooner  than  at  Amsterdam,  and 
the  tide  alone  will  float  a  ship  to  sea  in  three  hours.  The  site 
is  at  the  point  where  the  river  Rotte  connects  with  the  Merwe ; 
this  latter  is  the  most  northern  branch  of  the  Meuse.  When, 
however,  we  speak  of  rivers  in  Holland,  the  reader  must  under- 
stand only  one  of  those  watery  arteries  that  run  across  this  coun- 
try in  almost  every  direction,  which  are  not  supplied  by  fountains 
of  their  own  from  the  interior,  but  are  arms  of  the  Rhine,  of  the 
sea,  &c.  The  population  of  the  city  is  about  sixty  thousand. 

The  commerce  of  Holland  is  somewhat  embarrassed  by  the  ex- 
cessive taxation  imposed  by  the  government.  The  necessity  for 
this  has  been  increased,  rather  than  diminished,  by  the  late  diffi- 
culties with  Belgium.  It  is  not  supposed,  however,  by  the  intel- 
ligent citizens  with  whom  I  conversed,  that  the  loss  of  that  country 
will  be  any  disadvantage  to  the  Dutch  Netherlands ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  an  advantage.  The  king,  however,  thinks  otherwise, 
and  he  contends  for  the  integrity  of  his  realm  with  great  pertinacity 
and  obstinacy.  He  not  only  refuses  to  recognise  the  separation, 
but  he  will  not  acknowledge  any  of  the  public  functionaries  of 
Belgium,  nor  any  of  their  official  acts.  A  passport  even,  which  is 
only  stamped  and  signed  by  a  Belgic  officer,  is  rejected,  and  the 
traveller  holding  it  is  not  allowed  to  pass.  An  instance  occurred 
when  we  were  coming  down  the  Rhine  of  two  English  gentle- 
men, who,  because  they  came  through  Belgium,  were  refused  a 
passage  through  the  country,  and  were  obliged  to  turn  back. 

The  entire  population  of  his  Dutch  majesty's  present  domin* 
ions  is  three  millions.  Of  these,  about  two  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  are  Roman  Catholics,  and  forty  thousand  are  Jews ;  the 
remainder  are  Protestants. 

In  an  excursion  to  the  Hague,  a  distance  of  about  fourteen 
miles,  we  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  fair  specimen  of  the 
stiff,  yet  peculiar  and  interesting  scenery  of  Holland.  We  trav- 
elled by  coach,  although  the  more  common  way  is  by  canal ;  for 
the  canals  here  are  more  numerous  than  the  highways  of  most 
countries.  The  country  is  everywhere  perfectly  flat ;  the  canals 
are  generally  planted  with  trees ;  and  these,  with  the  numerous 
small  canals,  and  ditches  shooting  out  in  every  direction,  consti- 
tute the  general  features  of  the  landscape,  with  the  addition  of  the 


THE    HAGUE.  483 

windmills,  which  are  more  prominent  *nd  magnificent  than  any- 
thing else  in  the  country.  These  windmills  have  high  towers, 
many  of  them  neatly  finished,  and  the  lower  stories  not  unfre- 
quently  constituting  convenient  tenements.  You  see  them  in 
every  direction,  sometimes  ranged  along  in  extended  rows,  and 
skirting  the  horizon  as  far  as  such  an  object  can  be  visible  to  the 
naked  eye. 

The  houses  and  country  seats  by  the  side  of  the  canals  were 
pleasant :  their  gardens  extended  to  the  bank  of  the  canals,  and 
frequently,  in  addition  to  other  appendages,  had  a  summer-house 
in  one  corner,  finished  in  a  beautiful  airy  style,  with  a  convenient 
room,  or  parlour,  in  which,  as  we  passed  at  the  hour  of  tea,  the 
families  were  generally  assembled  to  drink  their  favourite  bev- 
erage. Tea-drinking  is  universal  in  Holland,  more  so  than  smo- 
king, for  both  sexes  drink  tea ;  and  they  contrive  to  have  both 
going  on  together.  I  noticed  in  their  tea-gardens,  when  a  party 
of  gentlemen  and  ladies  were  sitting  round  the  table,  while  the 
latter  were  sipping  their  tea,  the  former  would  have  their  long 
pipes  lighted,  the  bowls  of  which  reached  the  centre  of  the  table, 
and  thus  they  regaled  the  olfactories  of  the  ladies  with  the  fumes 
of  the  West  India  weed,  while  they  were  refreshing  another  sense 
with  a  decoction  of  the  East  Indian  plant.  The  drinking  of  in 
toxicating  liquors  seemed  also  very  common  in  Holland ;  intem- 
perance, in  fact,  appears  to  have  taken  deep  root  in  society. 

We  found  a  delightful  hotel  at  the  Hague,  called  the  Old 
Doelan;  it  had  commodious  apartments  and  a  most  splendid 
drawing-room.  Indeed,  the  town  itself,  though  not  very  large, 
containing  about  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  is  most  magnificent : 
it  seems  to  be  filled  with  palaces.  The  streets  are  broad  and 
clean ;  the  squares  are  elegantly  built,  and  beautifully  ornament- 
ed with  trees  and  walks.  The  Vyverberg  especially,  which  is  a 
large  oblong  square,  is  very  fine  ;  it  has  an  avenue  of  trees  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  royal  palace  and  an  artificial  lake  on  the  other. 
The  principal  street  is  called  Voorhaut,  and  seems  to  be  built  up 
with  a  succession  of  palaces. 

The  Royal  Museum  has  a  splendid  Chinese  cabinet,  which 
comprises  the  most  extensive  collection  of  Eastern  curiosities  I 
have  ever  seen.  Here,  also,  is  a  beautiful  model  of  a  Dutch 
town ;  and  the  model  of  the  interior  of  a  house,  made  by  order  of 


484  GERMANY. 

Peter  the  Great,  at  an  expense  of  thirty  thousand  francs.  In  this 
museum  there  is  also  a  fine  collection  of  pictures,  mostly  of  the 
Flemish  school.  The  royal  library  contains,  we  were  told,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  volumes,  although  some  of  the 
guide-books  say  seventy  thousand  volumes ;  and  in  the  same 
building  with  the  library  is  a  collection  of  medals  amounting  to 
thirty-four  thousand  pieces.  There  is  in  this  city,  also,  a  muse- 
um of  natural  history,  which  was  carried  away  by  the  French, 
but  restored  again  at  the  peace  of  1814. 

Near  the  Hague  is  a  wood  two  miles  long  and  three  quarters 
of  a  mile  broad,  consisting  of  very  large  and  noble  forest-trees, 
that  reminded  me  of  the  trees  of  our  own  native  forests.  The 
proximity  of  this  grove  to  this  splendid  city,  and  the  deep,  dark, 
venerable  aspect  of  the  grove  itself,  give  it  a  character  of  beauty 
and  sublimity  seldom  met  with.  In  this  wood  is  a  palace  called 
the  "palace  in  the  wood? 

Leaving  Mrs.  F.  somewhat  indisposed  at  the  Hague,  I  jumped 
into  a  coach  and  paid  a  short  visit  to  Leyden,  a  distance  of  twelve 
and  a  half  miles.  Part  of  our  route  was  very  pleasant,  but  the 
greater  part  was  over  a  sandy  country,  comparatively  barren. 
The  sea  was  about  two  miles  distant  from  us  at  the  left,  befcweea 
which  and  us  were  piled,  in  barren  confusion,  the  sand-banks 
which  were  thrown  up  in  a  terrible  storm  in  the  year  860,  by 
which  the  principal  mouth  of  the  Rhine  was  buried,  and  the  waters 
have  ever  since  been  lost  in  the  sand.  My  time  at  Leyden  was 
short,  and  unfortunate  in  respect  to  the  principal  object  of  my 
visit,  which  was  to  see  the  far-famed  university,  as  the  profes- 
sors were  mostly  absent.  I  found  one  of  the  professors  at  home, 
however,  who  treated  me  with  great  courtesy.  This  celebrated 
seat  of  learning  has  at  present  about  three  hundred  students,  and 
an  extensive  board  of  professors.  The  old  system  of  giving  the 
instruction  in  Latin  is  still  kept  up  in  most  of  the  departments ; 
the  lectures,  however,  in  the  natural  sciences,  and,  I  think,,  in  the 
department  of  medicine,  are  given  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  The 
university  is  well  provided  with  a  museum  of  natural  history  and 
comparative  anatomy,  in  which  is  a  splendid  collection  of  Eastern 
birds,  formerly  belonging  to  Mr.  Zemmink  of  Amsterdam.  They 
have  also  a  fine  botanical  garden,  and  a  library  of  about  fifty  thou- 
sand volumes.  These  Dutch  towns  are  very  fine ;  there  is  a  sort 


llcl 

th 

V 


PASSAGE    TO    ENGLAND.  485 

of  general  elegance  about  them  that  renders  them  the  very  re- 
verse of  the  Italian  towns.  The  latter  have  their  points  and 
spots  of  interest,  while  the  great  whole  is  filthy,  or,  at  best,  pov- 
erty-smitten and  dull.  But  the  Dutch  towns  have  a  general  ele- 
gance; cleanliness  is  everywhere  apparent;  the  houses  are  well 
built,  the  streets  are  commodious,  trees  abundant  and  flourishing, 
and  the  gardens  verdant  and  beautiful.  All  this  is  especially  true 
of  Leyden.  The  environs  of  Leyden  are  also  beautiful,  abound- 
ing with  country  seats,  gardens,  and  fruitful  fields.  The  waters 
of  the  canals  sometimes  spread  out  into  pools,  and  artificial  lakes 
add  also  to  the  interest  of  the  scenery.  I  cannot  say,  however, 
what  effect  the  heat  of  a  long  summer  may  have  upon  these  low 
grounds,  covered  with  a  luxuriant  vegetation,  and  abundant  in 
bodies  of  water  almost  stagnant.  Already,  though  but  the  month 
of  June,  the  surface  of  the  water  in  some  of  the  canals,  and  pools 
is  almost  as  green  as  the  banks  themselves,  and  the  natural  infer- 
ence would  be,  that  they  would  soon  become  extremely  offensive 
and  deleterious  to  health.  Experience  proves,  however,  that 
Holland  is  not  unhealthy.  Their  northern  latitude  (fifty-two  de- 
grees) and  their  cleanliness  are  probably  the  causes  why  the 
summer  exhalations  do  not  breed  contagion.  I  had  a  great  desire 
to  linger  longer  around  these  enchanting  scenes  at  Leyden,  whose 
natural  and  artificial  beauties  were  heightened  and  hallowed  by 

e  memories  of  such  worthies  as  Arminius,  and  Episcopius,  and 
Vossius,  and  a  host  of  others  whose  names  are  immortal.  What 
land  had  done  more  for  learning,  and,  I  might  add,  for  religion, 
and  for  the  cause  of  civil  liberty,  up  to  the  period  of  the  Synod  of 
Dort,  than  Holland  ?  The  spirit  and  principles  that  then  tri- 
umphed finally  withered,  as  they  must  always  wither,  the  intel- 
lect and  the  heart  of  the  nation. 

We  returned  to  Rotterdam  in  time  to  join  our  old  friends  of  the 
Rhine  in  taking  the  steamer  the  next  morning  for  London,  The 
distance  is  two  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  and  the  passage,  which 
we -had  long  dreaded  on  account  of  our  strong  propensity  to  sea- 
sickness, proved  one  of  the  most  delightful,  I  venture  to  say,  that 
was  ever  experienced  in  the  British  seas.  The  weather  was  fine, 
and  the  bosom  of  the  deep  was  scarcely  disturbed  by  a  swell  or  a 
yipple  during  the  whole  voyage.  On  the  morning  of  the  28th 
June,  1837,  we  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  with  feelings 
41 


486  ENGLAND. 

of  joy  and  gratitude,  second  only  to  those  we  expect  to  experience 
if  Providence  permit  us  again  to  reach  our  own  native  land. 

In  working  our  way  up  the  Thames  on  the  beautiful  morning 
of  our  entering  that  extraordinary  river,  we  were  more  than  ever 
impressed  with  the  vast  amount  of  business  upon  this  outlet  of  the 
British  metropolis.  It  was  covered  with  steamboats,  ships  of  dif- 
ferent sizes,  and  water-craft  of  all  descriptions.  Of  the  bustle  and 
crowd  upon  this  river  no  one  can  have  any  conception  who  has 
not  seen  it.  Some  little  idea  can  be  formed  by  noticing  in  detail 
some  of  the  agencies  and  items  of  business  transacted  on  this 
river.  From  the  mouth  to  the  metropolis,  following  the  windings 
of  the  river,  the  distance  is  sixty  miles.  In  this  distance  twelve 
hundred  revenue  officers  are  on  duty  continually ;  four  thousand 
men  are  employed  in  shipping  and  unshipping  goods  ;  eight  thou- 
sand watermen  navigate  the  small  craft  and  wherries.  The  num- 
ber of  vessels  of  various  kinds  engaged  in  the  river  is  estimated 
at  thirteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty-four,  embracing  a  ton- 
nage of  between  two  and  three  millions.  The  number  of  pack- 
ages annually  received  and  discharged  at  the  port  is  calculated  at 
three  millions,  at  an  estimated  aggregate  value  of  seventy  million 
pounds  sterling. 

From  the  extended  and  contiguous  villages  on  either  side,  there 
seems  almost  a  continuous  city  from  the  port  to  some  twenty 
miles  down  the  river.  As  the  channel  is  not  wide,  the  reader  can 
judge  something  of  the  crowded  and  bustling  character  of  the 
scene,  especially  at  those  hours  of  the  tide  most  favourable  to  the 
entry  and  departure  of  the  larger  sized  vessels  ;  for  as  the  tide 
rises  and  falls  many  feet,  and  with  a  strong  current,  the  motion 
of  the  larger  vessels  is  regulated  very  much  by  the  ebbs  and  floods 
of  the  tide.  At  full  tide  the  largest  sized  vessels  can  float  up  to 
the  port,  and  they  generally  wait  the  favourable  turn  of  the  tide 
for  entering  or  departing.  This,  indeed,  to  some  extent,  regulates 
the  arrival  and  departure  of  the  more  than  one  hundred  steamboats 
that  float  upon  this  river.  On  this  occasion  our  own  boat  could 
not  get  up  to  its  proper  landing-place  on  account  of  the  lowness 
of  the  tide,  and  we  were  obliged  to  take  passage  in  one  of  the 
wherries  which  are  always  in  attendance  for  this  purpose.  This 
was  very  annoying  to  the  princess,  for  the  custom-officers  who 
came  aboard  would  not  suffer  the  baggage  to  be  moved^  and  the 


ARISTOCRACY    OF    THE    ENGLISH.  487 

princess  would  not  move  until  she  could  take  her  baggage  with 
her.  It  was  in  vain  we  all  told  her  it  would  be  safe ;  in  vain  we 
offered  to  watch  it  and  see  it  up ;  her  decided  answer  was,  "  I  go 
not  till  my  baggage  goes."  At  length  we  got  our  baggage  started 
and  ourselves  on  shore.  Here  again,  and  for  the  last  time  in  a 
foreign  land,  we  had  to  wait  the  movements  and  submit  to  the 
searching  operations  of  the  custom-house.  In  this,  however,  in 
consequence  of  our  intimacy  with  the  princess  and  her  suite,  we 
were  highly  favoured.  Our  trunks  were  scarcely  opened,  and  all 
were  passed  immediately,  and  we  were  permitted,  after  this  nom- 
inal ceremony,  to  take  our  luggage  and  depart ;  whereas  we  might 
otherwise  have  been  detained  until  nearly  night,  and  have  been 
obliged  to  have  our  clothing  and  effects  all  unpacked  and  deranged. 
Here  we  parted  with  the  amiable  princess  and  her  intelligent 
and  interesting  companions ;  long  shall  we  remember  them ;  they 
are  among  the  worthies  of  the  earth ;  noble,  yet  humble,  well 
calculated  among  kindred  minds  to  give  and  receive  pleasure; 
they  travel  to  their  own  profit,  and  take  pleasure  in  communica- 
ting profit  to  others.  If  all  travellers  possessed  this  spirit,  how 
much  would  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  travelling  be  enhanced  ! 
But  too  many,  and  this  is  emphatically  true  of  a  great  portion  of 
the  English,  wrap  themselves  up  in  their  own  dignity,  and  appear 
to  lose  a  great  portion  of  the  social  enjoyments  of  life  through  a 
fear  that  their  caste  will  be  desecrated  by  any  chance  familiarity 
with  persons  of  a  lower  or  a  plebeian  rank.  When  the  English 
gentleman  or  lady  meets  you  abroad,  they  look  at  you  with  a  sort 
of  inquisitorial  scrutiny,  that  asks,  in  language  too  plain  to  be 
misunderstood,  "  Are  you  respectable  ?"  The  feeling  of  an  Amer- 
ican, in  turn,  is  generally  intimated  by  a  look  that  says,  "  It  is 
nothing  to  you  whether  I  am  or  not ;  you  take  care  of  your  own 
dignity  and  I  will  attend  to  mine,"  and  this  puts  an  end  to  all 
further  intercourse.  It  would  be  unjust,  however,  not  to  say  here, 
that  although  this  prevails  to  an  extent  that  gives  a  general  char- 
acter to  the  English  abroad,  yet  it  is  far  from  being  universal ; 
we  met  with  many  very  pleasant  exceptions,  and,  I  believe,  wher- 
ever we  were  known  as  Americans,  there  was  less  of  shyness 
than  is  generally  manifested  between  Englishmen  who  meet  as 
strangers.  This  I  attribute  to  the  less  fear  they  have  of  possible 
embarrassment  hereafter  by  an  acquaintance  and  familiarity  with 


488  ENGLAND, 

Americans,  even  though  they  should  not  prove  to  be  as  "  respect- 
able" as  themselves.  In  the  first  place,  in  consequence  of  the 
distance,  they  have  little  fear  of  their  association  and  familiarities 
being  afterward  revived  by  the  parties  concerned,  or  their  friends ; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  as  our  scale  of  rank  is  not  so  distinctly 
and  definitely  graduated  as  with  them,  there  is  no  great  danger 
of  an  imputed  inferiority  which  would  prove  embarrassing  to 
either  of  the  parties.  But  to  return  to  our  narrative.  The  first 
thing  that  struck  our  attention  when  we  landed  was  the  strange 
sound  of  our  own  language  in  the  mouths  of  boatmen,  porters, 
hackmen,  waiters,  and,  in  fact,  of  all  we  met.  We  had  not,  for  the 
eight  months  of  our  absence,  been  destitute  of  the  sound  of  the 
English  language,  but  from  these  classes  it  was  a  rare  sound ;  and 
we  had  so  long  been  accustomed  to  hold  an  imperfect  intercourse 
with  them  through  the  medium  of  different  foreign  languages,  the 
change  seemed  the  more  striking.  It  was  like  waking  from  a 
dream,  and  finding  one's  self  at  once  among  former  delightful  as- 
sociations. Never  did  the  distinct  accents  of  the  polished  and 
sweet-toned  orator  give  such  surprise  and  pleasure  to  my  ear  as  did, 
on  this  occasion,  the  uncouth  accents  of  these  London  Cockneys. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  reader  will  perceive,  by  the  concluding  remarks  of  the  last 
chapter,  with  what  different  feelings  we  approached  the  British 
shores  now  from  those  which  we  experienced  when  landing  in 
1835.  Then  we  were,  for  the  first  time,  entering  upon  a  foreign 
country ;  now  we  have  become  familiar  with  transitions  from  one 
foreign  nation  to  another.  Then  we  were  taking  the  first  step  in 
our  temporary  banishment  from  country  and  friends ;  now  we 
have  come  back  to  England  for  the  purpose  of  taking  our  last 
step  in  our  return  from  that  banishment.  Besides,  our  stay  in 
England  at  the  first  had  made  us  acquainted  with  numbers,  to 
whom  we  returned  as  to  old  friends  ;  and  to  come  back  to  mingle 
again  with  our  own  literature  and  our  own  religion,  and  to  resume 
our  wonted  habits  of  social  intercourse,  was  so  unlike  what  w.e 


ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA.  48B 

had  experienced  during  most  of  our  absence,  and  such  an  ap- 
proximation to  the  endearments  of  home  itself,  that  the  change  in 
our  feelings  can  excite  no  surprise. 

Indeed,  the  feelings  of  loneliness  with  which  we  entered  Eng 
land  at  the  first  were  soon  removed.  Directly  after  arriving  I 
sent  letters  of  introduction,  with  which  my  friends  had  favoured 
me,  to  Thomas  Sands,  Esquire,  whose  kind  and  prompt  hospi 
tality  introduced  us  to  his  family  residence,  in  Everton,  near 
Liverpool,  two  or  three  miles  from  town.  With  this  truly  polite 
and  hospitable  family  we  enjoyed  greater  opportunities  for  an 
acquaintance  with  the  people  than  we  could  have  done  at  a  public 
house.  To  know  the  habits  and  social  character  of  a  people,  we 
must  see  them  at  their  own  homes,  and  have  an  opportunity  of 
mingling  with  them  in  the  unrestrained  intimacies  of  social  and 
friendly  intercourse.  And  I  consider  it  as  peculiarly  favourable 
to  one  of  the  leading  objects  of  my  visit  to  England,  that  we  have 
been  mostly  thrown,  during  our  stay  and  travels  in  this  country, 
into  the  very  bosom  of  social  and  domestic  life ;  with  these  ad- 
vantages, I  have  endeavoured  to  gain  what  knowledge  I  could  of 
this  our  fatherland.  With  what  feelings  I  entered  upon  this 
work  may  be  gathered,  in  part,  from  the  following  extract  of  a 
letter  to  G.  P.  Dissosway,  Esq.,  written  from  Liverpool : — 

And  now  here  we  are  on  the  shores  of  Albion.  And  do  you 
ask,  "  What  are  your  '  first  impressions  V  "  I  dare  not  trust  to 
first  impressions  ;  I  am  suspicious  of  them ;  they  have  deceived 
many,  and  they  may  deceive  me.  I  have  come  to  England  ex- 
pecting to  be  gratified  and  instructed.  I  have  no  prejudices 
against  her.  I  have  many  and  strong  feelings  in  her  favour.  She 
is  the  mother  of  us  all.  From  her  we  have  received  the  grand 
outlines  of  our  own  social,  political,  and  religious  institutions. 
These  have  been  modified  by  us,  it  is  true,  and,  we  think,  improved 
in  most  cases.  So  much  the  more  interesting,  however,  is  the 
examination  of  the  original  models;  models  which  are  rendered 
peculiarly  venerable  by  the  very  rust  of  antiquity  with  which 
they  are  discoloured  and  corroded ;  for  by  this  examination,  com- 
paring the  institutions  as  they  now  exist  in  the  respective  coun 

ies  with  individual  and  national  character,  we  can  best  judge 
the  comparative  excellences  or  deficiencies  of  each.  It  is 

3Q 


490  ENGLAND 

natural  for  a  traveller  to  compare ;  his  whole  course  of  observa- 
tion is  carried  on  by  a  comparison  of  what  he  sees  with  what  he 
has  been  accustomed  to.  And  here,  it  strikes  me,  is  the  point 
where  most  of  the  errors  and  false  deductions  of  tourists  originate. 
In  this  comparison  they  are  extremely  apt  to  give  the  preference 
to  their  own  country.  Habits,  and  local  attachments,  and,  perhaps, 
what  some  would  call  patriotism,  all  unite  to  lead  us  to  judge  too 
favourably  of  our  own  institutions,  and  to  censure  others,  of 
course,  where  they  differ  from  us.  Besides,  the  bearings,  and 
dependences,  and  results  of  social  institutions,  together  with 
physical  causes,  vary  in  their  influences  indefinitely ;  and,  there- 
fore, a  condition  of  society  that  may  be  unfavourable  in  some  re- 
spects may  nevertheless  be  very  desirable  for  other  and  more 
important  influences,  which  the  casual  journalist  entirely  over- 
looks. Judging  of  the  character  of  the  cause  by  a  part,  and  per- 
haps a  less  important  part  of  the  effects,  a  most  erroneous  deduc- 
tion is  drawn,  and  the  sage  philosopher  announces  his  discovery 
and  passes  his  decision  with  oracular  authority.  This  has  been 
the  course  of  numerous  tourists  in  America.  They  have  seen  on 
the  surface  of  society  an  apparent  roughness  of  character  and  in- 
dependence of  manner  most  decidedly  unlike  the  character  of  the 
English  in  the  same  grades  of  society.  It  is  in  itself  an  unlovely 
feature,  and  it  strikes  the  stranger  with  greater  disgust  than  it 
does  the  American  gentleman,  and  that  for  two  important  rea- 
sons :  in  the  first  place,  the  stranger  is  unused  to  it ;  it  comes 
upon  him  unexpectedly  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  nine  times  out 
of  ten  he  provokes  it — unintentionally  it  may  be — because  the 
manner  with  which  he  has  been  accustomed  to  address  his  ser- 
vants is  that  which  indicates  his  conception  of  his  own  superi- 
ority. This  the  American  servant  will  not  bear;  and  he  imme- 
diately gives  the  gentleman  to  understand  that  he  calls  no  man 
master. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  the  character  of  our  politi- 
cal institutions  does  give  to  many  of  the  uneducated  and  unre 
fined  a  coarseness  and  bluntness  of  manner  that  is  not  agreeable. 
The  gentleman  is  a  gentleman  anywhere  and  in  every  nation  ; 
but  the  uncultivated  will  be  likely  to  be  coarse  and  uncorteous 
in  his  manner  whenever  he  feels  himself  free  from  the  restraints 
of  dependance,  especially  if  he  wishes  to  show  that  he  is  free  from 
those  restraints.  But  what  then  ?  Is  this  of  itself  sufficient  to 


LIVERPOOL   DOCKS.  491 

condemn  our  institutions  ?  Are  there  no  advantages  to  offset 
against  this  evil  ? 

You  will  perceive,  from  the  foregoing,  that  I  have  been  long 
enough  in  England  to  see  the  difference  between  the  deportment 
of  the  poor  man  here  and  the  poor  man  in  Amerca ;  a  difference 
that  is  written  in  legible  characters  on  the  very  surface  of  society ; 
and  it  requires  no  great  experience  or  shrewdness  to  discern  it  or 
write  about  it. 

Never  was  I  before  so  fully  impressed  with  the  buoyant  and 
elevating  character  of  republican  institutions.  How  far  this,  on 
the  whole,  tends  to  human  happiness  is  another  question.  One 
thing  is  clear,  it  is  human  nature  for  those  who  have  superiority 
to  wish  to  keep  it,  and  for  those  who  are  inferior  to  wish  to  rise. 
But  it  seems  to  be  according  to  the  laws  of  a  sound  philosophy, 
as  well  as  of  our  holy  religion,  that  each  man  should  be  free  to 
find  that  level  in  society  to  which  his  intellectual  powers  and 
moral  worth,  unshackled  by  any  artificial  arrangement  in  the  social 
system,  can  elevate  him. 

But  I  forget.  I  am  not  so  much  called  to  philosophize  and 
moralize  at  this  time  as  to  inform  you  of  what  I  see  and  hear. 

You  must  expect  that  whatever  communications  I  may  make 
will  relate  more  to  men  than  to  the  physical  world ;  more  to  the 
moral,  intellectual,  and  political  character  of  man  than  to  his 
physical  comforts  and  embellishments. 

You  will  expect,  however,  that  I  should  say  something  of  Liv- 
erpool, as  I  have  now  been  in  the  city  some  days.  But  a  few- 
words  must  suffice.  Every  traveller  mentions  the  large,  commo- 
dious, and  substantial  docks  of  Liverpool,  which  are,  in  fact,  above 
all  praise,  and  are  the  first  feature  that  interests  the  stranger  as 
he  approaches  the  town  by  water.  On  seeing  these,  the  first 
inquiry  of  the  American  is,  Why  does  not  New- York  build  such 
docks  ?  The  answer  is  at  hand — America  does  everything  for 
the  present.  This,  however,  may  not  be  the  only  reason  why 
,  Liverpool  is  so  much  in  advance  of  us  in  this  matter.  The  tides 
of  the  river  Mersey,  on  which  Liverpool  is  situated,  are  so  great, 
and  the  water  at  low  tide  is  so  inadequate  for  the  largest  sized 
ships,  there  seems  to  be  almost  a  necessity  that  a  place  shut  in 
from  the  sea,  and,  therefore,  unaffected  by  ebbs  and  floods,  should 
be  provided  for  the  vessels  in  the  harbour.  Such  an  accommo- 


492  ENGLAND. 

dation  these  docks  afford.     They  are  large  reservoirs  of  substan 
tial  stone  masonry,  in  which  the  vessels  are  provided  with  any 
desirable  depth  of  water,  and  are  as  perfectly  secured  as  if  housed 
in  one  of  the  large  buildings  of  your  Brooklyn  Navy  Yard,  with 
the  exception  of  the  roof. 

The  public  buildings,  so  far  as  I  have  examined,  are  not  nu- 
merous ;  at  least  such  as  are  interesting.  The  Exchange  is  the 
best.  In  the  court  of  this  is  a  monument  to  Lord  Nelson,  the  de- 
sign of  which  is  to  represent  his  principal  victories.  The  device 
seems  to  be  in  bad  taste,  although  the  workmanship  is  very  well. 
Fame  is  crowning  him  at  the  same  time  that  Death  is  laying  his 
fleshless  hand  upon  the  hero's  heart.  Beneath,  at  equal  distan- 
ces, are  the  representations  of  the  conquered  in  chains,  with  their 
faces  most  piteously  resting  upon  the  hand,  and  the  hand  upon 
the  knee.  There  they  sit,  "  for  ever  silent  and  for  ever  sad."  It 
is  a  sight  of  monumental  sorrow  that  makes  one  sad  to  look  upon ; 
and,  to  add  to  the  offensiveness  of  the  design,  the  British  lion 
holds  the  chain  in  his  mouth,  and  never  lets  go.  Does  this  rep- 
resent "  the  genius  of  universal  emancipation  ?" 

The  general  exterior  of  the  city  is  sombre  and  gloomy.  This 
is  what  is  said  of  all  English  towns.  The  reason  is,  doubtless, 
that  the  smoke  of  the  coal,  here  universally  used  for  fuel  and  for 
manufacturing  purposes,  renders  any  attempt  at  external  bright- 
ness and  freshness  altogether  futile  ;  and  to  this  may  be  added  the 
fact  that  the  dampness  of  the  climate  operates  powerfully  upon 
paint  and  masonry,  whether  of  stone  or  brick,  to  impart  a  dark 
and  ancient  appearance  to  the  edifices.  Hence  this  has  become 
the  English  fashion,  and  now,  therefore,  the  inhabitants  would  not 
have  a  fresh-looking  edifice  if  they  could  ;  it  would  be  out  of  taste. 
This,  to  one  accustomed  to  the  bright  and  fresh  walls  of  an  Amer- 
ican city,  has  a  most  gloomy  aspect,  and  I  am  not  sure  but  it  con- 
tributes something  towards  the  low  spirits  of  the  inhabitants  them- 
selves. This  must  be  greatly  counteracted,  however,  by  the  in- 
creased comforts  within  ;  for,  while  Americans  may  have  a  live- 
lier exterior  to  their  dwellings,  the  English  appear  to  have,  in 
general,  a  greater  share  of  interior  accommodations  and  conveni- 
ences. 

I  know  not  that  others  may  have  the  same  impression,  but  ev- 
erything almost  in  England  seems,  compared  with  what  I  have 


EXCURSION  TO  CHESTER.  493 

;n  accustomed  to,  out  of  proportion  as  to  length.  The  boats 
are  short ;  the  carriages  are  short ;  so  are  the  people  ;  the  houses 
are  lower  in  general  than  is  common  with  us.  In  fine,  at  first 
view,  when  coming  on  shore,  everything  seems  to  wear  a  novel 
aspect ;  and  yet  that  novelty  is  so  much  in  small  things  that  it 
gradually  melts  away,  and  in  a  little  time  the  general  features, 
which  are  essentially  the  same  in  both  countries,  are  all  that  leave 
any  lasting  impression  upon  the  mind. 
But  I  must  for  the  present  bid  you  adieu. 

Yours  truly, 

W.  FISK. 

Liverpool,  Oct  6, 1835. 

Having,  by  the  foregoing  remarks  and  letter,  translated  the  read- 
er from  London,  where  we  landed  from  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
to  Liverpool,  where  we  first  landed  in  1835,  I  will  continue  my 
journal  from  that  time  and  place, 

The  following  letter,  written  at  the  time,  will  narrate  our  excur- 
sion to  Chester. 

To  G.  P.  Dissosway,  Esq. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, 

The  old  town  of  Chester  is  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles  from 
Liverpool,  and  is  a  place  of  considerable  interest,  as  is  also  Eaton 
Hall,  which  is  in  the  same  neighbourhood.  I  will  amuse  myself 
by  giving  you  a  short  description  of  our  excursion  thither  from 
Liverpool. 

You  have  to  cross  the  Mersey  in  a.  ferry-boat  to  take  the  coach 
for  Chester ;  and  here  let  me  caution  you  against  drawing  any 
analogy  in  your  own  mind  between  your  Brooklyn,  Hoboken,  or 
any  other  New- York  ferry-boats  and  those  of  Liverpool.  I  did 
not  come  to  England  to  find  fault,  but  to  tell  the  truth.  Now  the 
truth  is,  the  New-York  boats  are  as  much  before  these,  as  these 
are  before  the  old  flat-bottomed  scows  which  were  formerly  used 
for  ferry-boats.  But  let  that  pass  ;  they  may  improve  as  they 
grow  older.  We  crossed  in  the  rain  and  dirt,  took  seat  in  the 
coach  at  Berkenhead,  and  arrived  at  Chester  about  five  o'clock 
P.  M.,  and  put  up  at  the  "  Feathers'  Inn."  And  this,  by-the-way, 
is  as  good  a  place  as  I  can  fix  upon  for  the  commencement  of  my 
42 


494  ENGLAND. 

sketch  of  the  city.  This  is  the  part  of  the  town  that  has  the 
greatest  appearance  of  antiquity.  Everything  around  you  bears 
the  marks  of  age  ;  and  some  monuments  remain,  showing  that  the 
city  had  an  existence  and  a  reputation  as  early  as  the  days  of  the 
Roman  conquest.  Immediately  under  the  Feathers'  Inn,  and  back 
of  a  smith's  shop,  are  the  remains  of  a  Roman  hypocaust,  or  sub- 
terranean passage,  and  a  sweating-bath.  The  interior  of  it  is 
something  like  an  oven.  Here,  in  a  space  of  about  fifteen  feet 
by  six,  the  fire  was  built,  and  the  heat  was  carried  into  the  suda- 
toria above  by  small  tubes,  the  holes  for  which  are  still  seen. 
This  is  only  one  of  many  Roman  antiquities  which,  according  to 
the  accounts,  have  been  found  here,  many  of  which  have  been 
carelessly  destroyed  or  lost.  One  other  I  shall  have  occasion 
particularly  to  mention  when  I  come  to  speak  of  Eaton  Hall. 

One  of  the  curiosities  of  Chester  which  will  assist  you  in  form- 
ing a  better  idea  of  the  bath  already  mentioned  is  as  follows : 
Some  of  the  principal  streets  appear  to  be  cut  into  the  solid  rock 
to  the  depth  of  one  story  of  the  buildings,  so  that  the  floor  of  the 
second  story  in  the  front  is  on  a  level  with  the  ground  in  the  back 
yard.  Suppose,  then,  this  smith's  shop  to  occupy  this  lower  story 
in  front,  you  will  readily  conceive  that  the  rear  has  the  rock  for 
its  perpendicular  wall ;  and  into  this  wall  of  rock,  by  an  entrance 
as  before  described,  is  the  furnace  of  the  sweating-bath.  The 
rock,  however,  is  of  easy  excavation,  being  of  a  red  sandstone, 
very  similar  to  the  red  freestone  of  the  Chatham  quarries  of  Con- 
necticut. This,  in  fact,  is  the  stone  that  forms  the  entire  bed  of 
this  part  of  England  a  very  little  below  the  surface. 

The  next  peculiarity  of  this  old  city  is  its  "  rotus"  a  word  that, 
without  an  explanation,  will  carry  no  definite  idea  to  your  mind ; 
and  which  is  used  to  designate  a  feature  that  I  shall  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  describe.  To  give  you  an  idea  of  it,  however,  suppose  that 
the  second  story  of  all  the  buildings  on  a  street  were  cut  out  fif- 
teen or  twenty  feet  back  into  the  body  of  the  buildings,  with  posts 
and  pillars  left  standing  in  front  to  support  the  upper  part ;  you 
will  at  once  conceive,  by  such  an  arrangement,  of  a  continuous 
portico  running  the  whole  length  of  a  square,  with  one  range  of 
shops  underneath.  Now  imagine  this  portico  connected  with  the 
street  by  flights  of  steps,  as  often  as  convenience  requires,  and 
floored  with  flagging  stones  mostly,  or  some  of  the  way  with  thick 


ROWS."  495 

oak  plank,  varying  in  its  altitude  by  the  varieties  in  the  heights 
of  the  lower  stories,  not,  however,  by  abrupt  steps,  but  by  gentle 
slopes,  so  as  to  give  this  interior  walk  a  "  pleasing  variety  of  hill 
and  dale,"  and  you  will  have  a  tolerable  idea  of  the  Chester 
"  rows," 

In  the  interior  of  these  "rows,"  and  fronting  them,  are  the  va- 
rious retail-shops  of  dry  goods,*  &c.,  constituting  the  "  Cheap- 
side"  of  Chester.  As  these  shops  are,  of  course,  badly  lighted 
in  front,  most  of  them  are  accommodated  with  skylights.  These 
shops  make  the  "  rows"  the  liveliest  part  of  the  town.  Here  all 
ages  and  ranks  are  passing  and  repassing  continually  on  their  in- 
terior sidewalk,  free  from  molestation,  from  sunshine  or  rain. 
When  this  exhibition  first  met  my  eye,  as  I  was  riding  into  the 
town  in  a  stage-coach,  the  novelty,  and  the  mystery,  and  the  pic- 
turesque character  of  the  scene  produced  an  indescribable  effect. 
I  could  not  tell  what  to  make  of  it.  There  was  a  kind  of  enchant- 
ment about  it ;  and  the  more  so  as  the  front  of  the  row  was  walled 
rap  two  or  three  feet,  and,  occasionally,  a  small  shop  or  case  of  goods 
of  some  kind  would  be  thrown  in  for  economy's  sake,  or  for  exhibi- 
tion of  wares,  which  partially  intercepted  the  view ;  and  thus  the 
passing  multitudes  appeared  and  disappeared  in  constant  succes- 
sion, and  yet  without  rule  or  order,  and  all  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  leave  the  stranger  to  doubt  whether  they  were  in  doors  or  out. 

The  origin  of  these  "  rows"  is  so  ancient  that  their  design  is  not 
certainly  known.  Various  speculations  are  afloat,  the  most  plau- 
sible of  which,  in  the  opinion  of  most,  is,  that  they  were  designed 
for  greater  security  and  defence  in  the  early  ages,  when  the  town 
was  harassed  by  the  depredatory  invasions  of  the  Welsh.  I  will 
venture  to  suggest  another  theory  :  almost  ever  since  I  have  been 
in  England  it  has  rained  ;  it  was  rainy  while  I  was  in  Chester, 
and  I  found  these  "  rows"  very  convenient  for  walking  about  the 
city  while  it  rained  without ;  and  so,  apparently,  did  the  citizens, 
for  the  ladies  and  others  were  busy  in  doing  their  shopping,  as 
though  it  were  a  fair  day.  Now  if  such  is  the  general  character 
of  the  English  weather,  instead  of  wondering  at  the  Chester  rows> 

Fbould  wonder  that  every  city  was  not  built  with  "rows"  and 
i  archways  over  the  streets.     But  if  the  antiquarian  think  my 


*  Dry  goods  is  an  Americanism.    The  English  never  understood  the  term  wheu  we 
it  without  in  explanation. 


496  ENGLAND. 

theory  savours  too  much  of  utilitarianism,  a  sin  which,  you  are 
aware,  I  am  more  than  half  suspected  of  where  I  am  known,  then 
he  must  reject  it,  and  adopt  the  one  already  suggested,  or  some 
other  equally  chivalrous  and  poetical. 

Another  feature  of  Chester,  new,  and,  of  course,  interesting  to 
me,  is  its  walls.  It  has  been  a  walled  town  time  out  of  mind,  and 
has  repeatedly  endured  the  terrors  and  horrors  of  a  military  siege. 
The  old  walls  are  still  kept  in  a  state  of  good  repair,  but  "  in  these 
piping  times  of  peace"  they  are  only  used  for  a  promenade  for 
pleasure  and  exercise,  for  which  they  are  peculiarly  adapted  by 
the  improvements  they  have  undergone.  The  walls  are  about 
two  miles  in  circumference,  with  occasional  towers  and  gates 
most  of  which  are  fraught  with  historic  associations.  The  city 
has  always  been  remarkably  loyal,  and  hence  it  has  the  honour- 
able appellation  of  the  "  Loyal  city  of  Chester,"  This,  perhaps, 
is  owing  to  the  fact  of  its  having  been  one  of  the  fortified  posts 
where  his  majesty's  troops  were  quartered.  Nothing  is  better 
calculated  to  promote  loyalty,  even  in  the  worst  of  times,  than 
the  presence  of  a  strong  garrison.  But,  whatever  may  be  the 
cause,  Chester  has  generally  stood  by  the  legitimate  sovereign. 
Under  Lord  Byron,  one  of  the  ancestors  of  the  late  poet  of  that 
name,  it  endured  against  the  republican  army  of  Cromwell  a 
twenty  weeks'  siege  of  extraordinary  suffering ;  and  it  was  from 
the  Phoenix  tower,  between  the  east  and  north  gates,  where  the 
unfortunate  Charles  I.  stood  in  1644,  and  beheld  the  defeat  of  his 
army  on  Rowton  Moor,  after  which  the  king  fled  to  Oxford,  and 
the  city  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  usurper  Cromwell. 

Chester  is  a  bishop's  see  The  present  bishop  (Sumner)  is 
brother  to  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  jvho  was  so  constantly  with 
George  IV.  in  his  last  illness  and  at  his  death,  to  whom  the  dying 
monarch  addressed  himself  when  he  said,  "  Oh  God  I  is  this 
death  ?"  Alas  !  poor  man,  he  lived  a  profligate  life,  and  died  ***. 
But  if  anything  of  the  kind  could  give  the  dying  king  consolation, 
it  must  have  been  the  reflection  that  he  had  elevated  to  the  epis- 
copal office  two  such  men  as  these  brothers,  both  of  whom  are 
represented  to  be  pious,  faithful,  evangelical  men ;  and  especially 
as  he  insisted  upon  the  appointment  of  the  Bishop  of  Chester 
against  the  remonstrance  of  the  Duke  of  W.,  who,  it  is  said,  did 
not  like  Sumner,  and  suggested  to  the  king  that  the  government 


THE    CATHEDRAL.  497 

was  under  greater  obligations  to  some  others ;  but  the  king  per- 
sisted, and  the  appointment  was  made.  The  see,  however,  is  the 
poorest  in  the  kingdom,  and  is  generally  considered  only  a  step- 
ping-stone to  something  higher.  Hence  few  ever  die  Bishops  of 
Chester.  This  saying,  therefore,  has  gone  abroad,  that  "the 
Bishop  of  Chester  is  immortal."  ^ 

The  cathedral  is  venerable  for  age.  Its  site  is  an  ancient  ab-  J 
bey,  a  part  of  which  is  contained  in  the  present  edifice.  The 
bishop's  throne,  also,  is  said  to  have  been  the  pedestal  of  the 
shrine  of  St.  Werburgh,  who  was  the  abbess,  and  for  whom  the 
abbey  was  built  eleven  hundred  years  since.  I  cannot,  however, 
stop  to  give  a  particular  account  of  the  edifice  ;  but  as  we  have 
nothing  in  America  except  our  forests,  mountains,  &c.,  that  show 
the  marks  of  age,  I  will  once  for  all  give  you,  if  I  can,  in  a  few 
words,  the  idea  of  a  stone  edifice  corroded  by  the  slow  but  finally 
destructive  gnawings  of  the  tooth  of  time.  The  appearance  is 
sadly  interesting,  and  unlike,  perhaps,  what  you  might  imagine. 
The  effects  are  most  seen  at  the  corners  of  the  stones.  Hence  a 
stone  which  is  square  when  put  into  the  building  approaches  more 
and  more  to  a  globular  or  spherical  form.  This  gives  the  whole 
a  very  uneven  appearance,  and,  as  the  corrosion  and  decay  are  not 
equal  even  in  all  the  relative  parts,  owing  to  greater  or  less  ex- 
posure, or  to  some  variation  in  the  character  of  the  stone,  or  other 
causes,  the  surface  assumes  a  very  rugged  appearance.  Here 
and  there,  perhaps,  a  stone  falls  out ;  another  hangs  in  scales  ; 
there  is  a  recess  where  moss  is  gathering ;  and  here  the  wall  is 
so  discoloured  that  the  character  of  the  material  is  concealed. 
You  gaze  upon  the  wall  until  you  see  standing  out  in  legible 
characters,  "  Man  and  his  works  are  doomed  to  decay." 

The  castle  stands  on  the  site  of  the  old  castle,  part  of  which 
still  remains,  and  is  incorporated  with  the  new  edifices.  Here 
are  the  courtroom,  the  prisons,  barracks,  &c.  Of  these  I  cannot 
speak  particularly,  but  must  not  pass  over  the  costume  of  the 
Highland  soldiers,  some  of  whom  are  stationed  here.  They  still 
wear  the  plaid  kilts,  which  come  a  little  more  than  half  way  down 
the  thigh,  leaving  the  remainder  naked  down  to  the  middle  of  the 
calf,  where  is  the  top  of  the  red  and  white  plaid  gaiter  which  cov- 
ers the  ancle  and  foot.  The  kilt  is  faslened  round  the  waist,  and 
hangs  loose  like  a  skirt.  The  body  is  covered,  and  the  head 
43  3H  " 


498  ENGLAND. 

adorned  with  a  splendid  cap  and  feathers.  Indeed,  the  entire 
dress  is  an  imposing  and  showy  uniform ;  but  this  nudity  is  al- 
most as  indelicate  as  it  must  be  uncomfortable,  for  it  is  worn  in 
all  climates  and  at  all  seasons.  The  wonder  is  that  such  a  dress 
should  be  retained,  and  can  only  be  accounted  for  on  the  known 
principle  of  habit  and  tradition,  "  As  your  fathers  did  so  do  ye." 

But  I  must  hasten  to  Eaton  Hall.  This  is  the  country  residence 
of  the  late  Earl  Grosvenor,  now  Marquis  of  Westminster,  and  of 
his  son,  who  now  takes  his  father's  former  title.*  The  ride  thither, 
four  miles  from  Chester,  is  most  delighful.  As  you  leave  the 
city  you  cross  the  fine  new  bridge,  which  with  one  arch  spans  the 
river  Dey  just  below  the  castle.  Immediately  after  you  leave 
the  main  road,  and  take  a  gravelled  carriage  road  skirted  on  either 
hand  at  a  little  distance  with  beautiful  shrubbery  and  woodland, 
leaving  between  the  woodland  and  road  an  intervening  lawn  of 
about  one  rod  on  each  side.  The  grass  on  this  lawn  is  kept 
sheared  close  by  a  broad  knife  or  scythe.  This  constant  shearing 
(which  is  common,  I  believe,  throughout  the  pleasure-grounds  of 
England)  gives  to  the  greensward  a  thick,  fine,  velvet  character, 
which  greatly  adds  to  the  beauty  of  this  lovely  carpet  of  nature. 
Into  this  beautiful  lawn,  from  the  adjoining  thickets,  the  game 
comes  out  to  feed,  numbers  of  which  were  seen  as  we  passed 
along,  especially  hares,  rabbits,  and  English  pheasants.  These 
greatly  added  to  the  life  and  interest  of  the  scenery.  We  passed 
the  cottage  of  one  of  the  gamekeepers,  numbers  of  whom  are  lo- 
cated in  different  parts  of  the  grounds  to  guard  them  from  invasion 
by  unauthorized  sportsmen,  and  to  look  after  the  game.  The 
game  laws  are  very  severe.  The  hunting  is  a  monopoly,  and 
any  not  privileged  presuming  to  shoot  a  bird  or  a  quadruped  is> 
heavily  fined  or  imprisoned  if  detected.  A  little  farther  on  we 
passed  the  northern  lodge,f  which  has  a  fine  Gothic  arch  springing 
sublimely  over  the  entrance  to  the  park.  Here  we  passed,  in  un 
counted  numbers,  deerj  of  various  kinds  and  colours,  with  theii 
proud  antlers  waving  over  their  shoulders,  and  also  large  herds  of 

*  The  young  earl  and  family  are  now  on  the  Continent. 

i  Every  important  nobleman's,  and  even  many  gentlemen's  seats,  have  entrances 
sometimes  of  arches  and  sometimes  of  noble  pillars  and  statuary,  with  a  cottage  con 
aected  for  the  porter.  These  are  called  lodges.  They  are  generally  some  distance  froo, 
and  out  of  sight  of  the  houses  themselves. 

t  Our  coachman  informed  us  that  "  they  killed  a  power  of  these  every  year.** 


EATON    HALL.  499 

sheep.  I  ought  to  have  mentioned  that  before  entering  the  park 
we  passed  the  marquis  on  horseback,  who,  with  a  single  mounted 
groom  attending  him,  turned  off  just  before  us  into  a  road  leading 
through  another  part  of  his  grounds.  We  had  the  good  fortune 
also  to  meet  the  marchioness  in  the  farther  part  of  the  park  (which 
extends  quite  up  to  the  palace  yard),  who  was  just  going  out  to 
take  an  airing  in  her  phaeton,  drawn  by  two  elegant  ponies.  She 
drove  her  own  carriage  in  graceful  and  horseman-like  style,  as  be- 
came an  English  marchioness.  The  only  other  person  in  the  car- 
riage was  her  footman,  who  sat  much  at  his  ease  in  his  place  be- 
hind. He,  one  would  think,  was  the  man  her  ladyship  delighted 
to  honour,  for  he  was  seated  in  her  own  carriage,  and  she,  at  her 
own  expense  (nay,  doubtless,  paid  him  for  it  also),  drove  him  in 
lordly  style  over  her  family  domains.  Leave  names  and  titles 
out  of  the  question,  and  look  at  the  thing  as  it  is  ;  who  is  the  ser- 
vant and  who  is  the  served  ?  On  our  return  we  met  her  ladyship 
returning  in  the  same  style. 

We  approached  Eaton  Hall  on  the  west  front.  But,  before  we 
enter,  let  us  look  at  the  extevior.  It  is  a  superb  Gothic  edifice, 
finished  with  towers,  turrets,  pinnacles,  and  battlements  of  white 
freestone.  The  material,  however,  soon  vegetates  with  moss, 
and  becomes  discoloured,  so  that  the  building,  although  begun  in 
1803,  has  now  the  appearance  of  age.  The  style  is  Gothic,  and 
the  entire  length,  including  the  two  wings,  which  are  finished  with 
octagonal  towers,  is  said  to  be  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length. 
The  stables,  &c.,  adjoining,  are  built  in  the  same  style,  and,  at  a 
little  distance,  appear  to  be  a  part  of  the  same  building;  with 
these,  the  whole  facade  front  is  about  seven  hundred  feet.  It  is,  in- 
deed, a  noble  pile ;  from  whatever  point  you  view  it,  you  feel  the 
same  satisfaction,  and  seem  never  weary  of  the  sight.  The  inte- 
rior is  finished  and  furnished  with  equal  magnificence.  You  ring 
the  bell  at  the  bottom  of  the  stone  steps  ;  a  servant  in  full  dress  of 
tight  smallclothes  and  white  silk  stockings  ushers  you  into  a  splen- 
did entrance  hall  hung  with  paintings,  and  in  the  niches  are  effi- 
gies in  full  dress  of  ancient  steel  armour.  Here  you  amuse  your- 
self with  the  wonders  of  the  place,  until  the  "  groom  of  the  cham- 
bers," who,  perhaps,  may  be  showing  another  company  through 
the  apartments,  is  ready  to  wait  upon  you.  You  are  shown  suc- 

jssively  into  the  saloon,  the  state  bedroom,  the  dining-room,  the 


500  ENGLAND. 

chapel,  the  large  and  small  drawing-rooms,  the  library,  &c.  I 
could  not  think  of  giving  you  a  detailed  description  of  this  superb 
suite  of  apartments.  They  are  finished  in  the  best  style,  adorned 
with  paintings  of  the  first  order,  some  of  them  with  painted  glass, 
and  all  with  draperies  of  crimson,  salmon  coloured,  and  yellow 
satin  and  gold,  with  gold  fringes  and  tassels.  Four  of  the  paintings 
are  by  our  countryman,  West,  of  whom  the  earl  was  an  early  and  a 
munificent  patron.  In  the  large  drawing-room  was  a  screen  of  silk 
and  gold,  wrought  by  the  present  Queen  of  France.  The  mahog- 
any doors  are  said  to  have  cost  one  hundred  guineas  each  ;  a  pier- 
glass,  which  is  fourteen  feet  in  one  plate,  said  to  be  the  finest  in 
the  kingdom,  cost,  if  I  rightly  understood  the  groom,  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  guineas.  The  furniture  was  in  good  keeping  with 
the  rooms,  and  discovered  great  chasteness  of  taste  as  well  as 
elegance  of  design  and  costliness  of  execution.  The  motto  of  the 
Grosvenor  arms  was  everywhere  displayed,  and  a  better  one  never 
was  inscribed  upon  a  coat  of  arms. 

"Nobilitatis  virtus  non  stemma  character;" 

or,  as  it  is  generally  contracted, 

"  Virtus  non  stemma" 
"  Virtue,  not  descent,  the  true  mark  of  nobility." 

This  is  truly  a  republican  motto,  and  one  we  should  least  have  ex- 
pected to  see  on  the  arms  of  a  family  whose  blood  has  been  noble 
from  before  the  days  of  William  the  Conqueror,  in  whose  suite  the 
Grosvenor  family  came  to  England. 

But  I  forget  that  you  have  not  yet  been  introduced  to  the  pleas- 
ure-grounds and  gardens.  The  land  on  the  east  is  a  gradual 
slope  to  the  Dey  ;  this  slope  is  laid  out  in  gravel  walks,  and 
adorned  with  trees,  shrubbery,  plants,  and  flowers  in  great  vari- 
ety, and  arranged  singly,  in  clusters,  and  in  parterres,  in  great  taste. 
On  one  end  of  these  grounds  is  the  conservatory  of  exotic  plants  ; 
among  which  was  the  peerless  flowering  aloe,  which  blossoms  at 
the  age  of  one  hundred  years  and  then  dies.  The  one  we  saw 
had  about  arrived  to  its  goal,  and  will  soon  be  crowned  with  its 
short-lived  honours  and  expire  ;  sad  representative  of  man's  years 
of  toil  to  grasp  the  crown  of  earthly  honour,  which  fades  almost 
as  soon  as  enjoyed. 


PLEASURE-GROUNDS.  501 

On  the  opposite  side  is  the  Roman  antiquity  I  promised  to 
mention.  It  is  contained  in  a  little  temple  which  the  marquis 
has  erected  for  its  reception — an  appropriate  receptacle ;  for  the 
antique  is  a  Roman  altar ;  it  has  inscribed  on  both  its  opposite 
sides  the  following : — 

N  YMPHIS 

ET 

FONTIBUS 

LEG.  XX. 

V.  V. 

"  To  the  Nymphs  and  Fountains,  the  20th  legion,  the  invinci- 
ble and  victorious,"  so  it  has  been  interpreted  and  translated. 
The  altar  is  four  feet  high,  and  was  dug  up  near  Chester  in  1821. 
The  floor  of  the  temple  is  from  the  palace  of  Tiberius,  in  the 
island  of  Capri,  and  was  purchased  from  the  Duke  Casserano. 
But  I  must  hasten  ;  the  other  grounds  are  a  kitchen  garden  and  a 
fruit  garden,  the  latter  containing  many  hothouses  for  the  pro- 
duction of  foreign  and  tropical  fruits.  Here  are  grapes,  and  figs, 
and  oranges,  and  lemons,  and  pineapples ;  five  hundred  of  these 
last  are  consumed  in  a  year  grown  on  the  premises.  The  plant 
bears  the  second  year,  and  then  dies,  producing  but  one  apple. 
In  some  parts  we  noticed  what  is  called  rockwork,  and  rustic 
arches  where  plants  spring  out  of  artificial  hills,  and  from  be- 
tween ledges  of  rocks  ;  some  of  which  were  large  fine  specimens 
of  minerals,  which  I  could  but  covet  for  our  mineralogical  cabi- 
net, rather  than  see  them  exposed  there  for  mere  show  to  the 
corrosive  influence  of  the  weather. 

The  gardener  was  very  polite,  and  took  much  pains  to  cull  a 
choice  boquet  of  various  flowers  for  Mrs.  F. ;  and,  at  parting,  gave 
us  a  specimen  of  the  fruit,  which  had  hung  round  us  in  tempting 
profusion  during  the  latter  part  of  our  walk. 

We  started  for  our  lodging  a  little  after  sunset,  highly  gratified 
with  our  afternoon's  excursion  ;  and,  I  trust,  as  well  satisfied  with 
our  own  humble  lot  and  plain  republican  mode  of  living  as  we 
were  before  we  saw  the  splendour  of  the  Grosvenor  palace. 

You  need  not  fear  that  I  shall  trouble  you  or  any  of  my  friends 
with  many  such  long  descriptions.  As  we  in  America  have  no 
opportunity  of  examining  such  splendid  establishments,  I  thought  it 
might  not  be  improper  to  give  a  somewhat  detailed  account  of  one 


502  ENGLAND. 

noble  residence,  as  a  specimen  of  British  aristocracy.  We  returned 
to  Chester  to  have  our  carriage  surrounded  by  squalid  poverty, 
begging  for  a  penny  to  procure  bread  to  satisfy  their  hunger,  so 
true  is  it  that  luxury  and  want  are  always  near  neighbours.  The 
marquis  is  said  to  be  charitable ;  but,  alas  !  what  is  a  charity  like 
this,  which  gives  a  little  out  of  a  princely  estate,  the  most  of 
which,  however,  is  spent  in  superfluities.  It  is  said  one  may  ride 
twelve  miles  in  a  direct  line  without  going  off  the  Grosveruor 
estate,  besides  extensive  possessions  in  the  city  of  Chester  and 
elsewhere.  With  such  a  fortune  at  command,  what  might  not  a 
man  accomplish  for  our  dark,  wicked  world,  if  he  had  the  knowl 
edge  and  the  heart  necessary  for  the  work  ! 

Yours,  in  much  esteem, 

W.  FISK. 

We  left  Liverpool  on  the  6th  of  October  for  London  on  the 
Manchester  railroad.  This  great  channel  of  intercommunication 
has  proved  of  immense  service  to  the  business  of  Manchester  and 
Liverpool.  Although  the  distance  is  about  forty  miles,  yet  it  is 
accomplished  in  ordinary  times  in  two  hours;  and  sometimes 
much  sooner.  So  that  goods  purchased  in  Manchester,  the  great 
cotton  mart,  are  sent  to  Liverpool  and  shipped  in  the  course  of 
two  or  three  hours,  without  the  trouble  of  storage. 

We  stopped  in  Manchester  but  one  night,  but  this  was  long 
enough  to  give  us  some  little  conception  of  the  extent  of  English 
manufactories  ;  and  long  enough,  also,  to  convince  us  of  what  we 
had  often  been  reminded,  that  this  was  a  smoky  dirty  town.  Be- 
fore we  reached  it,  and  while  approaching  its  borders,  it  was 
concealed  from  our  vision  by  a  dense  cloud  of  smoke,  which,  like 
a  black  muffler,  veiled  the  town  from  mortal  eyes.  We  hurried 
through  it  and  hastened  on  in  our  journey,  to  escape,  as  soon  as 
we  might,  the  fogs  and  rains  of  this  humid  and  smoky  atmo- 
sphere. We  expected  to  give  all  these  'places  another  hearing 
under  better  auspices,  and,  therefore,  we  suspended  all  judgment 
for  the  present.  It  had  rained  most  of  the  time  since  our  arrival. 
The  morning  sometimes  promised  fair,  just  enough  to  tempt  the 
uninitiated  stranger  abroad  without  his  mantle  or  umbrella ;  but 
before  he  was  apprized  of  the  approaching  shower  he  was 
drenched  in  rain.  November,  they  say,  is  the  dark  rainy  month 


THE    POTTERIES.  503 

in  which  Englishmen  hang  themselves  ;  but  if  any  one  has  a 
tendency  to  hypochondria,  he  need  not  wait  until  November  this 
year,  I  am  sure,  for  the  fit  to  overtake  him.  At  all  events,  al- 
though, through  Divine  mercy,  my  spirits  seldom  sink,  and,  there- 
fore, I  was  in  little  danger  of  the  hanging  mania,  still  my  catarrh 
and  pulmonary  complaints  were  so  aggravated  by  this  wretched 
climate,  I  had  no  wish  to  risk  the  experiment  of  a  worse  state  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  hence  we  hastened  on  to  London  as  fast  as 
prudence  would  justify.  A  few  things,  however,  should  be  noted. 
Our  second  day's  ride  was  to  Birmingham,  through  Burslem  and 
the  potteries,  in  Staffordshire.  This  is  the  great  porcelain  and 
earthenware  region ;  for  the  reader  should  be  aware,  if  he  is  not 
already,  that  a  great  portion  of  the  different  trades  and  manufac- 
tures of  England  is  confined  to  particular  towns  and  sections 
of  the  country.  The  district  of  country  above  alluded  to,  in  • 
extent  about  eight  miles  by  six,  is  called  "  The  Potteries."  And 
here,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  much  and  often  as  I  had  read 
on  the  subject,  I  obtained  a  tolerably  adequate  conception  of  Brit- 
ish manufactures  ;  of  their  extent,  and  of  the  vast  amount  of  capi- 
tal vested  in  them.  It  seemed  as  though  all  the  porcelain  and 
earthenware  for  the  supply  of  the  world  might  be  made  here. 
Acre  after  acre  and  mile  after  mile  of  kilns  and  furnaces,  crowded 
together  in  some  instances,  or  a  little  more  scattered  in  others, 
covered  this  region.  Burslem  is  the  principal  town,  and  con- 
tains about  eleven  thousand  inhabitants.  It  has  nearly  doubled 
its  population  since  this  century  came  in,  so  great  has  been  the 
increase  in  this  branch  of  industry.  The  first  pottery  institution 
in  England  is  spoken  of  here.  This  was  greatly  extended  in 
1690  by  two  brothers  from  Holland,  who  settled  here  and  made 
some  improvements  in  the  art.  This  might  have  been  extended 
still  farther,  but  Old  England  had  not  then  learned  to  appreciate 
her  manufactures  above  the  value  of  a  pure  atmosphere.  The 
neighbouring  inhabitants  quarrelled  with  the  Hollanders  on  ac- 
count of  the  bad  odour  of  the  fumes  of  their  potteries,  and  they 
returned  home.  In  1763  Mr.  Josias  Wedgwood,  a  gentleman  to 
whom  science  and  the  arts  are  greatly  indebted,  and  whose  in- 
ventions and  improvements  are  well  known  to  the  world,  made 
great  advances  in  the  art  of  pottery,  and  got  up  a  large  estab- 
lishment in  this  district,  which,  after  that  country  in  Italy  where 


504  ENGLAND. 

ancient  pottery  was  carried  to  such  great  perfection,  he  called 
Etruria.  This  establishment  is  still  in  the  hands  of  his  sons  or 
grandsons.  The  reason,  doubtless,  why  this  section  abounds  in 
potteries  is,  that  coal  is  abundant  here,  and  also  those  kinds  of 
clay  which  are  most  used  in  this  art  are  found  in  this  region  in 
great  quantities,  while  the  soil  itself  is  unfit  for  agricultural  pur- 
poses. Much  of  the  clay,  however,  is  brought  from  Dorsetshire 
and  Devonshire.  Besides  Burslem,  there  are  fourteen  other  towns 
in  "  The  Potteries"  which  contain  extensive  establishments.  In 
this,  as  in  most  of  the  manufacturing  districts,  there  are  many 
dissenters  from  the  established  church,  and  Methodism  especially 
has  extended  itself  here  more  than  any  other  sect. 

As  we  approached  the  lower  part  of  Staffordshire,  in  Wolver- 
hamptom,  Wednesbury,  West  Bromwich,  &c.,  we  had  a  noctur- 
nal exhibition  of  another  kind  of  manufactory,  which  was  alto- 
gether unexpected,  and  of  a  character  entirely  new  to  us.  Be- 
fore we  reached  this  region  it  was  night,  and  that  was  a  cloudy, 
dark  night.  Suddenly  we  found  ourselves  in  a  region  of  fire. 
Flames  were  bursting  out  of  the  earth  in  every  direction,  some- 
times in  a  steady  blaze,  and  sometimes  in  fitful,  flashing  alterna- 
tions of  flame  and  smoke.  Here  were  large  masses  of  molten 
fire,  and  there  were  vast  piles  of  smouldering  and  gleaming  em- 
bers ;  and  all  these  commingled,  and  extending  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach,  and  continuing  through  successive  miles  of  our  journey. 

The  occasion  of  these  phenomena  we  found  to  be  the  combined 
operation  of  working  mines,  and  of  roasting,  smelting,  and  forging 
iron.  In  the  coal  districts  the  coal  is  all  raised  from  deep  subter- 
ranean pits  by  steam  power ;  so  also  are  the  iron  ore  and  the  lime 
which  are  used  for  a  flux  in  smelting  the  ore,  both  of  which  are 
found  in  the  same  district  of  the  coal,  and  in  different  strata  of  the 
same  shaft  or  pit.  The  fires  which  generate  the  steam  usually 
blaze  out  at  the  top  of  the  flues,  and  the  workmen  also  commonly 
have  fires  blazing  at  the  mouth  of  the  pit.  Frequently  large  masses 
of  fine  and  unsaleable  coal  are  set  on  fire  to  get  them  out  of  the  way 
All  this  makes  a  good  deal  of  fire ;  but  the  most  vivid  is  from  the 
roasting  of  the  iron,  and  from  the  furnaces  and  forges.  Altogether, 
the  scene  was  to  us  terribly  sublime,  the  more  so,  doubtless,  be- 
cause it  was  perfectly  new  to  us,  having  never  heard  of  the  exhi- 
bition till  it  burst  upon  us  through  the  thick  gloom  of  that  dark 
night. 


505 

At  one  time  the  image  of  Tophet  of  old  would  rush  across  our 
minds,  and  the  perpetual  fires  of  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  with  the 
smoking  sacrifices  of  writhing  infants  offered  upon  the  altars  of 
Moloch.  The  tall  black  figures  of  the  workmen,  as  they  loomed 
up  passing  and  repassing  between  us  and  the  fires,  might  readily 
be  taken  for  the  officiating  priests  in  these  cruel  rites  of  human 
sacrifices  ;  and  when  we  consider  the  character  of  many  who  la- 
bour here,  the  prevalence  of  intemperance  and  blasphemy,  and 
especially  the  manner  in  which  many  of  these  parents,  generation 
after  generation,  devote  their  children  as  heirs  to  this  same  drudg- 
ery, degradation,  ignorance,  and  sin,  the  idea  suggested  above  is 
not  far  from  the  reality.  Here,  in  too  true  a  sense,  doubtless,  are 
thousands  of  children  made  to  pass  through  these  fires  to  Moloch. 

At  another  time  the  turning  wheels,  and  creaking  machinery, 
and  hissing  forges  brought  up  the  recollections  of 

"  Vulcani  domus  et  Vulcania  nomine  ttfttus* 

Here  Vulcan's  forges  breathe  out  fire  and  flame } 
The  region  here  must  bear  old  Vulcan's  name.* 

From  this  time  forward,  I  said  to  myself,  I  will  call  the  lower 
part  of  Staffordshire  Vulcania. 

And  yet,  again,  as  the  scene  varied  and  the  prospect  was  en- 
larged, as  the  bursting  flames  glared  more  vividly  upon  the  wall 
of  impenetrable  darkness  in  the  distance,  more  awful  and  solemn 
images  were  suggested  ;  the  exhibition  of  that  day  when  the  in- 
ternal fires  of  our  globe  shall  burst  through  their  barriers  and 
wrap  the  earth  in  flames  ;  or  the  associated  thought  hovered  over 
scenes  still  more  painful,  over  that  lake  of  fire  where  the  incorri- 
gibly wicked  experience  the  pains  of  the  "  second  death,"  and 
"  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  for  ever  and  ever" 

We  rested  one  night  at  Birmingham,  the  British  toyshop.  In 
our  passage  to  London  the  next  day  we  passed  some  interesting 
towns,  among  which  was  the  city  of  Coventry.  This  is  an  old 
town,  having  had  some  character  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Ed- 
ward the  Confessor,  1041.  It  was  about  this  time  that  Leofric, 
the  Earl  of  Mercia,  as  the  story  goes,  consented  that  his  lady,  Go- 
diva,  should  be  gratified  in  her  importunity  to  confer  a  public  fa- 
vour upon  the  town,  on  condition  that  she  should  agree  to  ride 

*  The  classical  reader  will  excuse  my  free  translation, 

43  3S 


506  ENGLAND. 

through  the  city  naked.  Her  benevolence  overcame  her  feelings 
of  modesty,  and  she,  for  the  public  good,  consented ;  the  more 
readily  as  she  had  long  and  abundant  hair,  with  which  she  could 
mostly  conceal  her  person ;  and  especially  as  all  the  inhabitants 
were,  by  agreement,  to  keep  within  and  close  their  windows. 
Only  one,  a  tailor  by  the  name  of  Tom,  ventured  to  peep  out. 
He,  it  is  said,  was  immediately  struck  blind ;  and,  to  perpetuate 
his  shame,  he  was  for  ever  after  called  "peeping  Tom."  The 
window  out  of  which  he  peeped  has  been  formed  into  an  open 
niche,  and  in  it  is  placed  an  image  of  the  curious  tailor,  where  it 
remains  unto  this  day  a  monument  of  his  disgrace.  To  commem- 
orate this  event,  and  in  proof  that,  in  its  essential  features,  it  is 
true,  there  is  an  annual  festival  in  Coventry,  on  which  occasion  a 
female  slightly  attired  in  close  flesh-coloured  apparel  rides  through 
the  city,  personating  the  character  of  the  benevolent  Godiva. 

Coventry  contains  a  population  of  about  twenty-seven  thousand, 
and  carries  on  an  extensive  business  in  the  manufacture  of  ribands. 
It  is  the  "  Riband  Region"  of  England.  It  does  considerable, 
also,  in  the  manufacture  of  watches. 

We  also  passed  the  "  Straw-bonnet  Region,"  the  centre  of  which 
is  Dunstable,  a  town  in  Bedfordshire  containing  about  two  thousand 
inhabitants.  From  this  town  the  well-known  Dunstable  straw  re- 
ceives its  name.  It  is  supposed  that  the  peculiarity  of  the  straw 
takes  its  character  from  the  soil.  Just  above  Coventry  we  leave 
the  coal  region,  and  here  at  Dunstable  we  strike  a  range  of  chalk 
hills,  which  extend  across  the  counties  of  Bedford,  Buckingham, 
and  Oxford,  and  this  soil  probably  gives  a  peculiar  character  to 
the  vegetable  products.  In  this,  as  in  the  instance  of  the  Stafford- 
shire ironworks  and  potteries,  we  see  the  reason  for  the  different 
manufactories  being  found  in  different  sections  of  the  country. 
Each  region  has  its  peculiar  adaptation  to  the  prevailing  busi- 
ness of  that  region  ;  and  the  populousness  of  the  country  has  of 
necessity  presse^ffiT  industry  into  the  most  advantageous  posi- 
tions. Here  capital  accumulates,  and  takes  the  form  in  which 
it  becomes  most  productive  for  the  respective  departments.  Thus 
the  business  of  the  country  is  made  more  or  less  sectional,  until  it 
becomes  a  fashion,  and  then  this  classification  is  extended  to  other 
departments,  for  whose  location  no  special  reason  can  be  given. 
Chance,  perhaps,  first  formed  the  nucleus  around  which  the  same 


ST.    ALBANS.  607 

and  kindred  or  collateral  trades  began  to  congregate,  and  thus  a 
character  was  given  to  the  business  of  the  place  or  neighbourhood. 
In  this  way,  perhaps,  the  cotton  trade  of  Manchester,  and  the 
wool  trade  of  Leeds,  and  others  that  might  be  mentioned,  have 
been  accumulated  and  enlarged  in  their  respective  localities. 
This  gives  to  the  country  adopting  the  practice  a  great  advantage 
in  another  respect.  It  may  be  laid  down  almost  as  an  axiom  in 
political  economy,  that,  other  things  being  equal,  the  more  the 
capital  of  the  nation,  vested  in  any  one  department  and  its  collat- 
eral branches,  can  be  concentrated,  in  respect  to  territorial  extent 
and  division,  the  more  perfect  may  be  the  division  of  labour,  and, 
therefore,  the  more  perfect  the  manufactured  article  and  the  cheap- 
er the  price. 

It  is  this  natural  economy  of  natural  agents  and  human  indus- 
try that  has  rendered  the  island  of  Great  Britain  so  productive  and 
so  wealthy.  Add  to  this  the  fact  that  the  surrounding  seas  and 
oceans  seem  to  have  been  employed  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world 
in  accumulating  from  the  depths  and  from  the  distant  shores  a 
vast  variety  of  minerals,  vegetables,  and  earths,  and  to  have  thrown 
them  up  in  regular  sections  and  compartments,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  this  speck  of  land,  in  the  bosom  of  the  waters,  the  most 
stupendous  and  productive  theatre  of  industry  and  wealth  the  world 
has  ever  beheld. 

St.  Albans  is  the  only  other  town  that  I  will  mention  before 
our  arrival  at  the  metropolis.  This  was  a  very  ancient  town,  and 
once,  it  is  said,  was  the  capital  of  Britain.  The  Romans  made  it 
a  town  of  peculiar  privileges,  and  so  attached  the  inhabitants  to 
the  Roman  government  that  the  anger  of  the  native  Queen  Boa- 
dicea  was  excited  against  them,  and  she  massacred  seventy  thou- 
sand of  the  citizens.  In  the  Dioclesian  persecution  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  fourth  century  the  saint  whose  name  the  town 
now  bears  was  martyred  here.  In  the  ninth  century  the  celebra- 
ted abbey  was  founded  here  by  Offa,  king  of  the  Mercians,  which 
continued  until  Henry  VIII.,  when,  with  other  similar  institutions,. 
it  was  demolished,  and  only  the  gate  remains.  The  church,  how 
jver,  still  stands,  as  a  venerable  relic  of  antiquity,  and  is  a  very 
extensive  ecclesiastical  edifice ;  having,  however,  a  variety  of  parts, 
lilt  at  different  times,  and,  like  numerous  similar  edifices  in  Eng- 
ind,  exhibiting  the  most  dissimilar  and  incongruous  styles  of  ar- 
litecture. 


508  ENGLAND. 

f  The  Romans  called  this  place  Verulam,  and  it  was  this  thai 
gave  the  title  of  Lord  Verulam  to  Francis  Bacon,  the  disgraced 
chancellor  of  James  L,  but  the  honoured  philosopher  of  the  civ- 
ilized world.  The  family  residence  is  about  two  miles  distant,  at 
Gorhambuxy,  where  the  present  earl  now  lives.  At  this  family 
residence  Lord  Verulam  wrote  his  Novum  Organum  Scientia- 
rum  ;  and  here  his  father,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  used  to  entertain 
Queen  Elizabeth. 

St.  Albans  is  also  celebrated  for  two  famous  battles  fought  be- 
tween the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  And  in  this  town  was  born  the  celebrated  trav- 
eller, Sir  John  Mandeville. 

On  our  arrival  in  London  we  stopped  at  a  comfortable  house 
called  the  George  and  Blue  Boar,  in  "  High  Holb©rn."  This  last 
name  is  familiar  to  every  American  almost,  by  no  very  elevated 
association ;  but  still  High  Holborn  never  before  obtained  so  ex- 
tensive a  notoriety  as  it  has-  since  its  association  with  "  Day  & 
Martin's  shoe  blacking  f  so  true  it  is  that  fame  itself  sometimes 
rides  in  an  humble  car.  The  hotel  also,  queer  as  its  name  may 
sound,  has  some  celebrity;  for  here,  we  were  told,  Cromwell 
himself  used  to  lodge.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  a  comfortable  house; 
so  much  so  that  when  we  returned  from  our  Continental  tour  we 
drove  directly  to  our  old  lodgings.  It  is  due,  however,  to  the  hos- 
pitality of  our  London  friends  to  say  here,  that  we  were  not  al- 
lowed>  either  at  our  first  or  second  visit,  to  stay  long  at  a  public 
inn.  At  our  first  arrival  we  were  most  cordially  received  and 
welcomed  to  England  by  that  venerable  patriarch,  Rev.  Rich- 
ard Reese,  president  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference,  and  with  his 
amiable  daughter  and  her  husband  we  were  hospitably  entertain- 
ed during  our  first  visit ;  and  after  our  return  our  excellent  and 
kind  friend,  the  Reverend  Robert  Alder,  one  of  the  missionary 
secretaries,  pressed  us  to  his  house,  where,  with  him  and  his  es- 
timable lady,  we  found  ourselves  much  at  home  during  our  stay 
in  London. 


LONDON.  509, 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

HAVING  once  and  again  visited  the  British  Metropolis,  it 
behooves  me  to  say  something  of  this  great  Babel,  this  queen  of 
cities.  And  yet  I  know  not  where  to  begin,  or  what  topics  ta 
select ;  as  one  may  spend  months  in  this  great  city  without  ex- 
hausting the  interest  which  even  novelty  itself  can  impart,  sa 
numerous  and  diversified  are  the  scenes  and  objects  here  concen- 
trated ;  so  he  might  write  volumes  of  descriptions  and  reflections, 
upon  what  he  sees  and  hears,  without  tautology  or  repetition.. 
Well  may  it  be  said,  "  London  is  the  world  in  miniature."  Nay, 
I  might  almost  say,  it  is  something  more,  than  the  rest  of  the 
world.  For  we  have  here,  not  only  specimens  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  but  these,  by  new  combinations  in  their  association 
and  commixture,  present  new  aspects  and  formations,  unlike  the 
simple  elements  from  which  they  are  combined. 

London  owes  its  origin  and  wealth  to  the  river  Thames,, 
which,  as  has  already  been  noticed,  is  navigable  for  large  ships; 
up  to  the  port  of  London,  and  for  barges  arid  boats,  more  than 
one  hundred  miles  above  the  city.  The  tide  flows  fifteen  miles 
above  the  city.  This  city  is  spoken  of  by  Tacitus,  and  other 
early  historians,  as  a  place  of  commercial  importance.  It  is  said, 
that  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century,  it  employed,  in  the  corn 
trade  alone,  eight  hundred  vessels  j  and  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I., 
it  was  reckoned  the  chief  commercial  port  in  the  world.  It  has, 
from  that  time,  been  constantly  increasing  in  wealth  and  popula- 
tion. It  has,  indeed,  met  with  several  temporary  checks :  for  a 
considerable  time,  the  government  used  every  precaution  to  pre- 
vent its  extension.  At  this  time,  the  city  was  badly  built ;  the 
houses  were  of  wood,  thatched  with  straw ;  the  streets  narrow ; 
and  each  story  of  the  houses  projected  over,  until  the  eaves  from 
either  side  nearly  met  at  the  top,  confining  the  air,  and  greatly 
contributing  to,  if  not  actually  producing,  that  malignant  disorder 
called  the  plague,  with  which  the  city  was  so  frequently  visited. 
The  last  serious  visitation  from  this  disorder^  was  in  tKe  reign  of 
43, 


5W  ENGLAND. 

Charles  II.,  in  the  years  1665-6,  which  continued  for  the  space 
of  thirteen  months,  and  is  supposed  to  have  swept  away  one  hun- 
dred thousand  victims.  Immediately  after  this,  viz.,  in  1666, 
occurred  the  "  great  fire,"  which  lasted  four  days,  and  destroyed 
about  five  sixths  of  the  city,  and  a  great  portion  of  the  suburbs. 
This  event  is  commemorated  by  a  noble  monument,  erected  in 
Fish  street,  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren,  near  the  spot  where  the 
conflagration  commenced.  This  monument  is  built  of  the  Port- 
land stone,  fluted,  and  of  the  Doric  style,  is  two  hundred  feet  in 
height,  and  contains  Latin  inscriptions,  describing  the  conflagra- 
tion, and  the  measures  taken  by  government  to  facilitate  the  res- 
toration of  the  city. 

This  fire  was  the  greatest  blessing  London  ever  experienced. 
The  city  was  made  anew,  and  rebuilt  on  new  and  improved  prin- 
ciples. The  streets  widened  and  straightened  ;  the  small  streams 
arched  over,  and  made  into  sewers  for  the  city ;.  every  howse  was 
built  with  party-walls  ;.  the  steep  hills  excavated,  and  the  valleys 
filled  up  -t.  and  the  whole  completed  in  about  three  years.  Since 
that  period,  no  very  extensive  contagious  disorder  has  prevailed  in 
London;  nay,  perhaps  there  is  scarcely  a  large  city  in  the  world 
more  salubrious  than  London.  The  improvements,  however,  thus 
made  in  the  city — adequate  as  they  were  for  the  purposes  ot 
health — were  far  from  meeting  the  necessities  of  business,  in  these 
latter  days..  The  streets  are  still  too  narrow,  the  great  thorough- 
fares too  few,  and  the  public  places  all  too  crowded.  The  throng 
of  the  city,  both  of  carriages  and  of  footmen,  is  absolutely  oppres- 
sive, and  to  the  stranger  astonishing.  He  dodges  in  every  direc- 
tion to  make  his  way  through  to  his  place  of  destination,  until 
baffled  at  every  turn,  and  wearied  with  the  almost  fruitless  effort, 
jostled  and  dirtied  by  the  friction  of  the  crowd,  he  shrinks  into 
some  angle  or  recess  to  get  a  little  respite,  and  wait  until  the 
procession  shall  pass  by.  From  his  retreat  he  looks  out  upon 
the  busy  world,  and  the  more  he  looks,  the  more  he  is  astonished. 
His  first  mental  inquiry  is,  Do  all  these  persons  know  what  they 
are  after,  or  where  they  are  going  ?  It  seems  impossible  thas 
they  should  all  have  a  definite  object  in  view.  The  tide  rolls  on 
in  one  incessant  current,  from  early  in  the  morning  until  late  at 
night ;  and  the  stranger  soon  finds  he  might  as  well  wait  for  the 
waters  of  the  Rhine  to  exhaust  themselves,  and  run  their  channels 


LONDON.  511 

dry,  as  to  wait  for  some  of  the  principal  streets  of  London  city  to 
clear  themselves  of  their  immense  moving  multitudes.  In  despair 
of  a  better  tide  or  a  freer  channel,  he  throws  himself  again  into 
the  whirlpool,  and  with  much  delay  and  difficulty,  reaches  his 
place  of  destination.  One  never  feels  this  embarrassment  more, 
perhaps,  than  when  he  gets  short  of  time,  on  his  way  to  the 
steamboat  in  a  hackney-coach.  The  more  impatient  he  grows, 
the  more  he  is  obstructed,  and  at  length,  perhaps,  he  finds  him- 
self absolutely  at  a  stand  :  he  looks  out.  and  beholds  one  entire 
and  unbroken  mass  of  coaches,  omnibuses,  cabs,  carts,  drays,  and 
wagons — -wedged  in  on  every  side  as  far  as  the  eye  can  extend. 
There  is  no  relief;  patience  alone  can  sustain  him,  and  time 
alone  can  bring  him  relief. 

To  remedy  these  evils,  alterations  are  made  yearly  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  city  ;  so  that  at  some  points — such  as  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  London  Bridge — he  who,  a  few  years  ago,  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  city,  and  returning  after  an  absence,  would 
be  at  a  loss  to  recognise  his  position.  What  is  called  the  "  city," 
is  comparatively  but  a  small  part  of  London.  The  town  has  been 
enlarged,  until  suburb  after  suburb,  and  village  after  village,  have 
been  connected  with  the  main  body,  and  swallowed  up  in  the  con- 
tinuous, extended,  and  extending  metropolis.  From  being  a  little 
city  of  two  miles  in  circumference,  it  has  swelled  ta  the  dimen- 
sions of  thirty  miles  in  circumference,  and  contains  one  hundred 
and  fifty-six  thousand  houses  and  public  edifices,  and  one  million 
and  a  half  of  inhabitants. 

Everybody  feels,  when  travelling  over  London,  that  it  is  "  too 
big,"  and  yet  when  its  growth  will  stop  cannot  be  foreseen ;  its  march 
is  still  outward  and  onward,  and  its  vast  population  is  rapidly  in- 
creasing. In  such  a  city,  there  are  certainly  great  commercial 
advantages,  great  facilities  for  the  arts,  for  science,  for  literature, 
and  for  refinement  in  all  its  forms  :  great  advantages  for  the 
central  points  of  the  great  moral  and  religious  enterprises  of  the 
day.  In  short,  whatever  advantages  man  can  promise  himself,  in 
the  development  of  the  social  principle ;  the  division,  of  labour ; 
the  mutual  action  of  intellect  upon  intellect ;  the  juxtaposition 
md  concentration  of  all  kinds  of  agencies  and  instrumentalities  :  all 
icse  are  enjoyed  in  London,  as  they  are  enjoyed  nowhere  else  in 
ie  world.  Still,  it  may  well  be  questioned,  whether,  on 


512  ENGLAND. 

such  an  unwieldy  extension  of  one  city  is  desirable — whether 
the  disadvantages  do  not  overbalance  the  benefits,  by  a  great 
majority.  It  seemed  to  be  the  opinion  of  those  best  qualified  to 
judge,  with  whom  I  had  an  opportunity  of  conversing,  that  the 
metropolis  was  unfavourable  to  piety.  It  swallows  up  all  the 
salt  that  is  annually  thrown  in  upon  it  from  the  country,  and  still 
it  remains,  to  a  great  extent,  a  putrid  mass.  True,  there  is  a  vast 
amount  of  piety  in  London ;  an  army  of  faithful  ministers  and 
Christians,  of  different  denominations  :  but  it  may  be  a  question, 
whether,  in  spite  of  all  their  effort,  sin  is  not  increasing;  and 
whether  the  proportion  of  the  good  to  the  bad  is  favourably  main- 
tained. Some  public  indications  are  certainly  very  unfavourable. 
At  the  head  of  these,  are  the  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  and  intem- 
perance. The  Sabbath  is  worse  kept,  by  far,  in  London,  than  in 
any  other  town  I  visited  in  the  British  isles.  Many  shops  are 
open  in  some  parts  of  the  town ;  and  in  one  place  I  noticed  a 
public  market  on  the  Sabbath  morning,  where  the  streets  were 
crowded  with  noisy  customers.  During  our  first  residence  in, 
London,  in  the  fall  of  1835,  we  lodged  in  Drury  Lane,  not  far 
from  the  noted  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  and  when  we  went  out  to 
go  to  public  worship,  on  Sabbath  morning,  we  generally  found 
the  sidewalks  and  lanes  filled,  for  the  most  part,  with  a  low, 
squalid  population,  of  both  sexes,  whose  vulgar  and  profane  lan- 
guage showed  that  the  Sabbath  was  by  them  no  otherwise 
remembered  or  regarded,  than  as  a  day  of  greater  relaxation,  for  the 
freer  indulgence  of  licentiousness  and  sin.  These  scenes  are,  of 
course,  limited  to  certain  sections ;  and,  on  the  great  wThole,  the 
Lord's  day  is  much  better  observed,  even  in  London,  than  in  most 
cities  on  the  continent.* 

Something  may  be  inferred,  (especially  in  Protestant  countries, 
where  there  are  not  generally  more  places  of  public  worship  than 
are  occupied,)  of  the  religious  turn  of  the  people,  by  the  number 
of  places  of  public  worship,  compared  with  the  population.  The 
number  of  places  of  public  worship  in  London,  all  told,  do  not  much 

*  It  cannot  but  be  deeply  regretted,  that  persons  high  in  office,  and  that  public 
regulations,  sanction  the  violation  of  the  Sabbath.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  used  to 
hold  cabinet  meetings  on  Sunday,  until  public  opinion  put  them  down.  The  Tower 
is  open  to  the  public  on  Sundays,  and  great  crowds  frequent  it.  The  Postoffice,  how- 
ever, in  all  its  branches,  is— to  the  honour  of  the  British  Government— closed  on  the. 
Lord's  day. 


INTEMPERANCE-  5t3 

exceed  five  hundred.*  Now,  supposing  these  houses,  on  an  aver- 
age, accommodate  one  thousand  persons  each — which  is  probably 
a  large  calculation  for  the  actual  worshippers — we  have  but  one 
third  of  the  population,  who  attend  upon  public  worship  on  the 
Lord's  day.  And,  if  we  make  the  very  liberal  allowance  of  one 
third,  who  from  age,  infirmity,  and  occasional  necessary  absence, 
cannot  attend,  we  have  still  one  third  of  the  population  of  Lon- 
don who  might  attend  worship,  but  who  do  not ;  to  which  add 
one  half  of  the  preceding  third,  and  we  have  one  half  of  ths 
inhabitants  of  London  who  are  living  like  heathens  in  a  Christian 
land.  This  calculation,  I  have  no  doubt,  is  more  favourable  than 
would  be  found  true  on  actual  inspection.  What  a  mass  of  moral 
death  is  here  !  Seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls  in  one 
town,  who  are  not  brought  under  the  means  of  grace  !  To  say 
nothing  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  who,  for  form's  sake,  for 
state  purposes,  and  other  causes,  attend  worship,  statedly  or  oc- 
casionally, who  are  not  only  not  truly  pious,  but  many  of  whom 
are  most  licentious  and  corrupt. 

Intemperance  is  another  most  unlovely  and  unpromising  feature 
of  the  metropolis.  Indeed,  this  may  be  said  of  the  whole  ©f  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  For,  as  yet,  but  little,  comparatively,  has 
been  done  in  these  countries,  to  check  the  fearful  progress  of  this 
vice.  The  intemperance  of  the  metropolis,  however,  is,  I  think, 
of  a  more  hopeless  character  than  that  of  the  provincial  towns  and 
villages.  Among  the  latter,  the  lower  classes,  for  the  most  part, 
drink  strong  beer ;  but  in  London  they  add  to  this  a  free  use  of  gin. 

They  have  numerous  large  and  splendid  establishments  which 
they  call  gin  palaces.  Here  the  work  of  death  goes  on  by  the 
wholesale.  The  custom  is  so  great  that  the  very  drippings  from 
the  glasses,  all  of  which  are  saved  by  lattice-work  counters  and 
large  trays  underneath,  are  sufficient,  it  is  said,  to  pay  the  clerks 
who  wait  upon  the  customers.  I  stopped  at  the  door  of  one  of 
these  palaces  one  evening  on  Holborn  Hilly  and  took  out  my 
watch  to  see  how  many,  in  a  given  time,  passed  out  of  this  palace 
of  death.  In  nine  minutes  seventy  came  out ;  and  by  that  time 

*  Of  these  churches,  the  denominations  shared,  in  1833,  in  the  following  propor- 
tions :  the  Established  Church,  one  hundred  and  ninety-four  ;  Roman  Catholics,  fif- 
teen ;  foreign  Protestants,  eighteen  ;  Jewish  Synagogues,  six 5  Dissenters  of  various 
kinds,  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight. 

3T 


514  ENGLAND. 

I  saw  there  was  another  door  from  which  others  had  been  passing 
in  and  out  at  the  same  time.  So  I  left  my  post  of  observation,  and 
that  the  more  readily,  because  I  found  my  pocket  had  been  picked 
of  my  handkerchief  while  I  had  been  standing  there  ;  and  I  know 
not  but  they  would  have  had  my  watch,  if  it  had  not  been  in  my 
hand.  I  thought  it  was  time,  therefore,  to  make  my  escape. 
During  my  stay,  however,  I  perceived  that  there  were  more  wo- 
men than  men  who  came  out  of  the  palace.  Their  dress  and  ap- 
pearance were  most  squalid  and  wretched.  Many  of  them  seemed 
to  be  mothers  leading  up  their  children — sometimes  a  young  child 
in  the  arms,  and  another  at  the  side.  These  poor  little  children, 
when  hungry  for  bread,  are  fed  with  whiskey,  and  thus  early 
trained  to  habits  of  intemperance.  Truly  the  time  is  come  when, 
if  a  child  ask  for  bread,  the  parent  gives  him  a  poisonous  serpent. 
*  To  remedy  the  evils  just  alluded  to,  some  exertions  are  made 
by  the  good  people  of  London.  The  ministers  and  members  of 
the  establishment  responding  to  the  call  of  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, and  roused  to  action  by  the  statistical  exhibits  of  Rev.  Bap- 
tist Noel  and  other  good  men,  showing  the  moral  wants  and  re- 
ligious destitution  of  the  metropolis,  have  resolved  upon  raising  a 
large  fund  for  the  erection  of  new  churches  and  the  support  of 
additional  clergymen,  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  people.  The 
Methodists  also,  with  their  accustomed  zeal,  are  preaching  in  the 
streets  and  public  places  to  win  over  to  the  gospel,  if  possible, 
those  who  refuse  to  go  into  the  houses  of  worship  to  hear  it 
preached. 

Some  efforts  are  also  made  in  the  temperance  cause.  But 
these  are  comparatively  few  and  feeble.  The  honest  truth  is, 
the  religious  people  of  England  and  ministers  of  the  gospel  do 
not  generally  enter  into  the  temperance  reformation,  as  they  have 
in  the  United  States.  I  speak  now  of  those  special  and  exclu- 
sive efforts  for  the  suppression  of  intemperance  which  have  occu- 
pied so  much  of  the  attention  of  Christians  and  Christian  ministers 
with  us  for  a  few  years  past.  This  remark,  I  think,  is  more  ap 
plicable  to  the  established  church  and  to  the  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dists, than  to  the  dissenters  generally.  The  Methodist  societies 
plead  that  they  are  a  temperance  body  already,  and  that  any  fur- 
ther organization  and  pledge  than  those  by  which  they  are  bound 
to  their  religious  fraternity,  would  not  only  be  useless  but  self 


INTEMPERANCE.  515 

condemnatory.  Nay,  some  of  them  plead  that  temperance  socie- 
ties and  exclusive  and  direct  temperance  efforts,  are  a  reflection 
upon  the  gospel — implying  that  the  gospel  is  not  sufficient,  without 
other  and  collateral  aids,  to  accomplish  the  great  object  of  public 
moral  reform.  But  few,  therefore,  of  the  preachers  or  people  co- 
operate heartily  in  the  enterprise  ;  and  many,  both  of  ministers  and 
people,  speak  of  the  temperance  society  with  strong  disapprobation. 
One  cause,  perhaps,  for  this,  is  the  ultraism,  which  in  England, 
as  well  as  in  this  country,  has  marked  some  of  the  tem- 
perance measures.  Among  other  causes  that  have  disaffected 
many,  I  heard  it  stated  that  some  of  the  leading  and  most  talented 
men  in  the  Wesleyan  connexion  had  been  publicly  and  most 
offensively  denounced  by  certain  agents  and  editors  in  the  tem- 
perance cause.  In  this  country,  as  in  the  United  States,  this  pub- 
lic exhibition  of  men's  names  and  characters  has  become  too 
fashionable.  A  practice  which  good  feeling,  as  well  as  gentle- 
manly and  Christian  courtesy,  decidedly  forbids.  It  would  seem 
that  certain  subordinate  writers  and  public  declaimers  imagine 
themselves  at  liberty,  in  a  good  cause,  to  deal  out  their  denuncia- 
tions and  censures  against  all  who  follow  not.  with  them.  In  this 
way  they  are  exclaiming,  like  Jehu,  "  Come  and  see  my  zeal  for 
the  Lord,"  when  it  is  more  than  possible,  that,  in  many  cases, 
like  him,  their  zeal  is  more  the  promptings  of  their  own  personal 
ambition  than  of  a  holy  benevolence.  At  any  rate,  this  rash  and 
censorious  zeal  always  justly  renders  the  purity  of  a  man's  mo- 
tives suspected, 

I  do  not  by  this  mean,  however,  to  justify  the  course  which  the 
Wesleyans  and  others  in  England  take  in  reference  to  the  tem- 
perance cause.  I  greatly  lament  and  highly  disapprove  of  this 
course.  I  believe  it  is  founded  in  error,  and  will  be  a  means  of 
retarding  the  great  and  good  work  which  certainly,  with  all  its 
embarrassments,  has  had  an  auspicious  commencement,  and  has 
enlisted  in  its  interests  some  of  the  best  and  most  sanctified  tal- 
ents of  the  nation.  And  why  should  not  all  the  churches  unite 
in  putting  down  this  hydra-monster  which  is  destroying  the  na- 
tion. So  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge,  there  is  no  part  of  the  world 
where  intemperance  prevails  so  fearfully  at  this  moment  as  in 
the  British  isles  ;  and  there  is  no  part  of  the  world  probably, 
where,  if  the  good  people  of  the  country  would  unite  in  it,  so  effi. 


516  ENGLAND, 

cient  a  moral  influence  could  be  brought  to  bear  against  this  evil* 
In  our  own  country  the  universality  of  the  elective  franchise  gives 
such  a  power  to  the  lowest  of  the  people,  and  holds  out  such  a 
temptation  to  the  aspiring  demagogue  to  pander  to  the  appetite 
of  the  dissolute  and  unprincipled,  that,  with  the  same  amount  of 
moral  power  enlisted  on  the  side  of  temperance,  we  cannot  act 
with  half  the  efficiency  and  success  in  this  great  moral  enterprise, 
at  least  in  some  of  its  departments,  as  that  with  which  British 
philanthropists  might  act.  What  a  fearful  amount  of  responsi- 
bility then  do  they  assume  in  neglecting  this,  when  the  gigantic 
evil  is  stalking  over  the  land  and  the  remedy  is  so  obvious. 
Britons  boast  of  their  liberty  and  their  abhorrence  of  slavery,  in- 
somuch that  many  of  them  seek  abroad  to  find  channels  for  the 
exuberance  of  their  philanthropy,  while  at  home  they  have  more 
than  a  half  million  in  the  very  worst  kind  of  slavery  ;  subjecting 
themselves  and  families  to  the  worst  kind  of  suffering,  inevitably 
pressing  the  body  down  to  the  grave  and  the  soul  to  endless  wo, 
and  yet  very  little  special  effort  is  made  for  their  emancipation. 

But  to  return  to  my  remarks  on  London.  It  would,  at  first 
view,  be  supposed  that  the  preservation  of  good  order,  in  so  great 
a  city  as  this,  would  be  extremely  difficult.  This,  however,  is 
not  corroborated  by  experience.  Although  there  are  frequent 
street  rows  in  some  parts,  either  between  men  or  women,  quite 
as  frequent,  I  should  think,  with  the  latter  as  the  former ;  still 
these  are  of  a  very  partial  and  limited  character,  and  are  soon 
terminated  by  the  interposition  of  the  police,  which  is  always  at 
hand,  and  prompt  in  its  interference.  The  present  police  of 
London  is  excellent.  The  credit  of  this  organization  is  due  to 
Sir  Robert  Peel,  and  it  was  established  by  law  in  June,  1829. 
The  following  abridged  statement  of  its  essential  features  may 
not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader  ; — 

"  The  metropolitan  police  extends  to  all  parts  of  the  metropolis 
and  its  vicinity,  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  city,  and  within 
twelve  miles  of  Charing  Cross.  It  supersedes  the  old  watch- 
men, patrols,  street-keepers,  &c.,  by  uniting  all  parochial  police 
authorities.  These  are  placed  under  a  board  of  police,  consisting 
of  three  commissioners,  who  superintend  and  are  responsible  for 
all  acts  of  the  inferior  officers.  This  police  was  commenced  in 
the  parishes  of  Westminster,  September  29,  1829,  and  has  been 


LONDON    POl/TCE.  517 

gradually  extended  to  other  districts.  A  general  police  tax  of  4d. 
in  the  pound,  is  levied  on  all  householders,  to  defray  the  expense. 
The  police  district  is  formed  into  divisions,  varying  in  size,  but 
each  has  the  same  number  of  men  and  officers.  In  each  is  a 
station-house.  Every  division  is  designated  by  a  local  name,  and 
every  man  is  designated  by  a  letter  of  the  alphabet :  every  divi- 
sion is  again  divided  into  eight  sections,  and  each  section  into 
eight  beats, 

*'  The  police  force  consists  of  as  many  companies  as  there  are 
divisions.  Each  company  comprises  one  superintendent,  four 
inspectors,  sixteen  sergeants,  and  one  hundred  and  forty-four 
police  constables.  A  company  is  divided  into  sixteen  parties, 
each  consisting  of  one  sergeant  and  nine  men.  Four  sergeant's 
parties  form  an  inspector's  party.  The  collar  of  each  man's  coat 
is  marked  with  a.  letter  indicating  his  division,  and  a  number  cor- 
responding with  his  name  in  the  book  of  the  office.  The  first 
sixteen  numbers  in  each  division  denote  the  sergeants.  Police 
men  are  required  to  patrol  the  streets,  lanes,  &c.,  of  their  respect- 
ive districts ;  arrest  disturbers  of  the  peace,  house-breakers,  re- 
puted thieves,  and  beggars,  and  preserve  good  order.  They  are 
dressed  in  blue  coats  and  pantaloons,  and  at  night  wear  great  coats. 
Each  man  is  furnished  with  a  cutlass,  a  rattle,  and  a  staff.*  They 
are  constantly  on  duty,  but  more  are  out  during  the  night  than  the 
day." 

This  system  succeeds  so  well,  that  it  is  adopted  by  other  im- 
portant towns  in  the  kingdom,  and  will,  ere  long,  probably,  be 
universal.  Those  selected  for  police  duty,  are  all  youngerly  look- 
ing men,  of  a  fine  and  sober  character,  and  gentlemanly  manners. 
Every  few  rods  you  meet  one  of  them,  whom  you  instantly  recog- 
nise by  his  dress  ;  and  if  you  have  any  occasion  to  make  inquiries 
for  persons  or  places,  he  is  the  man  to  whom  you  should  make 
application,  and  you  are  sure  to  receive  a  civil  and  an  intelligent 
answer.  Their  general  appearance  is  quiet  and  unostentatious. 
To  see  them  moving  about  in  the  city,  you  would  think  they,  ot 
all  men,  had  least  authority  to-  intermeddle  with  the  affairs  of 
others ;  but  if  occasion  require,  you  find  them  very  decided  and 
efficient.  It  produced  on  my  mind  the  most  gratifying  feelings,  to 
contrast  this  unarmed  city-guard,  with  not  even  a  stick  in  their 

hands  to  enforce  their  authority,  with  the  armed  guards  of  the 
*These  they  seldom  carry. 

44 


518  ENGLAND. 

cities  of  the  continent.  It  shows  the  triumph  of  moral  power 
over  physical  force,  and  is  a  practical  refutation  in  one  of  the 
strongest  conceivable  cases,  that  large  masses  of  men  collected 
together  cannot  be  privileged  with  free  institutions. 

Institutions  of  London.  In  noticing  these,  my  attention  was 
first  attracted  to  the  schools  and  seminaries  of  learning.  Among 
these,  the  London  University  and  King's  College  hold  the  highest 
rank.  Both  of  these  have  fine  edifices,  but  are  not  very  flourish- 
ing, except  in  their  preparatory  departments,  and  in  the  medical 
departments.  The  London  University,  however,  may  now  rise, 
perhaps,  in  all  its  departments,  for  during  the  present  summer 
(1836)  a  royal  charter  has  been  granted  to  it,  with  power  to  con 
fer  degrees  in  all  the  departments,  except  Divinity.  This  is  an- 
other step  towards  the  breaking  down  of  the' old  system  of  exclu 
sive  monopolies,  which,  in  many  instances,  has  been  so  detri- 
mental to  the  best  interests  of  the  nation.  Now,  other  denomina- 
tions besides  members  of  the  established  church,  may  receive 
academic  honours. 

For  the  purposes  of  primary  and  general  education,  there  are 
extensive  schools,  where  gratuitous  instruction  is  imparted,  in 
different  parts  of  the  city.  In  the  different  parishes  there  are 
parish  schools,  supported  by  voluntary  contributions,  and  a  great 
many  of  the  Methodist  and  other  dissenting  chapels,  both  here 
in  London  and  in  other  large  towns,  have  schools  connected  with 
them,  for  the  education  of  the  children  of  their  respective  congre- 
gations. Lancasterian  schools  also  are  numerous,  to  which  all> 
without  distinction  of  sects,  are  admitted.* 

The  establishment  of  the  London  University  led  to  the  establish 
ment,  on  the  part  of  the  aristocracy  and  the  high-church  party, 
of  King's  College.  The  same  spirit  of  emulation  and  jealousy 
for  the  national  church  establishment,  led  to  the  institution  of  what 
is  called  the  national  schools,  where  the  creed  and  the  service  of  the 
national  church  are  introduced.  Of  these,  there  are  forty  large 
schools  containing  from  two  hundred  to  one  thousand  pupils  each. 

It  is  computed  that  there  are  sixty-six  thousand  children  edu- 
cated in  the  Sunday-schools  of  the  metropolis.  These  are  from 

*  It  is  said  there  are  at  this  time,  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  not  fewer  than 
three  hundred  of  these  schools  for  boys,  and  one  hundred  for  girls ;  forty-three  of 
these  are  in  London,  in  which  are  educated  twelve  thousand  children  of  both  sexes. 


SCHOOLS.  519 

'vhe  poor  classes  not  otherwise  provided  for.  Thus,  in  addition  to 
their  instruction,  these  poor  children  are  brought  to  attend  reli- 
gious worship,  which  is  a  part  of  the  system ;  where,  otherwise, 
they  might  be  left  without  religious  restraint,  to  roam  in  idleness 
on  the  Sabbath  exposed  to  temptation  and  vice. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  there  are  numerous  schools  of  an- 
cient charter  supported  by  special  endowments.  Among  these,  is 
Christ's  hospital  in  Newgate  street.  It  is  commonly  called  the 
"blue-coat  school,"  from  the  peculiar  dress  which  the  pupils 
wear.  And  here  it  should  be  observed,  that  most  of  the  schools 
existing  under  old  charters  and  old  endowments,  are  required  to 
have  a  prescribed  costume.  You  see  them  in  different  parts  of 
the  kingdom,  with  dresses  so  antiquated,  and  appearing  in  these 
days  so  quaint  and  queer  to  the  eye  of  the  stranger,  that  one  can- 
not well  restrain  his  risibles  at  the  exhibition.  To  see  the  garb  of 
our  great  grandfathers  and  grandmothers,  on  little  boys  and  girls  of 
eight  and  ten  years  of  age,  has  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  ridic- 
ulous. The  "  blue  coats,"  however,  are  peculiar ;  they  are  a 
long  blue  tunic  of  cloth  made  close  to  the  body  down  to  the  waist, 
and  then  descending  loosely  almost  to  the  feet,  and  open  in  front. 
Under  this  coat  is  a  yellow  under-coat  and  yellow  stockings,  with 
drab-coloured  small-clothes,  a  round  flat  worsted  cap,  and  a  leath 
ern  belt  round  the  waist.  This  school  was  originally  founded 
by  Edward  VI.,  and  has  received  subsequent  endowments ;  so 
that  now  twelve  hundred  are  educated  on  the  foundation,  five 
hundred  of  whom,  however,  are  at  ad  establishment  in  Hartford. 
The  Lord  Mayor  and  corporation  of  London  are  the  official  guar- 
dians of  the  institution.  The  right  of  naming  pupils  to  fill  the 
vacancies  as  they  occur,  is  vested  in  different  individuals  and  cor- 
porations. Schools  of  a  similar  character  are  founded  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  kingdom.  As  the  patronage  of  these  schools, 
that  is,  the  right  of  presenting  scholars  to  the  benefits  of  the  insti- 
tutions, vests  either  in  private  individuals  or  in  certain  public  offices 
and  corporations,  there  is  great  room  for  party  and  personal  fa- 
vouritism, so  that  the  benevolent  designs  of  the  original  founders 
are  often  perverted ;  and,  as  the  income  is  sure,  even  though  the 
institution  languish  and  retain  only  a  nominal  existence,  strong 
inducements  to  neglect  have,  in  many  instances,  resulted  in  a 
gross  perversion  of  the  funds  to  the  support  of  sinecures.  To 


520  ENGLAND. 

the  honour  of  the  government,  however,  it  should  be  stated  thai 
these  old  charters  and  the  present  character  of  the  schools  have 
of  late  been,  carefully  examined  and  many  abuses  corrected. 

Among  the  chartered  professional  institutions  of  London,  are 
the  college  of  physicians  and  the  college  of  surgeons.  None  can 
practise  in  these  departments  without  being  fellows  of  the  col-" 
leges  to  which  none  are  admitted  without  having  received  their 
degree  at  one  of  the  universities.  They  both  have  splendid  edi- 
fices, especially  the  former,  which  is  in  Pall  Mall  East — the  lat- 
ter, in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields. 

With  respect  to  the  fine  arts,,  one  is  not  at  first  impressed  by 
what  he  sees  in  London  that  the  English  are  very  great  patrons 
of  these,  especially  after  having  visited  the  continent,  for  the  rea- 
son that  there  are  no  splendid  national  galleries  or  public  collec- 
tions, as  in  the  principal  cities  of  continental  Europe.  Still  a 
further  acquaintance  will  show  that  there  is  much  attention  paid 
to  these  subjects  by  the  English  nobility  and  gentry.  The  pal- 
aces and  noble  seats  of  England  contain  a  great  number  of  pie 
tures  by  the  first  artists,  and  not  a  few  of  fine  specimens  of  stat 
nary.  In  the  higher  classes,  there  is  a  sufficiency  of  taste  and  m 
terest  in  these  works.  I  cannot  but  believe,  from  all  the  existing 
facts  and  from  past  history,  that  there  is  danger  of  carrying  this 
taste  to  excess  ;  and  if  the  British  government  has  not  spent  mill- 
ions on  the  fine  arts  from  the  public  treasure,  but  left  these  more 
to  the  private  patronage  of  individuals,  it?  may  be-  that  the-  nation 
is  on  the  whole  the  richer  arid  the  happier  on  that  account ;  and  cer- 
tainly what  show  there  is  in  these  departments  by  private  patron- 
age, is  not  of  forced  aiad  factitious  growth,  but  the  promptings  of 
a  spontaneous  taster.  There  are  in  the  metropolis  numerous  coL- 
lections  of  the  fine  ants.  The  Royal  Academy,  founded  1768,  of 
which  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  was  the  first  president,  and  our  coun- 
tryman Benjamin  West  the  second,  is  well  known.  The  rooms 
of  this  society  are  at  the  Somerset  House,  where  there  is  an  an- 
nual exhibition,  of  only  the  new  works  never  before  exhibited, 
from  May  till  July.  I  cannot  say  that  the  exhibition  this  year 
(1836)  gave  me  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  skill  of  the  present 
artists  in  England.  There  were  many  of  the  productions  of  nov 
ices,  apparently,  but  there  were  but  few,  if  any,  foum&and  touches 
worthy  of  the  great  masters.. 


BRITISH    MUSEUM.  521 

The  various  literary,  philosophical,  and  scientific  societies  are 
too  numerous  to  be  mentioned  here  ;  and  those  that  are  the  most 
worthy  of  attention,  are  too  well  known  in  the  United  States  to 
require  a  notice.  Their  number  is  increasing  with  the  advance- 
ment of  science  and  the  increase  of  the  city.  The  same  remarks 
will  apply,  and  perhaps  with  greater  force,  to  the  benevolent  in- 
stitutions of  London — its  various  charitable  associations — its 
hospitals — its  missionary  and  Bible  societies.  Many  of  these 
have  made  themselves  known  to  the  remote  corners  of  the  earth 
by  their  out-bearing  and  far-stretching  rays  of  light  and  love,, 
while  others,  in  a  more  circumscribed  sphere,  are  combating 
with  darkness  and  suffering  at  home — darkness  and  suffering 
which,  strange  and  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  are  abundantly 
generated  and  matured  in  the  grand  radiating  centre  of  light  and 
benevolence. 

There  is,  perhaps,  nothing  in  London  which  presents  such  a 
concentration  of  interest  to  the  intelligent  and  curious  stranger  as 
the  British  Museum.  It  is  a  matchless  collection  of  natural  his- 
tory, antiquities,  and  literature.  The  library  is  made  up  of  six- 
teen different  libraries,  the  last  of  which  was  that  of  George  IV., 
consisting  of  sixty-five  thousand  volumes ;  besides  the  numerous 
additions  by  purchases,  bequests,  donations,  &c.,  which  have 
been  and  still  continue  to  be  made  to  this  noble  institution.  All 
authors  or  publishers,  are  required  to  present  a  copy  of  their  work 
within  a  month  after  publication  to  this  library.  This  of  itself,  in 
such  a  book-making  age  and  in  the  centre  of  such  a  book-making 
nation,  must  constitute  a  most  productive  revenue  to  enrich  these 
literary  treasures. 

Here,  also,  is  a  gallery  of  sculpture  and  antiquities,  and  a  col- 
lection of  curiosities  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Among  the 
Egyptian  antiquities  are  a  sarcophagus,  which  is  said  to  be  the 
tomb  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  the  Portland  vase,  found  in  the 
Monte  del  Grano,  near  Rome,*  and  some  bricks  from  the  walls 
of  Babylon.  Here,  also,  are  the  Elgin  marbles,  so  called,  from 
their  having  been  collected  by  the  Earl  of  Elgin,  while  he  was 
ambassador  at  the  court  of  Constantinople.  They  are  the  sculp- 

*  This  has  its  name  from  the  Duchess  of  Portland,  who  purchased  it  from  Sir  Wil- 
liam Hamilton.  The  vase  is  of  glass,  with  figures  in  relief  of  white  enamel,  and  the 
whole  most  exquisitely  executed.. 

44  3U 


ENGLAND. 

tural  and  architectural  embellishments  of  ancient  Grecian  temples, 
by  that  great  master  in  his  art,  the  unrivalled  Phidias :  and  con 
nected  with  these  are  the  Phygaleian  marbles,  being  specimens 
of  a  still  more  ancient  date,  from   the  temples  of  Apollo,  at 
Phygaleia.. 

The  collections  in  natural  history  are  a  very  extensive  suite  ol 
shells,  minerals,,  and  geological  specimens,  conveniently  arranged 
and  labelled,  in  glass  cases,,  and  a  fine  collection  of  birds,  fishes,  &c 
Around  the  great  hall^  containing  the  minerals,  is  a  great  number 
of  ancient  portraits  of  persons  celebrated  in  British  history, 

We  were  requested  to  enter  our  names  in  a  book  kept  for  the 
purpose,  in  a  little  room  near  the  entrance,  and  here,  in  a  glass 
ease,  we  were  shown  the  original  copy  of  the  Magna  Chart®. 
The  number  of  annual  visitors  to  this  museum  is  about  one  hun- 
dred thousand. 

In  mentioning  some  of  the  localities,  edifices,  and  public  works 
of  London,  I  must  necessarily  be  very  partial  and  brief.  A  few, 
however,  will  be  touched  upon. 

The  Colosseum,  so  called,  after  the  splendid  amphitheatre  of 
Titus  at  Rome,  is-  a  large  edifice  in  Regent's  Park,  four  hundred 
feet  in  circumference,  having  a  portico  of  seventy-five  feet,  and  a 
glass  cupola  one  hundred  and  twelve  feet  from  the  ground.  Con- 
nected with  this  are  several  artificial  curiosities,  well  calculated 
to  amuse  the  spectator :  such  a&  a  marine  grotto  or  cavern,  ap- 
parently formed  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  ;  a  beautiful  fountain, 
with  a  splendid  jet-$eau ;  a  Swiss  cottage,  with  water-falls,  a 
lake,  &c.,  and  a  custode,  in  the  Swiss  costume,  to  point  out  the 
curiosities  of  the  place  ;  conservatories  of  exotic  and  rare  plants, 
&c.  But  the  most  interesting  object  here,  is  the  grand  panorama 
of  London,  painted  upon  a  surface  of  forty-six  thousand  square 
feet  of  canvass.  It  is,  doubtless,  the  most  magnificent  thing  of 
the  kind  in  the  world.  It  is  a  representation  of  London,  as  it 
appears  from  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's.  The  artist,  in  fact,  copied 
\t  from  reality,  by  spending  years  at  his  stupendous;  enterprise,  on» 
ihe  top  of  St.  Paul's.  You  ascend  up  the  dome  of  the  Colosseum,, 
as  if  you  were  going  up  the  dome  of  that  cathedral,  and  go  out  on. 
successive  galleries,  one  above  another,  from  each  of  which  you 
have  views  of  the  city,  perfectly  answering  to  the  reality,  as  seei* 
from  different  altitudes.  The  streets  and  lanes- — the  public 


REGENT'S  PARK.  523 

squares,  churches,  and  other  public  edifices — the  river,  the 
bridges,  the  curling  smoke,  from  the  tens  of  thousands  of  chim- 
neys, the  thronging  crowds  in  the  streets,  markets,  and  other 
public  places,  with  the  various  carriages,  and  different  costumes,  all 
lie  out  before  you,  and  beneath  your  in  the  most  perfect  represent- 
ation of  the  scene  conceivable ;  while  the  sky  above  your  head, 
with  the  passing  clouds  and  gathering  smoke,  complete  the  illu- 
sion. There  was  nothing  in  the  whole  exhibition  that  would  lead 
the  uninitiated  spectator  to  suspect  any  illusion,  except  some 
streaks  in  the  sky  and  clouds,  that  look  as  though  small  cords 
had  been  drawn  over  the  cerulean  canopy ;  or  I  would  say,  more 
naturally  and  familiarly,  the  appearance  was  as  though  there  were 
cracks  in  the  sky.  This,  I  suppose,  must  be  owing  to  some 
cracks  in  the  canvass,  after  its  completion.  To  carry  out  the 
representation,  London  appears,  in  this  panoramic  view,  just  as 
it  is  seen  in  reality,  at  different  times,  from  St.  Paul's.  If  it  is  a 
dark,  smoky  day,  of  which  there  are  not  a  few  in  the  British 
metropolis,  the  appearance  of  the  panorama  will  be  smoky  and 
obscure,  for  the  reason,  that  the  light  by  which  the  picture  is 
viewed,  is  the  light  of  London ;  hence  the  exhibition  is  more 
perfect  here  than  it  would  be  elsewhere. 

Near  this,  at  the  northeast  part  of  Regent's  Park,  are  the  Zoo- 
logical Gardens,  containing  by  far  the  most  extensive  collection 
of  living  animals,  of  all  classes  and  of  all  countries,  that  we  saw 
in  Europe  ;  all  of  them  placed,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  a  condi- 
tion corresponding  with  their  natural  state.  The  amphibious 
animals  have  a  lake  of  water  for  their  indulgence  ;  the  tropical 
birds  and  quadrupeds  have  an  artificial  temperature  suited  to  their 
habits  :  and  so  of  the  rest. 

In  visiting  the  foregoing,  you  are  necessarily  introduced  to  the 
magnificent  parks,  crescents,  porticoes,  mansions,  terraces,  and 
palaces  of  the  west  of  London,  the  seats  and  promenades,  of 
wealth  and  fashion,  of  nobility  and  royalty. 

Regent's  Park,  already  mentioned,  contains  about  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres,  laid  out  in  pleasure-grounds,  and  planted 
with  trees  and  ornamental  shrubs,  adorned  with  water  and  ver- 
dure within,  and  surrounded  by  elegant  edifices  of  varied  and 
classical  architecture.  We  walked  and  rode  around,  surveying 
these  beautiful  grounds  and  splendid  edifices  with  admiration : 


524  ENGLAND. 

but  there  was  one  single  exhibition,  unimportant  in  itself,  but  .SFO 
expressive  of  man's  brief  history  and  frail  nature,  that  it  cast  a 
gloom  over  the  whole  scene,  and  excited  sensations  more  mourn 
fill  than  if  we  were  walking  in  the  midst  of  the  tombs.  It  is 
customary,  when  a  member  of  the  family  dies,  to  hang  out  upon 
the  exterior  wall,  in  the  front  of  the  dwelling,  the  family  crest, 
veiled  in  black,  in  whole  or  in  part,  according  to  the  station  of 
the  deceased  in  the  family.  Here  it  hangs  for,  if  I  mistake  not, 
twelve  months,  a  sad  index  to  all  that  pass  by,  that  death  has 
been  there.  Now,  we  knew,  of  course,  that 

"  Death,  with  equal  step, 
Knocks  at  the  palace  and  the  cottage  gate," 

yet,  to  see  so  frequently  hanging  from  these  splendid  palaces, 
filled  with  wealth  and  beauty,  talent  and  fashion,  these  emblems, 
not  merely  of  man's  mortality,  but  of  his  actual  dissolution,  con- 
trasted so  strongly  with  the  worldliness  of  the  scene  around,  and 
the  probable  worldliness  of  the  inhabitants  within — (for  alas  !  how 
hard  for  the  rich  and  great  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  !)  — the 
rich  and  gorgeous  vision  was  clouded  over  by  the  sombre  shades 
of  the  tomb. 

Hyde  Park  lies  some  distance,  a  little  to  the  west  of  south, 
from  Regent's,  and  is  somewhat  larger.  As  the  latter  is  not  open 
to  the  public — for  the  reason,  it  is  said,  that  the  trees  are  not  yet 
sufficiently  grown — Hyde  Park  is  the  great  promenade.  Here, 
fifty  thousand  are  sometimes  seen  at  one  time  ;  and  especially  is 
it  crowded,  I  am  told,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  Sabbath.  Hackney 
and  stage  coaches  are  excluded  ;  but  with  these  exceptions,  these 
grounds  are  open  to  the  public  from  six  in  the  morning  to  nine  in 
the  evening. 

At  Hyde  Park  Corner,  which  is  at  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
park,  is  Apsley  House,  the  town  residence  of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington. Here  you  pass  out  of  Hyde  Park  under  a  triumphal 
arch,  of  the  Ionic  order,  with  three  archways  for  carriages,  and 
two  for  footmen,  extending  one  hundred  and  seven  feet ;  and  on 
the  opposite  side  of  Piccadilly,  is  another  triumphal  arch  still 
more  magnificent,  opening  into  Green  Park,  and  leading  to  the 
new  palace,  which  is  situated  at  the  farther  extremity  of  Green 
Park,  and  adjoining  St.  James's  Park.  These  two  latter  parks 
would  not,  unitedly,  equal  in  extent  half  of  either  of  the  others  ; 


525 

but  they  are  beautifully  laid  out,  and  ornamented  with  trees  and 
sheets  of  water,  and  surrounded  with  noble  edifices.  In  short, 
the  whole  of  the  court  end  of  London  is  well  built,  elegant,  and 
tolerably  cleanly.  The  «reat  consumption  of  coal  for  fuel,  how- 
ever, and  the  clammy,  bituminous  character  of  the  mud,  prevent 
any  part  of  London's  having  the  character  of  cleanliness  in  wet 
weather ; — that  is,  for  the  most  part  of  the  time  ;  and  the  central 
and  business  parts  of  the  town  are  wretchedly  dirty.  The  labour- 
ing and  common  classes  appear  unwholesome  :  their  clothes-  often 
look  as  though  they  were  glazed  over  with  dirt ;  you  are  con- 
stantly afraid,  as  you  walk  the  crowded  streets,  of  coming  in 
contact  with  bodies,  from  whose  surface  you  might  gain  to  your- 
self, by  the  friction,  some  undesirable  accessions.  This  is,  un- 
doubtedly, owing  to  the  impossibility  of  attending  to  business, 
without  contracting  a  share  of  the  soot,  and  smoke,  and  mud-, 
which  adhere  to  everything  they  touch,  until  at  length  the  people 
become  familiar  with  the  association,  and  as  it  ceases  to  be  offen- 
sive, no  pains  are  taken  to  avoid  it.  The  Londoners  do  not  real- 
ize their  dirt.  They  complain  of  the  filthiness  of  some  of  the 
continental  cities,  especially  the  Italian,  because  their  filth  is  of  a 
different  character  ;  but  they  fancy  Cloacina  has  fled  to  England, 
and  made  London  her  metropolis.  Maybe  so  :  and  perhaps  she 
labours  hard  to  keep  it  clean ;  but  she  evidently  has  more  than 
her  match.  These  remarks,  so  far  as  personal  cleanliness  is  con- 
cerned, of  course,  do  not  apply  with  the  same  force  to  the  more 
respectable  classes.  These  learn,  however,  to  adjust  themselves 
to  their  circumstances,  and  hence  dark  dresses  are  much  more 
common  among  the  ladies  than  with  us ;  and  hence,  too,  when 
they  go  into  the  streets  to  walk,  for  business  or  for  recreation, 
they  dress  much  less  than  our  ladies  are  accustomed  to  do-,  when 
they  walk  out  in  our  large  cities. 

In  miscellaneous  descriptions  of  great  cities,  we  frequently  feel 
the  need  of  some  kind  of  connexion  between  the  different  sub- 
jects, so  as  not  to  make  the  transitions  too  abrupt.  The  foregoing 
remarks  remind  me  forcibly  of  that  noble  structure,  St  Paul's 
Cathedral,  which  stands  as  a  noble,  though  uncleanly,  monument 
of  English  architecture.  I  say  uncleanly,  for  whoever  visits  it, 
will  find  it,  unless,  it  has  improved;  a  fair  illustration  of  what  I 
have  just  said  of  the  filth  of  London.  I  allude  not  now  to  the 


526  ENGLAND. 

sombre  and  smoky  hue  of  its  external  walls,  for  this  cannot  be 
avoided,  and  has  become,  in  fact,  not  only  in  London,  but  in 
England  generally,  to  be  an  architectural  beauty  ;  but  the  interior 
was  excessively  dirty.  The  various  monuments,  which  were,  in 
my  estimation,  generally,  not  of  the  first  order  of  sculpture,  were 
marred  in  their  apparent  proportions,  by  the  accumulated  dust 
that  hung  upon  them  in  such  depth,  that  you  might  have  inscribed 
upon  them  new  epitaphs,  with  no  other  graving  tool  than  your 
finger ;  and  the  stairs  and  passages  were  not  decent  for  a  lady, 
with  a  respectable  dress,  to  pass  over.  They  certainly  take  fees 
enough  of  visiters,  to  keep  it  clean,  for  they  demanded  an  addi- 
tional shilling  of  us  at  almost  every  new  angle  we  turned.  What 
a  contrast  between  this  church  and  the  beautiful  cleanly  churches 
of  Rome  !  In  the  architecture  of  St.  Paul's,  however,  the  spec- 
tator will  find  much  to  admire. 

St.  Paul's,  as  is  generally  known,  was  built  by  Sir  Christopher 
Wren,  on  the  site  of  a  former  cathedral  of  the  same  name,  which 
was  so  injured  by  the  fire  of  1666,  that  it  was  wholly  removed,  to 
make  room  for  this  new  edifice.  It  took  thirty-five  years  to  com- 
plete it.  Its  form  is  a  Greek  cross,  and  is  of  the  following 
dimensions,  viz. :  length,  from  east  to  west,  five  hundred  feet, 
from  north  to  south,  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  feet ;  circuit  of 
the  edifice,  two  thousand,  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  feet.  It  is 
surmounted  by  a  dome,  on  which  rises  a  ball  six  feet  in  diameter, 
and  this  is  surmounted  by  a  cross  thirty  feet  high.  The  style  is 
of  the  Corinthian  and  Composite  orders,  and,  but  that  the  site  is 
too  crowded  and  closed  in  with  other  edifices,  the  exterior  would 
present  a  very  imposing  aspect  from  every  point  of  view.  As  it 
is,  indeed,  the  edifice  has  a  noble  appearance,  and  especially  the 
west  end  fronting  Ludgate  Hill. 

There  are  various  monuments  within  and  about  the  cathedral, 
but  the  finest  of  all  is  the  one  erected  to  the  great  architect  of 
this  edifice,  the  character  of  which  may  be  understood  by  the 
reader,  from  the  following  translation  of  a  Latin  epitaph,  inscribed 
upon  a  slab  over  the  entrance  of  the  choir : — - 

"  Beneath,  lies  Christopher  Wren,  the  architect  of  this  church 
and  city,  who  lived  more  than  ninety  years,  not  for  himself  alone, 
but  for  the  public.  Reader,  do  you  seek  his  monument  ?  Look 
around  /" 


WESTMINSTER    ABBEY.  527 

The  statue  of  Dr.  Johnson  is  said  to  be  the  first  erected  here. 

[ere  are  also  those  of  Howard,  Bacon,  Sir  William  Jones,  Rey- 
nolds, Nelson,  and  many  others.  The  sepulchral  monuments  are 
too  uniform  in  their  designs,  and  the  statuary  generally  did  not 
strike  me  very  favourably.  In  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  church 

Kan  ecclesiastical  library,  and  in  another  various  architectural 
odels,  among  others,  a  great  lantern  which  was  suspended  from 
the  dome,  at  the  funeral  of  Nelson.  The  whispering  gallery  in  the 
dome  is  very  good,  but  not  equal,  I  think,  to  St.  Peter's,  in  Rome. 

The  cathedral  is  open  for  service  three  times  each  day.  It  is 
to  be  feared,  however,  that  these  stated  seasons  for  public  service, 
in  the  English  cathedrals,  are  much  like  the  same  ceremonies  in 
Catholic  churches — -cold  and  formal — exciting  little  attention,  and 
observed  more  in  accordance  with  some  canons  and  ecclesiastical 
usages,  than  from  any  heartfelt  interest.  Few  attend,  and  those 
apparently  from  official  duty  :  like  the  Catholics,  they  have  a 
company  of  little  boys,  in  canonical  dresses,  who  make  the 
responses,  chant,  &c.  Artificial  service  of  this  kind  seems  so  un- 
like the  simple  and  spiritual  worship  of  the  true  Christian  church, 
and  so  much  in  accordance  with  the  pompous  and  heartless  cere- 
monies of  Rome,  that  another  reform  and  expurgation  seem  to  be 
imperiously  required,  to  bring  the  English  church  back  to  the 
simplicity  of  the  gospel.  Even  in  an  ordinary  church,  and  at  the 
regular  Sunday  service,  I  have  seen  a  class  of  the  boys  attached 
to  the  charity  school  of  the  church,  seated  near  the  reading-desk, 
to  perform  the  responses,  much  to  the  relief  of  the  congregation 
generally,  who  seemed  to  feel  themselves  excused  from  the  bur- 
den by  this  substitution  of  the  children. 

Westminster  Abbey  is  of  a  character  very  unlike  St.  Paul's — 
its  architecture  is  Gothic,  and  its  origin  dates  back  to  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.;  although  this,too,  received  its  finishing  touches  from 
Sir  Christopher  Wren.  One  writer  ^expresses  himself  very  per- 
tinently and  descriptive  of  the  realiflBBen  he  says  of  this  edifice 
— "It  appears  as  if  the  artist  had  fl Bded  to  give  to  stone,  the 
character  of  embroidery,  and  enclosBR  walls  within  the  meshes 
of  lace-work."  It  is  spiry,  fretted,  ^Hted,  vaulted,  divided  into 

lapels,  and  filled  with  monuments.^^fcre  most  of  the  sover- 
of  England  have  been  buried,  sir^^the  foundation  of  the 

lurch  up  to  George  II.     The  remains  ofme  subsequent  kings. 


628  ENGLAND. 

viz.,  George  III.  and  George  IV.,  as  well  as  those  of  the  other 
members  of  the  royal  family  of  George  III.,  are  deposited  at 
Windsor,  which  is  henceforth  to  be  the  royal  cemetery. 

Westminster  Abbey  is  milch  better  kept  than  St.  Paul's,  and 
to  the  curious  stranger,  a  place  of  much  greater  interest,  from  its 
historic  associations    and  its  monumental  records.     It  is  rather 
a  monumental  temple,  consecrated  to  eminence  and  genius,  than 
a  temple   of  worship.     So   abundant   and   interesting    are   the 
sepulchral  monuments,  and  so  pre-eminent  in  British  history  are 
the  names  and  characters  of  those  whose  memory  is  here  per- 
petuated and  honoured,  that  the  spectator  is  entirely  absorbed  and 
engrossed  by  the  mementoes  of  human  genius  and  fame.     He  for- 
gets that  he  is  in  the  temple  of  the  Almighty  God,  by  his  imme- 
diate association  with  the  almost  innumerable  and  overwhelming 
reminiscences  of  the  mighty  dead.     Since  the  human  mind  is 
finite   in    its  comprehension,  I   know   not  that  the  spectator  is 
to  be  blamed  for  this  state  of  mind  in  such  circumstances ;  but 
whether  it  is  not  reprehensible  to  convert  the  temple  of  worship 
into  a  monumental  depot  and  registry  of  human  mortality,  and 
human  character,  is  a  thought  worthy  of  more  attention  than  it 
seems  to  have  received.     In  such  an  edifice,  however,  as  West- 
minster Abbey,  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  many  mausolea,  and 
the  place  of  worship  still  be  free.     Henry  the  Seventh's  chapel 
has  been  recently  repaired,  (from  1809  to  1822,)  at  the  public 
expense  of  about  fifty  thousand  pounds,  under  the  direction  of 
James  Wyatt.     Here  are  many  royal  monuments.     In  Edward 
the  Confessor's  chapel  is  the  celebrated  stone  taken  by  Edward 
the  First  from  Scone,  in  Scotland,  in  1 267,  which  was  thought  to 
be  the  identical  Jacob's  pillar,  on  which  the  patriarch  rested  his 
head.     It  is  said  the  Scotch  made  great  efforts  to  regain  this  stone, 
and  when  they  could  not  succeed  they  became  reconciled  to  the 
union  of  the  two  kingdoms,  in  consequence  of  the  following 
distich,  which  had  been  inscribed  upon  it  by  King  Kenneth : — 

Where'er  this  stone  is  found  (or  fate's  decree  is  vain) 

The  Scots  the  same  shall  hold,  and  there  supremely  reign.* 

The  chapel  of  St.  John  and  St.  Michael,  has  a  splendid  monument 
to  Lady  Nightingale,  by  Roubiliac.     The  workmanship  is  beau- 

*  Which  seems  to  have  been  fulfilled  in  the  fact  that  the  heir  of  the  Scotch  throne 
became  also  the  heir  and  king  of  England. 


WESTMINSTER    ABBEY.  529 

tiful,  and  the  design  is  the  most  expressive  of  anything  of  the  kind 
I  ever  saw.  She  is  sitting  above  a  tomb,  out  of  which  Death,  with 
his  naked  skeleton,  is  issuing ;  and  reaching  up  with  his  long  fin- 
gers, he  aims  a  dart  at  her  breast :  but  the  husband,  with  intense 
anxiety  and  vigilance,  stands  by  her  like  a  guardian  angel,  and 
wards  off  the  blow.  Comment  and  paraphrase  on  this  consum 
mate  monumental  composition,  are  impossible  ;  the  beholder  has 
thoughts  and  feelings  that  can  never  be  put  into  words.  The  ten- 
derness of  conjugal  love,  the  relentlessness  of  Death,  the  exposure 
to  his  shafts,  of  loveliness  and  beauty,  the  temporary  protection 
we  sometimes  enjoy  from  the  care  and  kindness  of  friends,  and, 
finally,  the  triumph  of  the  skeleton  king,  in  bringing  down  this 
lovely  victim  to  his  palace  of  bones,  the  great  charnel-house  of 
death,  all  stand  out,  in  this  pantomimic  drama  of  monumental 
marble,  in  indescribable  force  and  pathos.  There  are  many  other 
fine  monuments  in  this  chapel ;  but  the  great  concentration  of  in- 
terest is  in  the  Poets  Corner — so  called,  because  here  are  the 
monuments  of  the  great  and  illustrious  family  of  the  British 
Poets.  But  in  this  department  I  cannot  begin  to  mention  names 
and  individual  monuments.  Here  are  Chaucer  and  Spencer  and 
Prior,  Dryden,  Cowley  and  Milton,  Gray,  Johnson,  Goldsmith, 
and  a  host  of  others,  whose  works  are  to  them  more  enduring 
and  more  honourable  monuments  than  the  sculptured  marble. 
Many  of  these  have  very  appropriate  designs  and  epitaphs  ;  among 
others,  the  facetious  poet,  John  Gay,  has  the  following,  written 
by  himself : — 

w  Life  is  a  jest,  and  all  things  show  it; 
I  thought  so  once,  and  now  I  know  it." 

Not  so — by  this  time  he  has  doubtless  discovered  that  life  is  a 
momentous  reality  :  short,  it  is  true,  but  pregnant  with  future  and 
eternal  consequences  !  What  an  imposition  upon  the  living,  and 
what  an  insult  to  the  dead,  is  such  an  epitaph  ! 

Many  heroes  and  statesmen  have  also  their  sepulchral  monu- 
ments or  cenotaphs  here.  Among  others  is  that  of  Major  Andre, 
who  was  condemned  and  executed  as  a  spy  during  our  revolu- 
tionary war,  being  concerned  in  the  treasonable  negotiations  of  the 
infamous  Arnold.  Britannia  is  represented  as  mourning  over  his 
fate.  So  honourable  is  it  to  have  a  mausoleum  in  Westminster 

Ibbey,  that  the  great  Nelson,  on  the  eve  of  one  of  his  most  im- 
., 


530  ENGLAND. 

portant  naval  battles,  gave  out,  as  the  rallying  watchword  and 
motto,  "  Victory  or  Westminster  Abbey  /" 

This  church,  in  its  greatest  length,  including  Henry  the  Sev- 
enth's chapel,  is  five  hundred  and  thirty  feet ;  greatest  breadth, 
three  hundred  and  seventy-five  ;  height  of  the  highest  towers,  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five. 

Of  the  other  churches,  I  cannot  speak  in  detail.  More  than  forty 
are  still  standing  in  London,  which  were  built  by,  or  after  the 
designs  of,  Sir  Christopher  Wren. 

The  places  of  worship  for  dissenters  and  Catholics,  are  called 
chapels.  Some  of  these  are,  not  only  in  London,  but  all  through 
the  kingdom,  well  built ;  and  they  are  more  numerous,  taken  alto- 
gether, by  more  than  one  hundred,  than  the  churches  of  the 
establishment.  The  one  which  most  interested  me,  was  the  City 
Road  Chapel,  built  by  Mr.  Wesley,  and  this  chiefly  by  its  asso- 
ciations and  monuments.  Here  the  great  Wesley  preached,  and 
here  his  mortal  remains  are  deposited,  as  also  those  of  several 
others  of  the  most  eminent  Wesleyans  of  England.  In  this 
chapel  are  chaste  and  beautifully  designed  and  executed  monu- 
ments to  John  Wesley,  Charles  Wesley,  Dr.  Clarke,  Mr.  Watson, 
and  others,  with  appropriate  epitaphs.  Mr.  Wesley's  tomb  is  in 
the  chapel-yard,  surrounded  by  an  iron  balustrade,  and  Dr.  Clarke's 
close  by,  in  the  same  form  and  with  a  similar  enclosure.  This 
has  occasioned  some  unpleasant  feelings,  especially  as  the  doc- 
tor's tomb  is  so  near  as  to  leave  no  passage  between  them,  and 
seriously  to  embarrass  the  reading  of  the  inscription  on  the  prox- 
imate side  of  Mr.  Wesley's  tomb.  Hence  some  have  said,  that 
there  is  an  appearance  of  a  design  not  only  to  exhibit  the  doctor 
as  the  equal  of  Mr.  Wesley  in  evel*y  respect,  but  also  of  eclipsing 
him  by  obscuring  his  monument  with  the  juxtaposition  of  the 
doctor's  rival  mausoleum.  It  can  hardly  be  supposed  that  there 
was  any  design  of  this  kind,  whatever  may  be  the  appearances ; 
but  the  altercations  that  have  arisen  from  this  cause,  added  to 
some  jealousies  that  existed  in  the  lifetime  of  Doctor  Clarke,  have 
produced  very  unpleasant  feelings  on  both  sides.  It  is  much  to 
be  regretted  that  these  great  and  good  men — both  prominent  in 
their  respective  spheres  ;  both,  while  living,  contributing,  though 
not  equally,  yet  eminently,  to  the  advancement  of  the  same  com- 
mon and  holy  cause — should,  in  death,  be  the  innocent  occasion  of 


THE    TOWER.  531 

heart-burnings  and  discord.  It  is  not  their  fault.  While  they 
were  contemporaries,  they  lived  and  labored  in  unison  as  an  obe- 
dient son  with  an  affectionate  father.  In  death,  their  bodies  sleep 
together  in  peaceful  fraternity,  and  their  spirits  doubtless  are 
united  in  the  paradise  of  God. 

It  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  dwell  upon  the  particular  local- 
ities of  London.  I  ought,  however,  perhaps  briefly,  to  notice  the 
Tower  and  a  few  other  places  of  note  in  the  city.  The  Tower  was 
originally  built  to  keep  the  city  in  awe ;  it  afterward  became  a 
royal  residence,  and,  subsequently,  a  royal  prison ;  and  it  is  also 
used  for  a  royal  arsenal  and  a  place  of  deposite  for  the  regalia  of 
the  British  sovereigns.  The  site  comprehends  twelve  acres,  sur- 
rounded by  a  ditch  and  a  high  wall,  close  by  the  left  bank  of  the 
Thames.  There  are  in  two  rooms  arms  for  thirty  thousand  sol- 
diers ;  in  addition  to  this,  there  are  several  other  rooms  of  armour 
and  a  great  quantity  of  heavy  ordnance  for  the  royal  artillery. 
The  armour  is  tastefully  arranged  in  a  variety  of  figures,  monu- 
ments and  military  trophies.  There  is  in  fact  much  here  to 
gratify  the  curiosity  of  the  stranger ;  at  the  same  time  it  must  ex- 
cite painful  reflections  on  the  character  of  man,  and  the  constitu- 
tion of  society,  which  have  made  the  work  of  death  a  science,  and 
a  preparation  for  human  slaughter  a  principal  feature  in  the  policy 
of  human  government. 

Among  other  curiosities  of  this  kind,  is  a  room  filled  with 
Asiatic  armour.  Here  are  the  arms  of  Tippoo  Saib,  and  other 
eastern  princes,  together  with  many  military  trophies,  and  the 
spoils  of  the  Spanish  Armada.  In  another  room  is  a  collection 
of  armour  of  the  age  of  chivalry,  both  for  the  horse  and  his  rider. 
In  an  apartment  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  are  effigies 
of  horses  mounted  by  knights,  arranged  in  chronological  order, 
armed  cap-a-pie,  each  wearing  the  particular  costume  of  the  age 
in  which  he  lived,  and  bearing  his  appropriate  arms ;  and  over 
each  waves  a  banner,  on  which  are  recorded  the  name,  rank,  and 
period  of  the  hero  beneath.  It  is  a  magnificent  display,  and  con- 
veys at  once  a  better  idea  of  this  ancient  armour,  and  the  method 
of  wearing  it,  than  can  possibly  be  obtained  by  the  most  careful 
description.  It  is  said,  the  armour  of  every  kind  in  this  arsenal, 
is  sufficient  to  arm  two  hundred  thousand  men. 

The  jewel  office  contains  a  magnificent  array  of  brilliants,  dis- 


532  ENGLAND. 

played  within  enclosures  of  plate  glass,  lighted  by  six  splendid 
Argand  lamps.  These  throw  a  dazzling  light  upon  the  crowns 
and  sceptres  and  other  regal  toys,  to  the  number  of  about  forty, 
which  lie  there  in  state,  to  astonish  beholders.  Here,  as  chief 
among  the  royal  diadems,  sits  the  unrivalled  crown  of  the  ex- 
travagant George  IV.  Its  value  is  inestimable.  It  is  arched 
with  diamonds,  frosted  with  brilliants,  having  in  the  centre,  on 
the  one  side,  a  peculiar  sapphire  stone  of  a  deep  azure  colour, 
and  on  the  other,  the  rock  ruby,  worn  by  Edward  the  Black 
Prince,  and  by  Henry  V.  at  the  battle  of  Agincourt ;  around  the 
base  of  the  diadem  is  a  fillet  of  large  pearls,  interspersed  with 
diamonds,  emeralds,  rubies,  and  amethysts,  of  varied  size  and 
brilliancy.  What  were  all  these  to  the  proud  and  prodigal  prince, 
at  that  moment,  when,  in  the  last  agonies  of  life,  he  called  for  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  exclaimed,  as  his-  deathless  spirit  flut- 
tered on  his  lips,  "  O  God  !  is  this  death  ! " 

The  river  Thames  is  spanned  by  six  bridges,  of  whieh  two 
are  cast  iron,  and  the  others  of  stone.  The  most  splendid  is  the 
Waterloo,  which  is,  in  fact,  the  most  magnificent  work  of  the 
kind  I  ever  saw.  Its  length,  including  the  abutments,  is  one 
thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  being  the  longest  of  the 
six.  The  others  do  not,  in  general,  come  up  to  one  thousand 
feet.  But  the  most  magnificent  enterprise,  for  crossing  the 
Thames,  is  the  Tunnel,  which,  although  commenced  in  1824,  has 
been  completed  to  but  little  more  than  half  the  distance,  the 
whole  of  which  is  computed  at  thirteen  hundred  feet.  There  i« 
no  reason,  however,  to  apprehend  that  it  will  require  an  equal 
length  of  time  to  complete  the  undertaking.  Past  experience 
enables  them  to  prosecute  the  work  with  greater  facility,  and  has 
taught  them  to  secure  it,  as  they  advance,  with  greater  safety. 
After  the  river  broke  into  the  Tunnel  in  1827  and  'S,  the  works 
were  suspended  for  seven  years  ;  they  have  been  recommenced, 
however,  with  renewed  vigour,  and  will,  it  is-  confidently  expected, 
be  prosecuted  to  their  completion,  with  but  little  danger  of  another 
rupture.  The  possibility  of  the  speedy  completion  of  this  enterprise 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  the  first  four  hundred  feet  were 
excavated,  and  the  arches  completed,  in  two  and  a  half  months.* 

*  Since  writing  the  above,  I  learn  that  there  has  been,  another  irruption  of  wate$j 
without  any  loss  of  life,  however  ;  and  it  is  hoped  it  will  not  long  impede  the  work* 
men. 


THE  TUNNEL.  533 

The  excavation  is  thirty-eight  feet  in  breadth,  and  twenty-two 
feet  and  six  inches  in  height ;  and  this  is  filled  with  brick  ma- 
sonry, with  the  exception  of  two  archways  for  the  passage  of 
carriages  each  way,  with  a  sidewalk  for  footmen.  A  perspective 
view  of  these  arches  may  be  seen  in  the  accompanying  plate ;  as 
also  a  view  of  the  shield,  which  protects  the  works  as  they 
advance.  This  is  a  strong  iron  frame,  in  the  different  cham- 
bers of  which  the  workmen  stand  to  prosecute  the  work  of 
excavation  and  masonry — the  frame  being  moved  up  as  soon  as 
an  entire  section  is  completed. 

The  Tunnel  was  commenced  by  sinking  a  shaft  on  the  right 
bank,  or  Surry  side  of  the  river,  sixty-three  feet  in  depth.  The 
excavation  gently  declines  to  the  centre  of  the  river,  where  the 
base  is  seventy-six  feet  below  highwater  mark.  At  the  horizontal 
shaft  is  a  steam-engine,  for  pumping  out  the  water  and  elevating 
the  earth.  The  arches,  when  we  visited  them,  were  perfectly 
dry,  and  brilliantly  illuminated  by  gas-lights  ;  and  from  anything 
we  saw,  or  heard,  or  felt,  we  should  not  have  supposed  that  we 
were  in  a  sub-undarian  grotto,  with  a  navigable  river  rolling  its 
swelling  tides  over  our  heads,  and  bearing  upon  its  bosom  the 
merchandise  of  the  world ; — yet  so  it  was,  and  the  thoughts  of 
our  situation,  at  that  moment,  were  of  thrilling  interest.  When 
the  horizontal  portion  of  the  Tunnel  shall  have  been  completed, 
the  excavations  will,  of  course,  be  extended  at  either  end,  so  far 
as  to  make  the  descent  and  ascent  easy  and  pleasant ;  and  then, 
with  the  arches  lighted,  I  see  not  why  this  will  not  be  as  com- 
modious and  advantageous  a  passage  across  the  Thames  as  any 
of  the  bridges :  and  as  it  is  two  miles  below  London  bridge, 
which  is  the  lowest  of  the  existing  bridges,  and  below  which  none 
can  be  constructed,  on  account  of  the  obstruction  to  the  immense 
navigation  of  the  river,  it  must  form  a  very  important  and  advan- 
tageous thoroughfare  for  the  increasing  and  already  extended 
population  and  business  of  that  part  of  the  town.  At  the  same 
time  it  will  exhibit  a  stupendous  and  wonderful  monument  of 
human  industry  and  skill. 

We  procured  in  the  Tunnel  a  dioramic  representation  of  this 
extraordinary  work,  which  presents  to  the  spectator  as  perfect  a. 
view  of  the  interior,  as  though  he  stood  by  Mr.  Brunei's  steam* 
45 


534  ENGLAND 

engine,  at  the  bottom  of  his  perpendicular  shaft,  looking  down 
the  illuminated  arches  of  the  Tunnel. 

There  are  two  sweeps  in  the  Thames  through  London,  in  op- 
posite directions,  somewhat  resembling  the  letter  S,  save  that  the 
upper  bend  is  much  bolder  and  deeper  than  the  lower.  The 
latter,  however,  is  sufficiently  large  to  give  place,  in  the  arch,  for 
the  spacious,  splendid  docks  that  accommodate  the  larger  ship- 
ping, secure  from  the  ebbs  and  floods  of  the  tide,  in  the  heart  of 
a  populous  section  of  the  town.  These  docks  will  accommodate 
altogether,  perhaps,  two  thousand  vessels  at  one  time.  Besides 
these,  the  quays,  and  the  wharfs,  and  the  channel  itself,  are  con 
stantly  full. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THE  new  Parliament  House  is  not  yet  finished.  The  tempo- 
rary rooms  in  which  the  Parliament  now  meets,  were  formerly 
the  Chapel  of  St.  Stephen.  No  one  is  admitted  without  a  mem- 
ber'}s  order,  which,  by  the  interposition  of  a  friend,  I  was  fortunate 
enough  to  obtain  at  the  door,  from  Mr.  Buxton,  the  prominent 
and  influential  advocate  of  West  India  emancipation.  I  had  the 
privilege  of  hearing  the  principal  speakers  of  the  house,  but  none 
of  them  in  their  most  elaborate  and  weighty  discussions.  One 
evening,  when  I  was  present,. Mr.  Spring  Rice  was  carrying  a 
bill  through  the  house,  for  the  reduction  of  the  newspaper  tax. 
He  managed  the  subject  with  a  good  deal  of  tact  and  skill — with 
complete  self-possession ;  he  was  prepared  to  ward  off  every  attack, 
or  adjust  himself  to  the  exigences  of  the  case.  Sir  Robert  Peel 
was  the  finest  speaker  I  heard  on  the  floor.  His  person  is  good, 
his  voice  fine,  his  conception  clear,  and  his  elocution  persuasive 
and  winning.  Everything  about  Sir  Robert  Peel  is  preposses- 
sing. As  a  statesman,  he  may  have  made  some  mistakes,  but 
probably  fewer  than  most  men ;  and  for  honesty  of  purpose,  ex- 
tensiveness  of  practical  knowledge,  chastened  liberality  of  views, 


I  ;  M    ti  I      ti   | 


0  CONNELL.  535 

and  sound  common  sense,  he  is  probably  a  safer  man  to  direct 
the  councils  of  the  British  government,  than  any  other  man  now 
prominent  in  the  national  councils.  The  appearance  of  O'Connell 
is  that  of  a  clown ;  his  hair  is  bushy,  his  features  coarse,  his 
neck  short,  and  his  head  is  drawn  into  his  coat  collar.  From  hia 
appearance,  I  would  readily  take  him  for  a  boxer,  but  never  for 
a  statesman.  Lord  John  Russell,  who  now  leads  the  ministerial 
part  of  the  house,  is  a  small,  inferior-looking  man,  although  there 
is  some  shrewdness  apparent  in  his  countenance.  He  may  be  a 
managing  politician,  but  nothing  that  he  has  ever  done  indicates 
any  extraordinary  intellectual  powers,  or  great  statesmanship. 
His  family,  and  the  peculiar  state  of  the  public  mind,  have,  pro- 
bably, given  him  a  prominency  which,  under  other  circumstances, 
he  would  never  have  gained.  The  Bedford  family  (for  Lord 
John  is  the  son  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford)  have  always  been 
stanch  whigs ;  and  now  that  the  popular  party  is  in  the  ascend- 
ant, it  is  natural  that  so  wealthy  and  .honourable  a  family,  if  it 
can  furnish  a  respectable  man,  should  have  a  commanding  influ- 
ence in  the  national  councils.  The  state  of  political  parties  is  at 
this  time  very  unfavourable  to  a  comfortable  and  a  profitable  ad 
ministration  of  public  affairs.  The  party  favourable  to  popular 
rights  is  divided.  The  smaller  fraction,  with  Mr.  O'Connell  of 
Ireland,  Mr.  Hume  of  Scotland,  and  some  others,  to  lead  the  way, 
are  thorough-going  radicals,  and  would,  probably,  if  they  could 
have  their  way,  break  up  the  very  foundations  of  the  ancient 
order,  and  drive  the  car  of  reform  so  rapidly  as  to  jeopardize  the 
state.  Mr.  O'Connell's  main  object  seems  to  be  his  own  aggran- 
dizement, through  the  influence  of  the  Catholics  of  Ireland. 
Without  wealth  to  carry  on  his  plans,  he  is  supported  by  O'Cew- 
nell  pence — a  tax  imposed  upon  all  the  Irish  party,  to  sustain 
their  leader — and  by  contributions  in  England  and  Scotland,  as 
well  as  Ireland,  for  the  same  object.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see 
a  sign  out,  over  a  shop  door,  even  in  London,  giving  information 
that  contributions  to  the  O'Connell  fund  are  received  there. 
Without  possessing  the  confidence  of  either  of  the  leading  parties, 
he  is  powerful,  because  his  trained  band,  of  some  forty  members, 
have  the  balance  of  power,  and  they  are  ready  to  come  or  go  at 
his  bidding.  The  present  ministry,  therefore,  cannot  do  without 
him,  and  they  can  do  nothing  with  him.  It  has  been  shrewdly 


536  ENGLAND. 

said,  "  the  present  government  can  do  nothing ;  for  O'Connell  will 
not  permit  them  to  do  any  good,  and  the  House  of  Lords  will  not 
suffer  them  to  do  any  harm,  and,  therefore,  they  can  do  nothing." 
The  division  between  the  two  houses  has  certainly  frustrated  a 
number  of  very  important  measures  of  the  present  administration  : 
and  with  this  friction  to  the  machinery  of  the  government,  it  has 
been  a  wonder  to  all  that  the  present  ministry  should  endure  as  long 
as  they  have.  The  general  voice  seems  to  be  in  favour  of  a  new 
ministry,  made  up  of  the  moderate  of  both  parties  ;  by  which 
the  ultra-tory  spirit  on  the  one  side,  and  the  ultra-democratic 
spirit  on  the  other,  might  be  controlled,  and  the  work  of  reform 
be  gradually  and  safely  carried  forward.  That  much  work  of 
this  kind  remains  to  be  done  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  there 
can  be  no  doubt — work  that  must  be  done — the  spirit  of  the  age 
imperiously  demands  it,  and  the  popular  voice  will  carry  it  for- 
ward. The  only  question  is,  will  the  opposing  party  have  wisdom 
enough  to  yield  the  point  so  far,  as  to  submit  to  a  gradual  im- 
provement of  their  social  state,  political  and  ecclesiastical,  and 
submit  with  such  cordiality  as  to  keep  a  controlling  influence  in 
the  work — or  will  they  resist,  until  popular  feeling  and  power 
shall  break  over  all  bounds,  and  in  a  wild  revolution,  destroy,  in- 
stead of  reform  ? 

For  the  last  few  years,  the  work  of  political  reform  has  ad- 
vanced quite  fast  enough  for  the  safe  action  of  a  constitutional 
government.  The  greatest  danger  for  England  now,  is  on  the 
popular  side.  There  is  a  reckless  heated  spirit  abroad — the  popu- 
lar mind  is  restless  and  feverish,  and,  of  course,  extremely  excita- 
ble, and  there  are  numerous  demagogues,  with  O'Connell  at  their 
head,  who  are  constantly  blowing  up  the  flames  of  popular  ex- 
citement. O'Connell  makes  it  his  business  in  the  recess  of  Par- 
liament to  travel  over  England,  get  up  popular  assemblies,  and 
harangue  them  on  political  subjects.  His  great  wrath  has  been 
poured  out  of  late  chiefly  upon  the  House  of  Lords,  because 
they  have  negatived  some  of  the  favourite  measures  which  he 
has  procured  to  be  carried  through  the  Commons,  for  the  relief, 
as  he  terms  it,  of  his  oppressed  country  Ireland.  We,  in  the 
United  States,  are  apt  to  sympathize  with  everything  that  strikes 
against  royalty  and  an  hereditary  nobility ;  but  we  ought  to  be 
aware  it  is  one  thing  to  favour  the  establishment  of  a  nobility 


REFORM.  537 

\vliere  it  never  existed,  and  quite  another  to  sustain  it  when  it  is 
interwoven  with  the  very  frame  work  of  society.  No  one  in  his 
senses,  I  believe,  would  wish  to  see  an  attempt  to  introduce  an 
hereditary  sovereignty  or  nobility  among  us  ;  but  does  it  there- 
fore follow  that  these  should  be  suddenly  and  rashly  overturned 
where  they  exist  ?  Is  it  easy  to  form  a  new  structure  of  strength 
and  beauty  out  of  the  irregular  and  scattered  fragments  of  disnip- 
tured  and  demolished  institutions  ?  There  may  be  some  political 
communities  in  a  condition  so  utterly  hopeless  as  to  require,  at 
all  hazards,  a  radical  breaking  up  of  the  social  order ;  but  such  is 
not  England.  With  a  judiciary  sound  to  the  core  ;  with  an  exec- 
utive administration  always  either  directly  or  indirectly  under  the 
control  of  the  most  enlightened  and  stable  part  of  the  population ; 
with  a  more  intelligent,  and,  on  the  whole,  (though  this  I  confess  is 
not  saying  a  great  deal,)  a  more  virtuous  aristocracy  than  can  be 
found  beside  in  Europe ;  with  a  free  press  and  an  extensive  and 
extending  system  of  popular  education,  England  contains  in  her- 
self, and  in  her  present  social  compact,  the  inherent  principles  of 
a  safe  and  an  efficient  improvement.  The  only  fear  is,  that  the 
machinery  which  is  put  in  operation  by  designing  demagogues  for 
exciting  the  feelings  of  the  populace,  will  be  propelled  with  too 
much  violence,  and  in  directions  dangerous  to  the  public  weal.  And, 
at  this  juncture,  from  the  peculiar  state  of  political  parties,  and  the 
character  of  the  political  questions  which  are  now  canvassed,  the  ten- 
dency to  ultraism  is  great.  The  more  so,  because  from  its  supposed 
success  in  the  cause  of  West-India  emancipation,  popular  agita- 
tion is  very  much  the  order  of  the  day.  In  the  West-India  question, 
this  course  was  safe  for  several  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  the  evil 
proposed  to  be  removed  was  local,  very  limited,  insulated,  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  heart  and  main  arteries  of  the  social  system,  and  by 
no  means  and  to  no  extent  interwoven  with  the  framework  of  the 
government ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  community  brought 
under  the  influence  of  the  agitating  process,  were  immediately  and 
legally  responsible  for  the  existence  of  West-India  slavery.  They 
virtually  and  actually  held  the  chains  of  the  enslaved  in  their 
own  hands,  and  had,  therefore,  the  immediate  power  to  unclasp  or 
rivet  these  chains  at  their  own  will.  If,  then,  a  practical  way 
could  be  presented,  for  a  safe  emancipation,  it  became  a  matter 
of  duty  to  act  in  the  premises.  All  that  was  necessary  was  to 

3X 


538  ENGLAND. 

devise  the  plan,  and  then  excite  to  action.  But  even  hi  this 
case,  as  I  have  elsewhere  shown,  the  agitators  were  too  violent, 
and  had  well  nigh  ruined  the  cause  at  last.  However,  the  bill 
for  the  gradual  redemption  of  the  slaves,  passed  ;  and  African  sla- 
very has  received  its  death-warrant  in  the  British  empire — to  her 
honour  be  it  recorded  ;  and  that,  to  all  present  appearances,  with- 
out endangering  the  safety  and  prosperity  either  of  the  govern- 
ment or  of  the  islands.  Would  that  the  same  could  be  said  of 
our  own  and  of  every  other  land  !  But,  although  the  bill  itself 
and  its  immediate  consequences  appear  favourable,  yet  the  agita- 
tion by  which  the  passage  of  the  bill  was  preceded  and  accom- 
panied, has  not  proved  so  favourable.  It  has  left  the  public  mind 
in  a  feverish  state ;  it  has  opened  up  to  the  eager  eye  of  the  dem- 
agogue a  highway  to  popular  influence  and  power ;  it  has  sane  • 
tilled  that  way,  because  here  Philanthropy  herself,  it  is  thought, 
has  accomplished  one  of  her  noblest  achievements  ;  and  now,  all 
that  travel  this  way,  justify  themselves  by  this  illustrious  prece- 
dent. This  is  a  hazardous  course,  especially  in  all  cases  where 
the  questions  involved  are  in  any  way  connected  with  topics  that 
act  upon  our  sentient  natures  and  particularly  our  sympathies-. 
When  once  the  demagogue  can  get  the  control  of  popular  sympa- 
thies, he  is  a  potentate — an  absolute  sovereign.  Now  he  can 
carry  his  measures  in  spite  of  law  or  constitution,  in  spite  of 
order  or  public  safety.  None  understand  this  better  than 
O'Connell  and  his  colleagues.  Hence  their  object  is  to  connect 
with  their  political  plans  some  topic  of  popular  excitement.  The 
slave  question  was  too  important  in  this  point  of  view  to  be  read- 
ily given  up  ;  and,  therefore,  when  the  question  was  settled  in  the 
British  parliament,  the  political  philanthropists,  who  still  desired 
the  control  of  the  public  sympathies  for  their  own  purposes,  con- 
nected with  their  public  harangues  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the 
United  States.  This,  for  some  time,  was  the  practice  of  the 
Irish  orator.  He  knew  he  had  only  to  name  the  subject  of  sla- 
very, and  ne  would  set  the  whole  audience  in  a  flame.  When, 
therefore,  he  concentrated  his  powers  on  this  point,  when  he 
stretched  himself  upon  the  western  coast  of  the  British  isles, 
holy  philanthropist  as  he  was,  and  with  his  stentorian  voice  rolled 
back  the  western  winds  by  his  blast  ,of  anathemas  against  the 
domestic  despots  and  political  hypocrites  of  the  United  States, 


PUBLIC    ASSEMBLIES,  539 

then  it  was  that  the  English  populace  threw  up  their  caps  and 
huzzaed  for  the  orator,  and  felt  their  souls  moved  within  them  to 
follow  such  a  leader )  so  pure  and  philanthropic  to  any  and  every 
enterprise  his  patriotic  soul  could  devise,  or  his  fearless  spirit 
could  attempt  to  execute.  Such,  for  a  season,  were  the  public 
harangues  of  the  "  honourable  and  learned  member  from  Kil- 
kenny," and  such  is  the  course  of  many  others  up  to  the  present 
time.  But  O'Connell  has  changed  his  course.  American  sla- 
very is  no  longer  his  theme.  Rumour,  with  her  more  than  usual 
credibility,  has  revealed  the  cause.  The  only  hope  of  O'Connell 
is  in  the  unflinching  devotion  to  his  cause  of  the  Irish  Catholic 
population.  To  secure  this,  he  must  have  the  confidence  of  the 
priests  ;  and  to  have  their  confidence,  it  must  be  conceded  or  be- 
lieved by  the  undivided  universal  Roman  Church,  that  his  course 
is  promotive  of  the  general  interests  of  Romanism.  Now  it  has 
so  fallen  out,  that  the  great  body  of  Catholics  in  the  United 
States  think  that  it  has  a  tendency  to  bring  them  into  suspicion 
in  this  country,  to  have  their  great  political  champion  in  Europe 
dealing  out  such  wholesale  anathemas  against  the  United  States. 
Letters,  therefore,  it  is  said,  have  been  sent  to  Ireland  to  this 
effect,  and  the  orator  has  changed  his  theme. 

While  on  the  subject  of  the  morbid  excitability  of  the  British 
public,  amounting  almost  to  a  mental  disease,  and  the  constant 
effort  to  keep  up  that  state  of  the  public  mind,  I  might  mention 
their  manner  of  conducting  their  public  assemblies,  religious* 
as  well  as  political — the  deliberations  of  the  national  legislature 
as  well  as  popular  assemblies.  Public  speakers  on  these  occa- 
sions are  constantly  applauded  or  opposed,  by  clapping,  stamp- 
ing, cries  of  hear !  hear  !  or  hisses  and  cries  of  720  /  no !  In  a 
great  proportion  of  cases  the  appearance  is  that  the  public  orators 
are  coveting  the  clap  and  the  cheer,  rather  than  conviction  by 
grave  and  solid  argument.  In  missionary  meetings  and  bible 
anniversaries,  you  often  notice  this  as  well  as  in  the  speeches 
in  parliament.  Sometimes  this  is  carried  to  very  great  excess. 
A  case  in  point  was  a  meeting  I  attended  in  Exeter  Hall,f  of  the 

*  Assemones  for  public  worship,  01  course,  are  not  included. 

t  Exeter  Hall  is  a  noble  building,  erected  on  the  Strand  for  public  meetings.  It  has 
ft  majestic  entrance  of  the  Corinthian  order,  and  the  principal  room  is  one  hundred 
and  six  feet  by  seventy-six,  and  is  computed  to  hold  four  thousand  persons. 


540  ENGLAND 

"  Protestant  Association,"  so  called.  It  is  a  society  formed  among 
statesmen  and  others,  to  oppose  Romanism.  At  this  meeting  an 
Irish  orator,  by  the  name  of  M'Ghee,  a  Protestant  clergyman, 
and  an  agent  of  the  society,  addressed  the  meeting.  His  topic 
was  chiefly  relative  to  an  edition  of  the  Bible,  called  the  Douay 
Bible,  with  a  Catholic  commentary)  commonly  called  "  Rheimish 
Notes."  These  "  Notes  "  savour  of  persecution  and  justify  the  po 
litical  assumptions  of  the  Pope  and  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
The  object  was  to  prove  that  editions  of  this  bible  and  commentary 
had  been  published  in  Ireland  and  circulated  among  the  people  ; 
and  that  to  avoid  the  suspicion  of  having  been  active  in  this  high- 
toned  inquisitorial  publication,  the  church  dignitaries  in  Ireland 
had  practised  a  good  deal  of  tergiversation  and  falsehood ;  and 
that  Mr.  O'Connell  had  been  identified  with  the  hypocrisy  of  the 
priests,  by  pretending  to  disapprove  of  the  Rheimish  Notes,  and 
making  a  great  public  parade  on  the  subject,  but  that  he  afterward 
neglected  to  carry  out  his  promises,  and  slunk  away  as  if  priest- 
smitten,  from  final  action  in  the  case.  Such  was  the  tenor  of  the 
arguments  supported  by  documents  and  testimonies,  which  the 
orator  presented  with  great  clearness,  much  sarcasm,  and  biting 
irony,  and  no  little  share  of  moving  declamation.  If  he  had 
stopped  here,  he  certainly  would  seem  to  have  made  out  a  strong 
case.  It  would  have  appeared  from  very  strong  documentary 
testimony,  that  the  Catholics  cherished  the  same  enmity  to  popu- 
lar liberty,  claimed  the  same  ecclesiastical  prerogatives  and 
authority  over  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men,  and  practised  the 
same  Jesuitism  in  the  dissemination  of  their  sentiments,  that  had 
at  any  period  marked  the  history  of  that  church.  The  audience 
was  highly  excited,  vociferous  applauses  acted  upon  the  speaker, 
and  the  speaker  again  acted  upon  the  audience.  And  now  the  way 
was  prepared  for  the  after-piece — and  the  exhibition  convinced  me 
more  forcibly  than  I  ever  realized  it  before,  how  strong  and  con- 
tinued excitement,  on  any  particular  subject,  becomes  a  monoma- 
nia, and  cuts  off,  entirely,  on  the  exciting  question,  the  enlightened 
dictates  of  the  judgment. 

The  orator  presented  a  pamphlet,  which  he  said  had,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  fallen  into  his  hands  the  night  before  at  a  late 
hour,  while  he  was  preparing  for  that  meeting.  This  pamphlet 
was  to  finish  the  work  for  the  Romish  church,  and  the  very  read- 


PUBLIC    ASSEMBLIES.  54  3 

ing  of  it  would  make  all  our  ears  tingle.  It  was  an  encyclical 
letter  from  the  Pope,  instructing  the  priests  of  Ireland,  how  they 
were  to  manage  to  deceive  the  Protestants,  by  the  most  consum- 
mate hypocrisy,  and  the  most  flagitious  chicanery,  and  at  the 
same  time  secure  the  advancement  and  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
papal  cause  in  that  island,  and  perhaps  in  Great  Britain.  The 
letter,  it  would  seem  had  been  written  originally  in  Latin,  and  the 
translator  had  inserted  some  of  the  Latin  phrases,  to  show  the  ex- 
act spirit  of  the  original ;  and  among  these  our  orator  had  found 
infallible  proofs  of  the  genuineness  of  the  document. 

The  whole  affair  was  new  to  all.  The  document  was  new—  • 
the  design  of  bringing  it  forward  was  new — and  all  listened  with 
breathless  suspense ;  presently,  however,  the  reading  of  the 
pamphlet  and  the  comments  by  the  orator,  carried  the  audience 
all  away.  Grave  senators  and  graver  clergymen,  aristocrats  and 
plebeians,  were  mingling  their  voices,  and  clapping  and  stamping 
with  feet  and  canes ;  some  swung  their  hats,  some  laughed  and 
cheered,  and  a  few  Catholics  hissed  and  contradicted.  It  might 
seem  natural  enough  to  those  who  were  used  to  it,  but  to  me  it 
was  a  scene  of  tumult  and  disorder,  and  became  every  moment 
the  more  painful,  because  every  successive  paragraph  confirmed 
me  in  an  opinion  that  I  formed  before  he  had  completed  one  page, 
that  the  whole  was  a  hoax,  and  that  all  this  transient  uproarious 
triumph  would  end  in  a  painful  mortification,  and  a  resistless  re- 
action upon  the  Protestant  cause.  I  sat  between  gentlemen  that 
were  habited  like  clergymen — I  said  to  one — "  That  pamphlet 
must  be  an  imposition.  The  pope  never  could  have  written  such 
a  letter."  "  It  is  undoubtedly  true,"  he  replied,  "  they  are  capable 
of  anything."  Directly  I  turned  to  the  other,  and  asked — "  Is 
Mr.  M'Ghee  a  judicious  man  ?  is  he  not  easily  imposed  upon  ?" 
"  He  is  a  very  judicious  man,"  was  the  reply ;  "  he  knows  what 
he  is  about."  I  said,  "You  may  rest  assured  the  pope  never 
wrote  that  letter  ;  for  on  the  supposition  that  Gregory  XVI.  was 
both  a  knave  and  a  fool,  neither  of  which  was  I  prepared  to  admit, 
still  he  had  counsellors  around  him  who  understood  themselves 
better  than  to  suffer  such  a  document  to  receive  the  official  sanc- 
tion of  the  Vatican."  But  it  was  all  to  no  purpose  ;  and  as  I 
could  find  none  to  join  me  in  my  judgment,  I  sat  extremely  uneasy, 
distressed  even,  until  the  conclusion.  I  thought,  however  the 
46 


543  »  ENGLAND. 

enthusiasm  abated  a  little,  towards  the  last,  as  a  fear  had  taken 
possession  of  some  portion  of  the  audience,  that  the  document 
might  be  an  imposition ;  but  the  clapping  and  cheering  kept  up 
to  the  last.  The  next  day  it  came  out,  that  the  whole  affair  was 
an  imposition.  The  letter  was  written  by  a  Protestant  clergy- 
man, one  of  the  professors  of  Trinity  College  in  Dublin ;  and 
Mr  M'Ghee,  the  great  Protestant  agent  and  champion,  who  had 
but  the  day  before  boasted  that  he  should  show  the  nakedness 
of  the  papal  church  to  the  abhorrence  of  the  world,  had  to  come 
out  and  make  his  public  recantation  of  his  foolish  and  insane  ad- 
venture. The  effect  of  such  an  explanation  may  readily  be 
imagined.  OConnell  had  been  invited  to  come  on  the  occasion, 
and  defend  himself  and  his  church,  against  the  charges  about  to 
be  presented.  He  declined,  and  his  refusing  to  meet  the  charges 
face  to  face,  was  set  off  to  good  effect,  in  the  fore  part  of  the  meet- 
ing ;  but  the  result  gave  him  and  his  friends  a  complete  triumph, 
and  struck  such  a  blow  to  the  "  Protestant  Association  "  and  their 
special  agency,  as  will  not  be  readily  recovered  from.  This  is 
the  fruit  of  ultraism.  It  is  a  circumstance  that  is  symptomatic  of 
the  present  age.  Happy  for  England,  if  she  check  that  spirit 
before  it  carry  away  her  strongest  social  and  political  bulwarks ; 
and  happy  for  the  United  States  if  they  also  avoid  the  same  danger- 
ous course. 

One  of  the  great  questions  that  have  agitated  the  nation  under  the 
present  administration,  and  will  continue  to  agitate  it  for  years  to 
come,  doubtless  is  that  of  the  English  church  establishment.  The 
dissenters,  of  course,  consider  this  a  burden ;  most  of  them  proba- 
bly would  gladly  throw  it  off  altogether,  while  all  desire  to  see 
it  greatly  modified  and  reformed.  Hence  the  contest  assumes  a 
form,  in  many  respects,  very  unpleasant  and  unfavourable  to  the 
cause  of  pure  religion.  Ministers  and  bishops  become  politicians, 
and  members  of  the  Christian  churches  become  heated  partisans, 
and  throw  themselves  into  the  political  arena — the  one  part  to  de- 
fend religion,  as  they  term  it,  and  the  other  part  to  secure  religious 
liberty.  Both  justify  themselves  for  their  violent  political  parti- 
sanship, on  the  ground  that  their  party  is  identified  with  the  best 
interests  of  religion.  The  effect,  as  might  be  supposed,  is  very 
deleterious.  The  spirit  of  devotion  is  supplanted  by  the  spirit 
of  political  party — and  the  work  of  preaching  Christ  is  neglected 


CHURCH    AND    STATE.  543 

in  too  many  instances  for  electioneering  and  political  purposes — 
and  spiritual  death,  by  consequence,  pervades  the  religious  com- 
munities. And  this  is  thought  to  be  specially  true,  among  the 
dissenters.  I  found  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  generally  freer 
from  this  destructive  influence,  than  most  other  religionists. 
The  greater  portion  of  the  Wesleyans  with  whom  I  met,  are 
conservatives,  but  still  they  are  not  in  general  so  strong  for  the 
church,  as  church-men  themselves.  They  hold  a  medium  posi- 
tion— wishing  the  integrity  of  the  establishment  to  be  sustained 
— at  the  same  time  they  are  desirous  of  some  reform.  This 
saves  them  from  an  ultra  party-spirit  on  either  side,  which  is 
very  favourable  to  the  piety  of  the  body,  at  this  time  of  political 
ferment.  It  is  curious  to  see  how  both  parties,  in  this  contest, 
quote  the  United  States,  in  favour  of  their  particular  views. 
Those  who  contend  for  the  voluntary  principle,  as  it  is  technically 
termed,  that  is,  those  who  wish  to  have  religion  supported  only  by 
voluntary  contributions,  refer  to  our  country  as  an  instance  of 
great  religious  prosperity,  without  a  legal  support.  On  the  other 
hand  I  notice  in  the  political  journals,  frequent  allusion  to  certain 
reports  that  some  of  our  "  home  missionaries  "  make,  respecting 
the  great  destitutions  of  the  western  and  new  parts  of  our  coun- 
try— "  no  ministers  " — "  no  churches  " — "  no  gospel."*  Here,  say 
they,  is  the  proof  that  the  voluntary  principle  is  not  efficient,  in 
supplying  the  religious  wants  of  the  people  !  They  seem  aware, 
neither  of  the  rapid  extension  of  our  frontier  settlements,  nor  yet 
of  the  fact  that  rapid  as  this  is,  the  voluntary  principle  is  carry- 
ing the  gospel  to  them,  with  a  promptness  abundantly  more  timely, 
and  to  an  extent  far  more  adequate  to  their  increasing  waiits,  than 
ever  has  been  known  to  have  been  done  by  the  slow  machinery 
and  worldly  policy  of  legal  provision.  Even  in  London  itself, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  the  very  metropolis  of  church  and  state,  the 
government  provision  would  have  left  four  fifths  of  «the  population 
to  perish  for  lack  of  knowledge,  but  for  the  dissenters  :  and  even 
now,  that  the  established  church  has  waked  up  to  this  work,  at 
this  late  hour,  it  has  been  by  the  excitement  to  emulation,  which 
has  been  produced  by  the  action  and  influence  of  the  dissenters. 

*  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  religious  agents,  in  their  zeal  to  make  out  a  strong  case, 
perhaps  deceived  by  sectarian  partialities,  should  suffer  themselves  to  be  the  cause 
such  erroneous  impressions. 


544  ENGLAND. 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that,  but  for  the  fear  that  the 
dissenters  would  gain  upon  them,  unless  they  bestirred  them- 
selves, the  establishment  would  have  slept  over  this  subject,  until 
now.  But  what  is  still  more  to  the  purpose,  and  utterly  subver- 
sive of  the  argument  urged  by  the  sticklers  for  church  and  state 
is  the  fact,  that  now  the  established  church  has  been  roused  to 
action  on  this  subject,  they  have  been  compelled  to  resort,  for  the 
accomplishment  of  their  object,  to  that  very  principle  which  they 
condemn  as  inadequate  and  inefficient — the  voluntary  principle. 
For  it  is  by  voluntary  contributions,  that  the  bishop  of  London 
and  others  are  now  endeavouring  to  raise  a  magnificent  fund,  for 
the  erection  and  endowment  of  churches,  in  connexion  with  the 
establishment.  How  will  these  advocates  for  a  union  of  church 
and  state  reconcile  their  arguments  with  their  practice.  "  Reli- 
gion will  not  be  sustained,"  say  they,  "  if  left  to  the  option  of  the 
people.  The  public  will  not  be  adequately  provided  with  reli- 
gious instruction."  "  Ours  is  the  only  adequate  system  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  people  ;"  and  while  iheir  words  are  on  their  lips 
they  see  the  deficiency,  the  ruinous  deficiency  of  their  own 
governmental  provisions,  and  practically  adopt  the  discarded  sys- 
tem of  voluntary  contributions,  to  help  out  their  own  cherished 
but  imperfect  plan  !  When  man  theorizes,  his  prejudices  often 
betray  him ;  but  when  he  is  driven  to  action,  his  common  sense 
is  apt  to  lead  him  to  adapt  the  end  to  the  means,  in  despite  of  his 
theory.  Nothing  is  more  clearly  and  satisfactorily  established, 
in  the  United  States,  even  to  those  who  among  us  once  opposed 
the  measure,  than  that  religion  is  the  most  pure,  most  efficient, 
most  abundant  in  its  provisions  for  instructing  the  public  mind, 
and  reforming  the  public  heart,  when  its  support  is  left  entirely 
to  the  voluntary  offerings  of  the  people. 

The  present  state  of  the  English  church,  with  all  its  advan- 
tages and  improvements,  is  to  my  mind  demonstration  that  an 
ecclesiastical  establishment  is,  on  the  whole,  pernicious;  nay, 
that  its  legitimate  tendencies  are  fatal  to  the  cause  of  Christianity. 
Much  is  said  of  the  great  reform  that  is  now  in  progress  in  the 
English  church.  And  by  how  much  that  reform  is  magnified, 
by  so  much  is  the  cause  of  dissent  and  of  the  voluntary  principle 
illustrated  and  accredited.  What  produced  this  reform  ?  What 
sustains  it  ?  What  is  carrying  it  forward  I  The  dissenters  and 


CHURCH    AND    STATE.  545 

Methodists.  These  have  excited  the  establishment  to  emulation ; 
these  have  provoked  them  to  love  and  good  works ;  these  have 
waked  up  the  torpid  spirit,  rebuked  and  aroused  the  sleepy  con  • 
science  of  a  worldly  priesthood  and  a  formal  church. 

But  the  worst  of  all  is,  that,  although  much  has  been  done  and 
mch  more  may  be  done,  still  the  English  church,  under  its  pres^ 
jnt  organization,  never  can  be  fully  reformed.     There  is  a  worm 

the  root.  To  say  nothing  now  of  numerous  points  that  might 
be  noticed  as  illustrative  of  this  position,  the  single  fact  that 
church  preferments  are  in  the  hands  of  worldly  men,  is  enough  to 
prove  not  only  that  the  constitution  of  the  church  is  unapostolic,  but 
also  that  the  tendency  of  its  organization  is  directly  opposed  ta 
the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  The  sovereign  is  the  head  of  the  church.. 
This,  to  begin  with,  is  an  essential  feature  of  the  Roman  apostacy. 
This  places  the  appointment  of  the  highest  dignitaries  of  the  church 
directly  in  the  hands  of  a  worldly,  and  most  probably,  an  ungodly 
man.  Or,  more  properly,  it  places  the  power  of  appointing  the 
highest  offices  of  the  church  in  the  hands  of  the  ruling  ministry ; 
and  what  chance  there  is  for  genuine  piety  in  the  breasts  of  the 
successful  and  political  party  leaders,  can  readily  be  imagined. 
Having  the  power  to  make  important  and  desirable  appointments 
in  the  church,  they  will  doubtless  appoint  such  as  will  strengthen 
their  political  party.  Of  this  the  present  administration  has  been 
accused  in  more  than  one  instance.  This,  in  fact,  is  human  na 
ture.  It  is  the  very  course  we  might  expect  worldly  men  of  any 
party  to  pursue.  Here  then  is  corruption,  the  worst  kind  of 
corruption,  at  the  very  head ;  and  if  the  whole  head  is  sick,  the 
the  whole  heart  will  be  faint ;  the  influence  will  be  felt,  and  it  is 
felt,  more  or  less,  through  the  entire  ecclesiastical  body.  And 
this  political  influence  will  probably  grow  worse,  as  party  be- 
comes more  organized  and  more  exclusive. 

But  the  evil  rests  not  here.  The  right  of  disposing  of  the 
livings  as  they  are  called,  is  private  property,  and  descends 
like  any  other  property  of  the  posessor  to  his  heirs.  This 
is  called  the  right  of  advowson.  Some  of  these  belong  to 
the  king ;  some  to  the  bishop,  but  many  more  to  other  individ 
uals.  In  the  first  case  the  king,  of  his  own  authority,  institutes 
his  candidate  or  clerk ;  in  the  second  case,  the  bishop  institutes 
h's  own  candidate  without  presentation ;  and,  in  the  third  case, 
46  3Y 


546  ENGLAND. 

the  patron,  whatever  he  may  be,  presents  his  clerk  or  candidate 
to  the  bishop,  and  the  bishop  institutes  him.  Of  this  latter  kind 
of  advowson,  some  are  appended  to  the  manor,  and  can  never  be 
separated  from  it ;  so  that  he  who  owns  the  estate,  possesses  also 
the  advowson.  But  others  are  not  only  inheritable,  but  they  are 
an  article  of  traffic  and  are  bought  and  sold  in  the  market  like 
any  other  goods  and  chattels.  In  a  benefice  that  was  thrown 
into  the  market  in  Bristol,  the  present  summer,  it  is  said  that  a 
Roman  Catholic  ecclesiastic  was  one  of  the  competitors  for  the 
purchase.  It  will  be  readily  seen  how  such  a  disposition  of  the 
livings  of  the  church,  must  tend  to  secularize  the  clergy.  The 
younger  sons  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen  will  select  the  church 
for  their  profession,  because  there  is  a  chance  to  get  a  respecta- 
ble living  in  it ;  perhaps  the  father  or  some  friend  holds  the  ad- 
vowson, and  he  has  the  promise  of  it  as  soon  as  he  has  gone 
through  the  forms  of  an  education  ;  and  he,  perhaps,  after  he  ob- 
tains it,  may  not  choose  to  do  the  work  himself,  but  farms  it  out 
to  a  curate  who  will  attend  to  the  duties  for  a  small  portion  of  the 
income,  and  the  legal  incumbent  gives  his  dinners,  drinks  his  wine, 
and  keeps  his  horses  and  hounds  upon  the  balance.  Sometimes 
one  man  may  have  several  of  these  livings,  and  drive  a  profitable 
speculation  in  farming  them  out  to  the  lowest  bidder.  One  can 
readily  see  how  such  a  course  must  greatly  pervert  a  religious 
ministry.  Indeed  it  is  sacrilege  ;  it  is  making  gain  of  godliness ; 
every  Christian  that  has  not  been  trained  to  it  and  become  fa- 
miliar with  it  by  habit  and  education,  must  turn  from  it  with  hor 
ror  as  a  most  base  prostitution  of  gospel  ordinances.  It  is  true, 
no  man  can,  without  being  obnoxious  to  the  charge  and  penalty 
of  simony,  enter  upon  his  own  advowson  ;  neither  can  the  patron 
prefer  a  man  to  the  benefice  for  a  stipulated  reward ;  but  he  can 
give  it  to  his  own  son,  as  a  substitute  for  making  some  other  pro- 
vision for  him ;  he  can  give  it  to  his  friend,  with  a  view  of  re- 
warding him  or  obtaining  his  influence,  or  for  mere  caprice 
and  private  partiality ;  or,  what  probably  is  quite  common,  he  can 
dispose  of  it  for  political  purposes,  to  promote  his  own  ambitious 
designs  or  the  designs  of  his  party. 

In  view  of  the  great  importance  of  having  the  benefices  in  the 
hands  of  good  and  evangelical  men,  Doctor  Simpson,  of  Cambridge, 
with  some  others,  has  laid  out  considerable  sums  to  purchase  up 


CHURCH   AND    STATE.  547 

such  advowsons  as  he  could  find  in  the  market,  for  the  purpose 
of  preferring  evangelical  men  to  these  livings.  All  this  looks  very 
fair  as  far  as  it  goes  ;  but,  can  Doctor  Simpson  assure  himself  that 
his  heirs  may  not  be  worldly  men,  and  be  influenced  by  other 
motives  ?*  Moreover,  if  Doctor  Simpson,  out  of  pure  motives, 
could  secure  a  portion  of  the  patronage  of  the  church  for  money, 
that  shows  that  another  man,  who,  because  he  is  a  man  of  the 
world,  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  rich  as  Doctor  Simpson,  may  pur- 
chase that  patronage  for  ambitious  and  worldly  motives.  The  sub- 
ject, therefore,  in  whatever  aspect  it  is  viewed,  is  not  only  deci- 
dedly bad,  but  it  is  ahorrid  desecratian  of  the  sacred  office.  And 
this  will  appear  almost  as  strong  when  we  look  at  its  bearing  in 
another  point  of  view,  viz.,  that  the  more  good  men  endeavour  to 
get  a  control  over  these  benefices  in  order  to  hold  them  in  reserve 
for  evangelical  men,  the  greater  will  be  the  demand,  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical market,  for  evangelical  men,  the  more  sure  men  of 
this  reputation  will  be  of  professional  success,  and  the  more  of 
them,  of  course,  will  be  presented  professedly  of  this  character ; 
and  thus,  while,  perhaps,  an  open,  worldly,  and  irreligious  spirit 
will  be  restrained  and  diminished,  a  zealous,  canting,  bigoted  hy- 
pocrisy will  take  its  place.  And,  if  I  mistake  not,  this  effect  al- 
ready begins  to  show  itself.  To  be  evangelical  in  the  view  of 
many  is  to  be  zealous  supporters  of  certain  dogmas  and  bold  as- 
serters  of  certain  hackneyed  propositions ;  if  to  this  is  added  a 
certain  manner,  and  the  use  of  certain  cant  phrases,  the  popular 
character  of  an  evangelical  man  will  be  quite  established.  To  com- 
plete the  portraiture,  he  must  be  a  great  croaker  about  the  danger 
of  THE  Church,  a  great  eulogist  of  all  her  forms  and  pretensions, 
and  exclusive  in  his  views  of  apostolical  succession  and  ordination. 
But  it  does  not  follow,  because  these  and  many  other  evils 
appertain  to  the  English  church,  that,  therefore,  it  should  be 
suddenly  divorced  from  the  state.  Modern  political  empyr- 
icism  is  for  experimenting  with  a  rude  and  revolutionary  legis- 
lation upon  the  objectionable  features  of  the  body  politic;  and 
especially  it  is  common  for  individuals  of  one  nation  to  decide 
very  positively  and  thoughtlessly  upon  what  ought  to  be  the 
course  of  other  nations  on  cases  which  they  but  imperfectly 

*  Doctor  Simpson  is  now  (1837)  dead ;  and  his  patronage  has,  of  course,  already  passed 
into  other  hands. 


548  ENGLAND. 

understand.  In  this  way  some  individuals  in  England  have  very 
foolishly  and  impertinently  undertaken  to  legislate  for  us,  and  to 
dictate  with  the  confidence  of  an  oracle  what  is  our  duty  in  cer- 
tain matters  vitally  affecting  our  constitution  and  government. 
And  in  this  way  certain  declaimers  in  our  country  are,  with  equal 
folly  and  impertinence,  giving  out  their  oracular  decisions  of  po- 
litical wisdom  on  the  importance  of  speedy  and  radical  changes 
in  the  British  constitution.  Now  as  we,  on  some  points,  may  do 
too  little,  so  it  may  also  be  with  them ;  but  the  truth  is,  as  we  un- 
derstand our  own  business  best,  so  do  they  also  theirs  ;  and  the 
better  way  will  be  for  each  of  us  to  meddle  with  our  neighbours 
less,  and  attend  more  to  ourselves.  We  must,  of  course,  have  our 
opinions,  and  it  may  be  well  at  proper  times  to  express  them ;  but 
to  attempt  by  agents,  associations,  or  popular  declamations,  to  ex- 
ert an  influence  on  each  other  in  questions  pertaining  to  our  re- 
spective constitutions,  is  an  unjustifiable  interference,  that  will  be 
only  productive  of  mischief. 

Evils  may  exist  in  governments  which,  in  themselves  consid- 
ered, are  every  way  pernicious ;  their  nature  and  their  tendency 
may  be  evil,  and  only  evil,  and  yet  it  may  not  be  either  good  pol- 
icy or  moral  duty  to  extirpate  them  suddenly.  The  English  es- 
tablishment is  vitally  interwoven  with  the  principles  of  the  British 
constitution,  and  a  sudden  disruption  might  be  fatal  to  the  gov- 
ernment ;  still  something,  doubtless,  might  be  done ;  something, 
indeed,  has  been  attempted  the  present  session  of  parliament. 
The  princely  incomes  of  some  of  the  bishops'  sees  have  been  re- 
duced by  transferring  a  part  to  others  less  lucrative,  and  the  bound- 
aries of  the  sees  have  been  altered  so  as  to  bring  the  jurisdiction 
of  all  more  nearly  upon  an  equality ;  but  this  is  only  tinkering  upon 
the  scaffolding ;  when  this  is  arranged  they  will  be  better  prepared, 
perhaps,  to  approach  the  main  edifice.  It  appears  to  me  most 
evident  that,  sooner  or  later,  great  reforms  will  be  made  in  the 
English  church  ;  and,  finally,  as  the  social  state  can  adjust  itself 
to  the  change,  an  entire  divorce  between  church  and  state  will 
probably  take  place.  I  say  this,  because  I  believe  this  is  the  true 
apostolic  relation  which  the  church  should  sustain  in  the  world  ; 
and  she  will  never  appear  in  her  appropriate  robes,  like  a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband,  until  she  disrobe  herself  entirely  of  the 


PARLIAMENT.  549 

toga  of  state.  To  this  point  public  sentiment  is  gradually  verging 
in  England.* 

Touching  upon  the  British  parliament  has  opened  the  way  for 
the  introduction  of  several  questions  connected  with  the  British 
government  and  the  present  state  of  political  parties ;  which,  as 
I  wished  to  notice  them  somewhere,  have  been  as  well  brought 
in,  perhaps,  in  this  connexion  as  in  any  other  ;  but  I  have  not  yet 
said  what  I  intended  concerning  the  parliament  itself.  Their  hour 
of  meeting  is  peculiar  to  themselves  ;  I  believe  it  is  always  in  the 
evening.  The  worst  time,  one  would  think,  for  doing  business, 
If  there  is  any  danger  of  dulness  from  a  hearty  dinner,  or  of  ex- 
citement from  the  free  use  of  wine,  both  of  which  indulgences,  as 
is  well  known,  are  rather  common  with  the  English  gentry  and 
nobility,  all  this  must  be  experienced  by  an  evening  session.  A 
good  part  of  the  night  is  often  consumed  in  these  sessions  ;  and 
this,  perhaps,  has  given  the  general  character  of  turning  the  night 
into  day  and  the  day  into  night,  so  common  in  London.  It  is  next 
to  impossible  for  any  one  in  London  to  accomplish  anything 
abroad  early  in  the  day.  Everything  is  late  ;  and  whoever  mixes 
in  society  must  retire  late,  and,  of  course,  will  be  late  up  in  the 
morning. 

The  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  when  he  is  in  the 
chair,  sits  with  great  dignity,  with  a  large  powdered  wig  upon  his 
head  and  a  huge  mace  lying  before  him.  When  he  leaves  the 
chair  for  the  house  to  go  into  committee  of  the  whole  the  mace  is 
laid  one  side. 

If  a  question  is  about  to  be  taken  on  which  a  division  of  the 
house  is  called  for,  the  speaker  rises  and  proclaims,  "  Strangers 
must  withdraw."  No  matter  how  trifling  the  question  may  be, 
or  how  often  a  division  is  called  for,  all  that  are  not  members 
must  leave  the  house.  The  only  reason  that  I  can  conceive  of 
for  such  a  rule  is,  that  the  public  may  not  know  how  their  repre- 
sentatives vote.  It  does  not  now,  however,  have  this  effect ;  for, 
on  all  important  questions,  it  may  be  easily  known  how  each  one 

*  I  have  not  thought  it  expedient  to  enlarge  upon  the  fact  that  there  is  no  moral  dis- 
cipline either  in  the  ministry  or  membership  of  the  English  church.  A  state  of  things 
that  almost  necessarily  grows  out  of  its  relations  to  the  state,  and  a  feature  most  ruin 
ous  to  the  cause  of  Christianity. 


550  ENGLAND. 

votes  Like  many  other  cumbersome  and  useless  forms,  it  is  kept 
up  now  from  custom. 

The  eloquence  of  the  parliament  had  nothing  very  strong  or 
agitating  to  call  it  out  when  I  happened  to  be  present.  I  must 
say,  however,  that,  as  a  general  thing,  I  was  not  pleased  with 
the  manner  of  the  speakers.  There  was  too  much  of  a  tone,  too 
much  of  "  mouthing  the  words,"  too  much  like  an  effort  which  sa- 
voured of  affectation.  There  were  some  exceptions.  Sir  Robert 
Peel  was  one  ;  his  manner  was  easy  and  natural. 

From  all  I  could  learn  of  the  British  parliament,  there  was  very 
little  of  genuine  piety  in  the  house.  As  liberalism  in  politics  in- 
creases, the  cases  of  truly  religious  members  of  parliament  dimin- 
ish. This  is  certainly  no  great  compliment  to  the  spirit  of  reform  ; 
but  it  can  be  easily  accounted  for  without  making  irreligion  a  neces- 
sary characteristic  of  republicanism.  It  has  already  been  stated 
that  the  great  contest  now  is  between  the  church  establishment 
and  the  spirit  of  dissent.  The  religious  dissenters  may  be  consid- 
ered opposed  to  the  exclusive  claims  and  prerogatives  of  the  estab- 
lishment from  religious  considerations,  or,  at  any  rate,  from  consid- 
erations not  opposed  to  religion ;  but  there  is  another  class,  of  very 
considerable  influence  as  to  wealth  and  numbers,  who  are  opposed 
to  the  establishment  because  they  are  opposed  to  Christianity ; 
they  are  opposed  to  all  religion.  Neither  of  these  would  be  suf- 
ficiently strong  as  distinct  parties,  hence  they  make  common  cause, 
and  by  this  means  form  an  anti-church  party  of  individuals  pos- 
sessing very  different  characters  and  feelings.  This  is  an  unfor- 
tunate state  of  things ;  unfortunate  in  its  influences  upon  the  cause 
of  religion  and  upon  the  character  of  parliament.  Religious  men 
are  not  so  fond  of  office  ;  are  not  so  ready  to  play  the  demagogue 
to  get  into  office  ;  but  when  they  are  identified  with  a  political 
party  to  accomplish  an  object  which  seems  to  them  important,, 
they  support  the  infidel,  the  Catholic,  the  demagogue  of  whatever 
character,  who  pledges  himself  to  their  cause.  Hence  many  of 
the  dissenters,  religious  laymen,  and  ministers,  are  found  among 
the  foremost  constituents  of  most  irreligious  men.*  In  this  way, 
although  infidelity  and  irreligion  may  not  be  the  most  prevailing 

*  Since  I  left  England,  Dr.  Pye  Smith,  of  Hackney,  a  dissenter,  and  a  minister  of  dis- 
tinguished talents  and  piety,  has  come  out  publicly  in  favour  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Hume, 
a  notorious  infidel  and  scoffer  at  sacred  things  !  ! 


THE  PRESENT  ADMINISTRATION.  551 

ingredients  of  the  party,  and  by  no  means  essential  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  it,  still  men  of  infidel  and  irreligious  character  become 
the  principal  and  prominent  leaders ;  they  get  the  offices ;  they 
give  character  to  the  cause.  Such  is  the  state  of  the  question 
now  in  England,  to  some  extent ;  and  the  more  it  assumes  this 
aspect,  the  more  the  friends  of  religion  and  good  order,  who  are 
more  moderate  in  their  views  of  reform,  and  who  are  favour- 
able to  the  establishment,  shrink  back  from  the  cause  of  reform, 
although  they  had  before  supported  it.  A  powerful  reaction,  I 
have  reason  to  believe,  has  already  taken  place  in  the  whig  ranks. 
I  have  conversed  with  a  number,  and  heard  of  others,  who  have 
been  disgusted  and  driven  over  to  the  ranks  of  the  tories  on  ac- 
count of  this  unholy  alliance.*  So  that  the  fair  prospect  is,  as 
this  alliance  is  the  only  ground  that  sustains  the  present  govern- 
ment in  power,  so  it  will  be  the  very  cause,  in  the  end,  which  will 
throw  them  out  of  office ;  or,  should  the  anti-church  party  finally 
succeed  by  the  help  of  such  an  alliance,  the  effect  would  be  to 
throw  the  whole  administration  into  unholy  hands.  We  have  seen 
in  more  than  one  state  in  our  own  country  the  deleterious  effect 
of  such  an  amalgamation  for  political  purposes.  The  purpose  it- 
self may  be  a  good  one,  but  it  must  be  an  extraordinary  case  when 
the  political  good  obtained  in  this  way  is  not  greatly  counterbal- 
anced by  the  moral  and  social  evils  consequent  upon  it.  The 
wicked  and  the  worthless,  by  intrigue,  effrontery,  and  ambition, 
almost  invariably  get  the  control  of  the  party ;  and  if  you  are  de- 
pendant upon  them  to  accomplish  your  measures,  you  must  be 
led  by  them  to  accomplish  theirs.  The  Christian  should  be  cau- 
tious how  he  places  himself  in  such  a  copartnership. 

It  is  a  matter  of  much  surprise  to  many  that  the  present  gov- 
ernment! should  sustain  itself  so  long  as  it  has.  That  it  should 
hold  out  much  longer  can  hardly  be  expected.  A  thorough  tory 
government,  however,  it  is  believed,  can  never  again  sustain  itself 
in  England.  Every  administration  must  admit  of  such  reforms 
and  improvements  as  can  be  safely  adopted  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  of  the  British  constitution,  and,  very  likely,  these 

*  Lord  Stanley,  Sir  Francis  Burdet,  and  even  Sir  Robert  Peel  himself  are  prominent 
cases  of  friendship  to  reform,  but  of  opposition  to  the  present  administration,  for  the  rea- 
sons given  above. 

t  "  The  government,"  in  common  parlance  in  England,  means  the  administration  for 
the  time  being,  or  the  present  ministry. 


552  ENGLAND, 

improvements  will  advance  not  only  to  the  gradual  demolishing  of 
the  ecclesiastical  prerogatives  of  the  establishment,  but  also  to 
the  curtailment  of  the  hereditary  power  and  privileges  of  the  no- 
bility. 

The  present  government  have  certainly  done  some  good.  They 
have  greatly  favoured  the  colonies.  Their  colonial  policy,  so  far 
as  I  can  judge,  has  been  more  liberal  and  enlightened  than  that  of 
any  of  their  predecessors.  There  is  now  in  London  a  dele- 
gation from  New-Brunswick  to  lay  "  at  the  foot  of  the  throne" 
their  complaint  of  sundry  abuses  in  the  administration  of  their 
colony,  and  to  pray  for  a  redress  of  grievances.  They  have  been 
met  most  promptly  and  favourably  by  Lord  Glenelg,  the  minister 
of  the  colonial  department,  and  have,  in  fact,  obtained  all  they 
have  asked  for  their  colony.  This  department  has  also  sought  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  condition  and  wants  of  the  colonies 
by  seeking  information  from  the  most  unquestionable  sources. 
The  Wesleyan  missionary  secretaries  have  often  been  called  to 
the  colonial  office  to  give  information  on  these  topics  ;  information 
which,  in  many  cases,  can  better  be  given  by  them,  perhaps,  than 
by  any  other  men  in  England.  They  watch  with  a  sleepless  eye 
the  moral  and  social  condition  of  the  colonies,  and  their  missiona- 
ries are  communicating  to  them  every  week  from  almost  every 
section  of  the  British  empire.  The  government  certainly  shows 
its  wisdom  in  resorting  to  such  sources  for  information. 

Another  act  of  this  government  worthy  of  high  commendation 
is  the  charter  of  the  London  University,  by  which  literary  degrees 
and  professional  diplomas  can  be  dispensed  now  under  other  au- 
spices than  those  of  the  established  church.  This  is  as  it  should 
be.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  these  degrees  should  have  been 
monopolized  so  long  by  one  sect  (the  high  churchmen  will  pardon 
me  for  calling  them  a  sect  instead  of  the  church)  when  such  a  por- 
tion of  the  nation  was  of  different  sects. 

Similar  to  the  above  was  that  act  by  which  a  royal  charter  has 
been  procured  this  season  also,  and  a  little  before  the  charter  of 
the  London  University,  for  the  Coburg  Academy,  in  Upper  Can- 
ada, under  the  patronage  of  the  Methodists.  This  was  said  to  be 
the  first  charter  of  a  literary  institution  ever  granted  to  dissenters 
by  the  British  government. 


GREENWICH.  558 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

WE  were  much  interested  in  an  excursion  to  Greenwich,  ceie* 
>rated  over  a  great  part  of  the  world  as  the  English  meridian  of 
longitude.  Here,  on  a  beautiful  hill,  stands  the  Royal  Observatory. 
Its  location  is  fine  in  evety  respect  save  one  ;  the  prospect  is,  for 
the  most  part,  obscured  by  a  smoky  atmosphere.  Its  proximity  to 
London,  being  but  five  miles  distant,  the  extended  population 
around  it  in  almost  every  direction,  together  with  the  incessant 
volumes  of  smoke  from  the  steamboats  passing  the  river,  all  unite 
to  obscure  the  naturally  misty  atmosphere  of  the  British  Isles, 
This  must  be  a  great  obstruction  to  astronomical  observations. 

The  instruments  were  very  abundant  and  very  excellent.  The 
mural  circles,  the  equatorial  telescope,  the  transit  instruments,  the 
zenith  sector,  were  splendid  instruments  of  the  kind,  and  worthy 
of  the  Royal  Observatory  of  Greenwich.* 

The  Royal  Hospital  at  Greenwich  for  disabled  seamen,  their 
widows  and  children,  is  one  of  the  most  splendid  charitable  insti- 
tutions I  have  seen  in  Europe.  There  are  four  grand  edifices  de- 
tached from  each  other,  but  yet  so  near  as,  at  a  little  distance,  es- 
pecially from  the  river  Thames,  on  the  right  bank  of  which  it  is 
situated,  to  have  the  appearance  of  one  plan.  The  architecture 
is  fine,  and  the  material  the  Portland  stone.  Here  are  pensioners 
to  the  amount  of  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ten ;  besides 
whom  they  have  about  thirty  thousand  out-pensioners,  who  receive 
an  annual  stipend.  These  pensioners  looked  remarkably  comfort- 
able and  happy.  They  have  books  for  the  aliment  of  the  mind, 
and  a  comfortable,  provision  for  the  body,  besides  two  or  three 
shillings  a  week  for  pocket-money.  There  is  connected  with  the 
institution  a  spacious  chapel,  which  will  accommodate  one  thou- 
sand three  hundred  persons  ;  and  a  splendid  public  hall,  the  ceil- 
ing of  which  is  beautifully  painted  by  Sir  James  Thornton.  In 

*  On  one  of  the  cupolas  is  a  large  ball,  which  is  elevated  on  a  pole,  and  falls,  when  the 
tun  passes  the  meridian,  with  such  a  report  as  to  inform  the  people  for  miles  around  of 
the  precise  hour  of  twelve, 

47  4A 


554  ENGLAND. 

accomplishing  this  work,  he  lay  upon  his  back,  and  painted  from 
the  year  1703  to  1727.  The  designs  are  principally  historical  al- 
legories. Kings  and  queens  are  represented  adorned  with  more 
graces  and  virtues  than  often  falls  to  human  nature,  much  less  to 
royal  blood. 

In  passing  from  the  hospital  to  the  observatory  you  go  through 
a  fine  park,  venerable  with  branching  oaks,  at  the  entrance  of  which 
stands  the  naval  school,  consisting  of  a  centre  and  two  wings,  con- 
nected by  a  colonnade.  Here  are  three  schools,  two  for  boys  of 
four  hundred  each,  and  one  for  girls  of  two  hundred  ;  all  children 
of  seamen  of  the  Royal  Navy.  Thus  liberally  does  England  pro- 
vide for  her  seamen  and  their  children. 

A  railroad  is  just  about  completed  from  London  to  Greenwich, 
constructed  on  arches,  and  appears,  at  a  little  distance,  somewhat 
like  one  of  the  ancient  aqueducts. 

Three  miles  below  Greenwich  is  Woolwich,  which  must  be 
an  object  of  curiosity  to  the  stranger,  as  it  contains  the  royal  dock- 
yard where  one  thousand  hands  are  employed,  and  a  splendid  ar- 
senal. Neither  this  nor  any  of  the  other  towns  on  the  coast  of 
Kent,  many  of  which  are  popular  watering-places,  did  we  find  it 
convenient  to  visit,  with  the  exception  of  Dover,  where  we  stop- 
ped on  our  way  to  the  Continent  in  the  fall  of  1835,  as  already 
mentioned. 

By  reason  of  the  sickness  of  Mrs.  F.,  which  detained  us  a  week, 
I  saw  rather  more  of  Dover  than  I  cared  for.  It  is,  however, 
a  very  interesting  little  town,  containing  about  twelve  thousand 
inhabitants.  Its  chief  interest  consists  in  the  peculiarity  of  its  site 
and  of  the  soil  around  it.  It  is  on  a  level  spot  in  the  form  of  a 
crescent,  bounded  on  the  one  side  by  the  sea,  and  overtopped  on 
the  other  by  the  high  chalky  cliffs  of  which  everybody  has 
heard  who  has  heard  of  Dover.  These  boundaries  are  so  limited 
in  depth  that  the  town  extends  pne  mile  in  length,  and  runs  into 
the  sea  on  the  one  side  and  into  the  cliffs  on  the  other.  Literally 
into  the  cliffs,  for  these  are  so  dry  that  you  may  cut  apartments 
into  the  side  of  the  perpendicular  precipices  without  inconve- 
nience ;  and  the  material  is  such  that  you  can  excavate  it  with 
the  greatest  ease,  and  with  very  little  danger  of  caving  in.  Hence, 
in  the  bowels  of  these  hills  are  not  only  cemeteries  for  the  dead, 


ai 

I 


DOVER.  555 

but  also  domicils  for  the  living,  stables,  covered  fortifications, 
and  barracks.  The  stranger,  in  fact,  finds  curiosities  here  that  he 
cannot  find  elsewhere  in  this  wide  world.  The  material  is  chalk, 
filled  with  small  flint  stones,  most  of  which  have  the  appear- 
ance of  pebbles  ;  as  though  this  entire  mass  had  been  subject  to 
the  abrasion  of  water,  until  the  flints  were  worn  into  pebbles,  and 
then  the  whole  mixed  up  with  a  mass  of  marl  chalk.  These 
ills,  in  short,  are  English  plum-puddings,  the  flour  of  which  is 
chalk,  and  the  plums  flint-pebbles.  And,  to  carry  out  the  anal- 
ogy, like  the  plums  in  a  pudding  not  well  mixed,  or  from  some 
inequality  in  the  consistency  of  the  mass,  you  sometimes  find  these 
flints  settled  into  strata  cutting  the  mass  horizontally  or  a  little 
inclined  to  the  horizon.  These  cliffs  are  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  town,  and  from  three  hundred  and  fifty  to  four 
hundred  feet  in  height.  Immediately  back  of  the  centre  of  the 
town  is  a  horizontal  shaft,  running  back  into  the  mountain,  per- 
haps, a  hundred  yards  ;  and  then  a  perpendicular  shaft,  with  a 
winding  staircase,  carrying  you  up  two  hundred  steps  to  the  bar- 
racks. Still  higher  up  the  hill  are  extensive  fortifications,  parts 
of  which  are  subterranean,  the  tops  of  the  arches  being  twenty- 
four  feet  below  the  surface,  and  containing  bomb-proof  accom- 
modations for  three  thousand  men.  There  are  a  great  number  of 
subterranean  apartments  twenty  feet  in  height.  These  subterra- 
nean fortresses  have  openings  at  the  angles  into  deep  fosses  cut 
round  the  brow  of  the  hill,  which  are  raked  by  cannons  in  a  man- 
ner that  would  render  it  extremely  difficult  for  a  besieging  army 
to  approach  them.  Here,  too,  is  a  well,  sunk  four  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  (ten  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  sea)  to  secure  water 
to  the  garrison  ;  and  two  spacious  tanks  for  water,  holding  each  one 
hundred  thousand  gallons.  On  a  northern  cliff,  separated  from  the 
one  just  mentioned  by  a  deep  romantic  valley,  which  forms  a  prin- 
cipal entrance  into  the  town  from  the  interior,  is  an  ancient  castle, 
well  worth  visiting,  both  for  its  interesting  character,  its  romantic 
situation,  and  the  fine  view  it  affords  of  the  straits,  the  town,  and 
even  of  the  coast  of  France.  The  castle  and  tower  are  supposed  to 
have  been  founded  by  Julius  Caesar.  In  the  side  of  this  cliff  are 
soldiers'  barracks,  now,  however,  occupied  for  magazines.  The 
chimneys  come  up  forty  feet  through  the  mountain,  and  shoot 


556'  ENGLAND. 

out  of  the  top  as  if  they  were  the  flues  of  some  Cyclopean 
artificers,  whose  forges  were  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 

In  ascending  the  winding  avenue  up  to  the  castle,  we  were  at- 
tracted by  the  ringing  of  a  little  bell  by  the  side  of  the  way.  On 
examining,  we  saw  a  cord  attached  to  the  bellyand  extending  quite 
a  distance  to  the  top  of  the  cliff  and  into  the  grated  windows  of 
one  of  the  apartments  of  the  castle,  now  used  for  a  prison.  There, 
through  the  iron  lattice,  a  hand  was  thrust  out,  beckoning  most 
earnestly.  The  whole  was  explained  by  a  little  alms-box  fixed 
near  the  bell,  and  a  card  under  it,,  with  the  following,  tender  in 
scription  : — 

"Oh  ye,  whose  hours  exempt  from  sorrow  flow, 
Behold  the  seat  of  poverty  and  wo. 
Think,  while  your  hands  the  entreated  alms  extend, 
That  what  to  us  ye  give,  to  God  ye  Tend." 

Among  other  curiosities  on  the  cliff  we  saw  a  most  beautiful  gun, 
a  twelve-pounder  twenty-four  feet  long,  cast  at  Utrecht,  in  1544, 
and  given  by  the  states  of  Holland  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  is 
called  Queen  Elizabeth's  pocket-pistol  ~ 

One  mile  from  Dover  Harbour  to  the  south  rises  Sliak- 
speare's  Cliff,  in  a  bold  elevation  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  per- 
pendicular height.  It  is  supposed  to  be  the  cliff  alluded  to  by 
Shakspeare  in  his  "  King  Lear,"  in  the  following  dialogue  be- 
tween blind  Gloucester  and  his  son  Edgar,  disguised  as  a  mad- 
man: — 

Gloucester.  Dost  thou  know  Dover  ? 

Edgar.  Ay,  master. 

Gloucester;  There  is  a  cliff)  whose  high  and  bending  head 
Looks  fearfully  in  the  confined  deep  t 
Bring  me  but  to  the  very  brink  of  it, 
And  I'll  repair  the  misery  thou  dost  bear 
With  something  rich  about  me ;.  from  that  place 
I  shall  no  leading  need,  &c_ 

The  cliff  has  been  DroKen  off  until  it  no  longer  hangs  over,  but 
rather  recedes  towards  the  top.     The  view  from  k-  was  very  fine-. 
We  could  see  the  chalky  cliffs  of  the  coast  of  France ;  and,  in 
the  intervening  straits,  nearly  a  hundred  sail  of  water-craft  of  dif 
ferent  sizes.     The  following  description,  which  the  great  dramat 
rst  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Edgar,  though  doubtless  purposely 
overwrought  by  the  poet,  will,  nevertheless,  help  to  a  vivid  con* 
of  the  view  i — 


DOVER.  557 

"  Come  on,  sir,  here's  the  place — stand  still— how  fearful 
And  dizzy  'tis  to  cast  one's  eyes  so  low ; 
The  crows  and  choughs  that  wing  the  midway  air 
Show  scarce  so  gross  as  beetles  :  halfway  down 
Hangs  one  that  gathers  samphire :  dreadful  trade  I 
Methinks  he  seems  no  bigger  than  his  head. 
The  fishermen  that  walk  upon  the  beach 
Appear  like  mice,  and  yon  tall  anchoring  bark,, 
Diminished  to  her  cock  :  her  cock  a  buoy 
Almost  too  small  for  sight :  the  murmuring  surge^ 
That  on  the  unnumbered  idle  pebbles  chafes, 
Cannot  be  heard  so  high.    I'll  look  no  more, 
Lest  my  brain  turn,  and  the  deficient  sight 
Topple  down  headlong." 

Dover  has  become  rather  popular  of  late  as  a  fashionable 
watering-place.  To  understand  this,  perhaps,  some  of  my  read- 
ers ought  to  be  informed,  that,  in  addition  to  the  great  resort  to 
the  mineral  waters  in  the  interior,  such  as  Bath,  Cheltenham,  &c., 
multitudes  rush  every  year  from  the  interior  to  the  seaside,  for 
sea-bathing,  relaxation,  and  pleasure.  Different  places  have  their 
day  of  popularity,  and  then,  perhaps,  fall  into  discredit,  either  by 
becoming  too  common  and  vulgar,  or  because  some  other  place 
in  the  neighbourhood  offers  greater  advantages,  or  from  some 
other  cause.  Many  of  the  flourishing  villages  on  the  coast  owe 
the  chief  of  their  business  and  wealth  to  this  cause.  Indeed,  it 
is  surprising  to  see  the  extent  of  this  practice  of  resorting  to  the 
seaside.  One  would  think  that  there  was  sea-air  enough  in  any 
part  of  the  island ;  but  the  people  think  differently,  and  hence 
they  go  in  crowds  to  the  coast.  In  our  country  we  should  hardly 
talk  of  a  difference  of  climate,  between  the  parts  of  a  section  of 
territory  as  large  as  the  whole  of  England,  sufficient  materially 
to  affect  the  health.  But  the  English  make  very  nice  distinctions  ; 
talk  about  the  difference  in  small  distances  ;  and,  either  for 
health  or  for  pleasure,  are  constantly  discovering  new  places,  and 
multiplying  their  varieties  indefinitely;  so  that  such  as  do  not 
enjoy  foreign  travel,  make  up  the  lack  by  an  almost  endless 
variety  at  home.  It  all  helps  in  the  diffusion  and  distribution  of 
wealth  ;  and,  wherever  the  nobility  resort,  there  especially  wealth 
flows  in  and  population  increases,  and  everything  bears  an  extrav* 
agant  price.  How  far  this  has  affected  the  prices  at  Dover  I 
cannot  say ;  but  I  found  them  most  extravagant.  England,  in 
fact,  is  the  most  expensive  in  its  tariff  of  duties  upon  the  traveller 
47 


558  ENGLAND. 

®f  any  country  I  ever  travelled  in.  You  have  to  fee,  three  ser- 
vants, at  least,  dai'.y,  viz.,  the  waiter,  the  chambermaid,  and  the 
bootblack,  who  also  acts  as  porter.  To  the  former  two,  each 
individual  pays  about  twenty-five  cents  per  day,  and  to  the  latter 
half  that  sum.  This  income  supports  the  servants,,  and  even 
more  ;  for  there  are  frequent  instances  of  the  servants  hiring  their 
places.  Such  was  the  case  in  our  hotel  in  Dover.  The  princi- 
pal chambermaid,  for  instance,  gave  a  bonus  to  the  landlord  for 
the  privilege  of  taking  care  of  his  bedchambers.  She  then  hired 
her  under-chambermaids,  and  paid  them,  out  of  the  income  from 
the  lodgers. 

I  had  been  in  Dover  a  week  ;  Mrs.  F..  had  been  so  ill  she  was 
unable  to  eat  a  meal  during  the  time ;  and  at  the  close,  our  bill 
at  the  hotel  was  between  forty  and  fifty  dollars.  Let  all  travellers 
who  go  to  Dover  beware  of  the  Ship  HoteL  The  physician 
and  the  apothecary,  on  the  other  hand,  on  whom  I  drew  very 
freely,  would  take  nothing  for  their  services.  One  thing  more, 
also,  is  worthy  of  notice.  During  the  time  of  our  stay  in  Dover, 
I  had  made  myself  known  to  the  people,  and  had  preached  once 
or  twice  in  the  neat  Methodist  chapel,  lately  finished,  and  the 
leading  members,  at  least,  knew  that  I  was  there,,  a  stranger,  and 
with  a  sick  wife  ;  and  yet  not  an  individual,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Wesley  an  Superintendent  of  the  Dover  Circuit,  called  to 
know  whether  we  were  dead  or  alive,  or  to  proffer  to  us  the  least 
assistance  or  sympathy.  Could  such  an  instance  take  place  in 
the  United  States,  in  reference  to  a  minister  of  the  gospel  of  any 
reputation  or  standing  ?  If  there  should  be  such  a  case  in  my  own 
denomination,  I  should  blush  for  my  sect.  I  have  sometimes 
said,  with  respect  to  Dover,  that  we  had  there  illustrated  extor- 
tion>  generosity,  and  inhospitality  to  strangers.  I  will  not  put 
the  epithet  British  before  these  characteristics,  because  I  do  not 
think  the  Dover  case  a.  fair  representation  of  the  nation  ;  and  yet 
the  incidents  here  alluded  to  are  only  strong  shadings  of  what 
are  truly  national  characteristics.  The  liberality  of  the  English 
is  above  all  praise.  Jn  this  respect,  they  are  a  noble  nation. 
They  are  hospitable,  too,  in  their  way ;  but  their  hospitality  is 
more  formal,  more  tardy,  and  at  first,  at  least,  with  more  appa- 
Tent  coldness  than  that  of  most  others.  This  coldness  is  some- 
times withering  to  the  feelings  of  a  stranger ;  and  yet,  perhaps^ 


INCIDENT   AT   DOVER.  559 

where  he  at  first  saw  it  and  felt  it,  he,  after  a  little  acquaintance, 
finds  solid  friendship.  A  stranger  will  never,  at  first,  fall  in  love 
with  the  English  character,  especially  if  he  has  been  accustomed 
to  find  his  enjoyment  in  the  social  sympathies ;  but  a  further  ac- 
quaintance will  disclose  excellences  that  were  at  first  concealed. 

One  incident  more  at  Dover,  which  I  will  mention  for  the  same 
reason  that  I  mention  the  preceding,  because  it  is  illustrative  of 
character.  Our  passage  was  a  most  wretched  one.  Mrs.  F.  and 
myself  had  been  most  miserably  sick  for  the  last  few  hours  of 
the  voyage,  and  when  we  arrived  at  the  harbour  it  was  low  tide, 
and  there  was  no  approaching  the  wharf  but  by  going  some  dis- 
tance in  a  small  boat.  The  wind  was  up,  the  waves  were  rolling, 
and  the  night  was  dark ;  we  chose,  therefore,  cheerless  as  was 
our  condition  on  board,  to  remain  until  we  could  float  up  to  the 
wharf.  This  brought  us  into  town  late  at  night.  Not  expecting 
either  packets  or  stages  at  that  late  hour,  the  waiters,  when  we 
arrived  at  the  public  house,  looked  upon  us  with  suspicion,  espe- 
cially as  we  appeared  wayworn  and  out  of  time.  They  declined 
receiving  us  ;  they  had  "  no  room — no  bed"  We  inquired  for 
another  hotel,  and  were  about  leaving  to  go  to  it,  when,  recollect- 
ing that  Mr.  Lane,  our  travelling  companion,  who  was  coming 
from  London  that  night,  would  expect  to  find  us  at  this  hotel,  I 
said  to  the  waiter,  "  If  a  young  gentleman  in  the  London  coach 
should  inquire  for  Dr.  Fisk,  say  to  him,  I  am  at  the  '  Union.' " 
The  chambermaid  and  waiter  exchanged  looks.  "Don't  you 
think,"  says  the  latter,  "  you  can  give  this  gentleman  the  bed 
you  were  reserving  for  the  gentleman  you  were  expecting  in  the 
coach  ?"  The  thing  was  arranged,  and  we  soon  found  ourselves 
in  a  comfortable  room.  Thus  Dr.  F.  gained  what  the  untitled 
stranger  could  not.  So,  thought  I,  hereafter  I  will  let  the  title 
have  its  weight  if  it  can  profit  me  aught.  I  am  not  sure,  how- 
ever, but  the  title  came  in  to  help  swell  the  bill  at  the  final 
settlement ;  for,  although  a  title  goes  a  good  ways  in  England, 
still  the  lower  classes  expect  pay  for  it.  A  dealer  in  laces,  for 
instance,  thought  it  mean  in  the  present  queen  that  she  objected 
to  the  price  of  his  goods.  Queens,  and  so  of  noblemen,  and 
those  of  still  lower  titles,  are  expected  to  pay,  not  merely  accord- 
ing to  the  worth  of  the  article,  but  also  according  to  their  rank. 

Another  excursion  from  London  was  to  Bedford,  the  county 


560  ENGLAND. 

town  of  Bedfordshire,  fifty  miles  from  the  metropolis,  containing 
about  six  thousand  inhabitants.  A  good  portion  of  the  county 
belongs  to  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  It  is  mostly  agricultural.  The 
town  of  Bedford  is  in  the  midst  of  a  rich  valley  on  the  river 
Ouse,  and  contains  several  institutions,  and  has  in  its  neighbour- 
hood some  localities  very  interesting  from  their  historical  asso- 
ciations. 

Sir  William  Harper,  who  died  in  1566,  gave,  for  a  charity 
school  &c.,  at  Bedford,  about  twelve  acres  of  land,  in  that  part  of 
London  lying  in  the  neighbourhood  of  High  Holborn,  which,  in 
those  days,  was  of  comparatively  little  value.  This  property  is  now 
very  productive,  yielding  about  thirteen  thousand  pounds  sterling 
annually.  -From  this  fund  a  most  beautiful  range  of  Gothic 
school  edifices  has  been  built ;  and  they  now  support  from 
the  fund  a  classical  school,  a  commercial  school,  a  national 
school  of  three  hundred  pupils,  a  blue-coat  school,  for  girls  and 
boys,  a  grammar  school,  an  hospital — besides  supporting  several 
students  at  the  university — giving  money  to  the  boys,  when  they 
are  bound  out  as  apprentices,  from  ten  to  thirty  pounds  sterling ; 
and  money  to  the  girls,  who  are  put  out  to  service,  from  two  to 
five  pounds  sterling  per  annum  ;  and  finally,  twenty  pounds  when 
they  get  married;  and  they  also  contemplate  erecting  another 
girls'  school.  It  is  one  of  the  richest  charities  in  the  country. 
But  there  are,  in  fact,  many  similar  charities  in  England.  There 
is,  probably,  no  country  in  the  world  in  which  there  are  so  many 
valuable  charities  as  in  England.  True,  many  of  them  have 
been  neglected  and  perverted ;  but  government  is  looking  after 
them  with  increased  strictness  and  vigilance. 

John  Bunyan  was  born  at  a  little  place  called  Elstow,  about  a 
mile  from  Bedford  town.  We  visited  the  humble  cottage,  which 
is  still  standing,  and  found  residing  in  it  a  pious  old  couple,  who 
were  astonished  to  see  any  one  from  so  great  a  distance  as  Amer- 
ica, and  particularly  so  to  perceive  that  we  were  not  black.  We 
persuaded  the  good  man  to  give  us  a  chip  from  the  beam  of  the 
house.  Bedford  was  the  place  of  Bunyan's  ministry.  His  chap- 
el is  still  standing,  which  we  visited — sat  in  his  armed-chair — 
saw,  at  Mr.  Hilliard's,  the  present  pastor  of  the  church,  the  jug 
in  which  they  used  to  carry  him  refreshment  when  in  prison ; 
for  it  was  here,  also,  that  he  was  imprisoned  for  his  religion,  and 


BEDFORD.  561 

in  the  Bedford  jail  he  wrote  his  Pilgrim's  Progress.     We  saw, 
also,  at  Mr.  Milliard's,  the  record  book  of  his  church,  entitled 
"A  Booke  containing  a  Record  of  the  Acts  of  a  Congregation  of 
Christ  in  and  about  Bedford"     Many  of  the  entries  of  this  book 
are  in  Bunyan's  own  hand,  and  some  of  them  at  the  very  time  he 
was  in  prison ;  showing  that  he  was  sometimes  permitted  to  come 
out,  which  is  said  to  have  been  by  the  indulgence  of  the  jailer. 
Near  Bedford,  also,  in  Cardington,  was  the  residence  of  How 
ard  the  philanthropist.     We  visited  his  mansion,  as  also  the  parish 
church,  in  which  is  a  tablet  to  his  memory,  with  this  inscription: — 

"  Mr.  John  Howard  died  at  CJierson,  in  Russian  Tartary, 
January  21,  1790,  aged  64.     Christ  is  my  hope" 

In  the  same  church  was  a  monument,  by  Bacon,  to  Samuel 
Whitbread,  Esq.  Here  is  the  family  residence  of  the  Whitbreads, 
the  great  brewers  of  London.  They  are  now  the  owners  of  the 
Howard  estate,  and  how  much  more  I  know  not,  for,  like  many 
others  of  their  profession,  they  have  accumulated  an  immense 
estate  by  manufacturing  ruin  for  the  nation.  One  of  the  present 
family,  together  with  Lord  John  Russell,  son  of  the  Duke  o-f 
Bedford,  used  to  represent  Bedford  in  Parliament ;  or,  in  English 
phrase,  were  "  the  members  "  for  Bedford.  Lord  John,  however, 
in  the  plenitude  of  his  spleen  against  Methodism,  wrote  a  book, 
entitled  "  Memoirs  of  the  Affairs  of  Europe,  from  the  Peace  of 
Utrecht,"  in  which  he  took  occasion  to  censure  Mr.  Wesley  and 
the  Methodists  with  great  freedom  and  flippancy.  This  finished 
his  Parliamentary  career,  so  far  as  the  constituency  of  Bedford  was 
concerned.  The  Methodists  met  him  at  the  next  election,  and 
told  him  plainly  that  a  man  who  could  not  only  vilify  them,  but, 
through  them,  the  cause  of  experimental  religion,  was  not  the 
man  of  their  choice  ;  and,  notwithstanding,  his  lordship,  and  his 
grace  the  duke,  both  made  an  effort  to  reconcile  matters  and  save 
a  defeat — the  apology  come  too  late — Lord  John  was  defeated, 
and  his  colleague  fell  with  him,  defeated  too,  in  the  centre  of  his 
father's  estate,  and  with  all  the  family  influence  to  sustain  him. 
However,  they  have  a  ready  manner  of  accommodating  such  a 
defeat  in  England.  If  a  man,  whose  presence  is  greatly  desired 
in  Parliament  by  his  party,  is  defeated  in  one  place,  he  can  offer 
himself  in  another — anywhere  in  the  kingdom — and  it  is  not  un- 

4A 


662  ENGLAND. 

frequently  the  case  that  an  elected  member  resigns,  in  order  to 
make  a  vacancy  for  a  more  prominent  candidate,  who  has  been 
defeated  in  some  other  place.  Lord  John  is  in  Parliament  still, 
but  he  has  to  seek  constituents  elsewhere  than  in  Bedfordshire. 

We  attended  a  missionary  meeting  in  Bedford,  where  we  had  an 
opportunity  of  noticing  what  is  by  far  too  common  in  England,  and 
carried  to  too  great  excess,  viz.,  public  compliments  and  flattery. 
This,  however,  is  a  small  matter  in  the  great  system.  The  mis- 
sionary meetings  of  England  excite  great  attention,  and  are 
remarkably  well  sustained:  if  the  speakers  would  have  less  of 
personal  flattery  and  aim  less  at  getting  applause,  the  religious  in- 
fluence, I  think,  would  be  better,  and,  of  course,  the  entire  influence 
would  be  improved.  Nevertheless,  it  behooves  us  rather  to  copy 
their  zeal,  and  aim  at  equally  successful  efforts  in  this  holy  cause. 
One  item  in  the  catalogue  of  measures  for  the  promotion  of  the 
missionary  cause  is  what  they  call  a  missionary  tea.  The  Eng- 
lish are  remarkable  for  connecting,  with  all  their  operations, 
"  meats  and  drinks."  By  eating  and  drinking  over  a  subject,  their 
sympathies  are  awakened,  their  social  feelings  are  called  out,  a 
fuller  tone  is  given  to  physical,  and,  of  course,  to  moral  pulsation. 
This  great  business  of  eating  and  drinking,  therefore,  must  be 
incorporated  into  the  missionary  enterprise — hence  the  "  mission- 
ary tea."  This  we  had  at  Bedford  the  day  after  the  missionary 
meeting,  and  it  was  managed  on  this  wise  :  There  was  a  commit- 
tee to  make  the  arrangements.  The  vestry  or  schoolroom  of  the 
church  was  selected  for  the  place.  The  ladies  agreed  each  to 
furnish  a  given  proportion  of  the  vessels,  &c.,  necessary  for  the 
occasion ;  the  cold  ham,  bread  and  butter,  cake,  tea,  &c.,  were 
paid  for  out  of  the  sale  of  the  tickets,  which  were  put  at  a  price, 
not  only  to  cover  the  expense,  but  also  to  yield  a  handsome 
balance  for  the  missionary  cause.  The  young  men  assisted  in 
waiting  on  the  table.  After  tea  several  of  us  were  called  on  to 
give  addresses,  in  addition  to  which  we  had  singing  and  prayers, 
and  much  pleasant  conversation.  The  whole  was  well  calcu- 
lated to  promote  Christian  social  intercourse,  and  to  interweave 
our  sympathies  with  the  hallowed  cause  that  had  brought  us 
together.  These  missionary  teas  are  well  worthy  of  the  atten- 
tion of  American  Christians.  It  is  true  they  might  be  abused  by 
being  left  too  unrestrained,  and  by  suffering  the  lighter  social 


CAMBRIDGE.  563 

feelings  to  take  the  place  of  the  devotional ;  but,  properly  directed, 
they  cannot  fail,  I  think,  to  do  good.  In  the  present  case,  the 
excellent  and  devoted  superintendent  of  the  circuit  gave  the 
whole  a  decidedly  religious  turn,  and  yet  it  was  social  and  free. 

We  took  Cambridge  in  our  route  on  our  return  to  London, 
where  we  spent  two  nights,  and  devoted  our  time  to  an  examina- 
tion of  the  celebrated  university  in  that  town.  The  university  is 
all  that  is  worth  visiting  here.  The  town  lies  low  and  flat,  and  is 
badly  built ;  the  streets  are  indifferent,  and  the  surrounding  scenery 
tame  and  dull.  The  population  is  about  20,000,  and  the  business 
of  the  place  dependent  mostly  upon  the  colleges.  Many  of  the  col- 
leges are  splendid  edifices,  and  some  of  them,  especially  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Cam,  which  sweeps  round  the  north  part  of  the 
town,  and  gives  name  to  it,  are  pleasantly  situated. 

I  dare  not  commence  upon  a  description  of  these  edifices. 
They  are  built  mostly  in  courts  or  quadrangles,  and  of  the  Gothic 
style.  The  entrance  is  frequently  sheltered  by  a  splendid  Gothic 
screen,  the  most  beautiful  of  which  is  a  new  front  of  St.  John's 
College,  on  the  south  of  the  fourth  court.  This  is  magnificent, 
and  several  others  are  very  fine.  King's  College  chapel  is  cele- 
brated for  its  architecture.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  finest  Gothic  struc- 
ture in  the  kingdom.  The  accompanying  print  will  give  the  reader 
some  idea  of  its  external  appearance,  and  a  general  idea  of  the 
style  of  architecture  most  prevalent  in  these  edifices.  It  has 
towers  at  the  corners,  pinnacles  along  the  sides,  and  frequent 
buttresses  in  the  walls.  The  view  within  is  finer  than  that  with- 
out. The  roof  hangs  over  your  head  like  fanwork,  unsupported  by 
a  single  pillar,  and  yet  it  is  all  of  heavy  stone.  If  any  one  asks 
what  supports  it,  I  must  answer,  I  cannot  tell.  It  is  reported 
that  Sir  Christopher  Wren  used  to  say,  "  If  any  man  will  show 
me  where  to  lay  the  first  stone,  I  will  engage  to  build  such  an- 
other ;"  and  it  is  also  said  he  went  once  a  year  to  survey  this 
roof.  There  are  two  roofs,  between  which  I  walked  upright. 
The  lower  roof  constitutes  the  ceiling  of  the  chapel,  and  is  orna- 
mented with  ribs  and  tracery.  The  architect  was  Nicholas  Cloos, 
who  commenced  the  edifice  in  1441,  under  the  direction  and 
patronage  of  Henry  VI. 

The  colleges  are  seventeen  in  number,  and  were  founded  at 
different  times.  The  first  was  St.  Peter's,  in  1257,  and  the  last 


564  ENGLAND. 

was  Downing  College,  founded  in  1800.  Five  were  founded  in  thd 
fourteenth  century,  five  in  the  fifteenth,  and  five  in  the  sixteenth., 
These  colleges  are  of  different  sizes,  and  vary  very  much  in  the 
number  of  undergraduates ;  but  the  whole  number  is  about  two 
thousand.  One  of  the  students  of  Trinity  College,  to  whom  I  had 
letters,  introduced  me  to  his  tutor,  from  whom  I  obtained  what 
information  I  could  for  the  time  ;  and  this,  together  with  the  de- 
scriptions of  the  "  University  Calendar,"  gave  me  a  better  view 
of  this  celebrated  university  than  I  was  ever  before  able  to  form. 
For  the  information  of  American  students  and  such  others  as 
may  feel  interested  in  these  matters,  I  shall  subjoin  a  general 
outline  of  the  constitution  and  regulations  of  this  university.  If 
any  of  my  readers  are  uninterested  in  it,  they  can  pass  over  this 
brief  sketch. 

Each  college  is  a  body  corporate  by  itself,  and  is  bound  by  its 
own  statutes,  has  its  own  funds,  and  educates  separately  and  in- 
dependently its  own  students,  and  has  its  own  collegiate  examina- 
tions. The  college  is  made  up  of,  1.  The  head,  who,  in*all  but 
King's  and  Queen's  College,  is  called  Master.  In  the  former  he 
is  called  provost  and  in  the  latter  president.  2.  The  Fellows, 
who  in  all  the  colleges  but  two,  are  graduates,  and,  generally, 
masters,  or  bachelors,  and  doctors  in  divinity,  civil  law,  or  physic. 
These  fellows  are  a  kind  of  literary  monks :  they  are  bound  tc 
celibacy  while  they  remain  fellows  ;  and,  for  the  most  part,  re* 
quired  to  live  in  Cambridge,  and  can  generally  hold  no  other  living 
or  income,  or,  at  any  rate,  not  above  a  specified  amount.  This 
last  regulation  differs,  however,  in  different  colleges.  They  are 
appointed  for  their  merit  or  scholarship  after  a  rigid  examina- 
tion, and  are  supported  by  funds  appropriated  for  that  purpose, 
by  the  founders,  in  the  respective  colleges.  Some  of  these  fel- 
lowship foundations  are  restricted  to  residents  of  particular  coun- 
ties or  towns,  and  some  even  to  pupils  of  particular  schools. 
Their  advantages  are  rooms  and  commons  free  of  expense,  and 
annual  dividends  of  money,  according  to  the  value  of  the  respect- 
ive foundations.  They  have  also  other  advantages.  All  college 
officers  are  chosen  from  these  fellows,  some  of  which  are  very 
lucrative  and  honourable  ;  and,  besides  this,  each  college  has 
more  or  less  of  benefices  or  church-livings  at  its  disposal,  and  to 
these  livings  the  fellows  are  preferred  by  seniority.  The  whole 


COLLEGES  565 

number  of  fellowships  in  all  the  colleges  is  above  four  hundred. 
These  fellows  eat  in  the  same  room  with  the  students,  although 
they  have  a  higher  seat  and  a  better  table ;  and,  after  they  finish 
their  dinner  in  commons,  they  have  what  is  called  a  "  Combina- 
tion Room"  (an  ominous  name),  where  they  retire  to  drink  wine, 
eat  fruit,  &c.,  and  cultivate  sociality  with  each  other.  They  be- 
long, therefore,  as  will  be  readily  seen,  not  to  the  eremites,  but 
the  cenobites*  They  are  generally  reputed  to  be  fond  of  good 
cheer,  and,  although  the  original  design  was  to  promote  the  cause 
of  literature  and  science  by  the  separate  maintenance  of  a  literary 
community,  yet  I  seriously  doubt  whether  the  institution  answers, 
on  the  whole,  a  valuable  purpose,  I  hope  we  may  never  see 
fellowships  introduced  among  us, 

In  addition  to  the  master  and  fellows,  each  college  has  scholars* 
These  are  graduates  resident  in  the  college,  and  supported  by 
scholarships*  which  are  also  foundations  for  the  support  of  such 
as  may,  on  examination,  be  admitted  to  them,  and  which  afford 
•emoluments  of  different  kinds.  The  instruction  is  given  by  tu- 
tors, who  are  chosen  from  the  fellows,  and  are,  in  fact,  the  prin- 
cipal working  men  in  the  community.  They  are  appointed  by 
the  master,  and  there  is  this  peculiarity,  that  each  student  may 
select  from  among  them  his  own  tutor.  Then  they  have  bursars 
to  attend  to  the  college  estates  and  funds ;  stewards,  chaplains, 
deans,  lecturers,  and  a  great  number  of  porters,  hairdressers, 
cooks,  and  other  inferior  servants. 

Notwithstanding  the  colleges  are,  in  many  respects,  indepen- 
dent of  each  other  and  of  the  university  in  their  operations,  yet 
they  are  all  under  the  paramount  laws  of  the  university.  They 
are  imperium  in  imperio,  and  must  submit  in  all  general  matters 
to  the  higher  sovereignty.  No  degrees  are  conferred  by  the  col- 
lege ;  these  are  the  prerogatives  of  the  university. 

The  university  is  directed  by  a  senate,  consisting  of  doctors  in 
divinity,  law,  and  physic,  and  of  all  who  have  been  admitted  to 
the  degree  of  A.M.,  if  their  names  are  on  the  college  boards,!  or 
if  they  live  in  Cambridge,  or  hold  an  office  in  the  university. 
There  are  belonging  to  this  senate  about  two  thousand  five  hun- 

*  Some  of  these  scholarships  are  also  available  for  undergraduates, 
f  By  this  is  meant  if  they  pay  an  annual  fee  of  from  two  to  four  pounds,  by  which 
they  retain  their  right  to  vote  in  the  senate  when  admitted  masters. 

48 


560  ENGLAND. 

dred  ;  but  twenty-five  is  a  quorum  for  doing  business.  The  offi- 
cers of  the  senate  are,  1.  A  chancellor,  who  is  at  the  head,  is  cho- 
sen by  the  senate  once  in  two  years,  and  is  generally  one  of  the 
principal  noblemen.  2.  A  high  steward.  3.  A  vice-chancellor, 
who  is  elected  annually  by  the  senate,  and  is,  in  fact,  the  officer 
•who  generally  presides  over  the  senate,  as  the  chancellor  is  sel- 
dom here.  4.  Commissary,  &c.,  &c.,  for  the  officers  are  too  nu- 
merous to  be  mentioned.  Among  these  officers  are  two  courts  ; 
one  by  the  high  steward,  and  the  other  by  the  commissary.  The 
limits  of  their  jurisdiction  are,  as  to  persons,  the  students  who 
may  be  impeached  of  felony,  or  any  other  persons  belonging  to 
the  university  ;  as  to  local  limits,  their  jurisdiction  extends  to  a 
mile  distant  from  the  town  in  every  direction,  reckoning  from  the 
extremities.  The  senate  also  adopts  all  the  regulations  necessary 
for  the  government  of  the  university,  in  subordination  to  the  char- 
ters and  the  statutes  of  parliaments,  which  are  the  constitutional 
law,  binding  and  limiting  the  senate.  The  senate  also  elects  two 
members  to  parliament,  and  has  various  other  powers  and  prerog- 
atives. An  ordinance  of  the  senate  is  called  a  grace,  and  the  as- 
sembly of  the  senate  is  called  a  congregation. 

The  annual  income  of  the  university,  independent  of  the  colle- 
ges, is  about  five  thousand  five  hundred  pounds,  which  is  derived 
from  various  sources.  The  university  has  also  an  extensive  influ- 
ence from  church  patronage,  amounting  to  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  livings,  in  addition  to  the  patronage  belonging  to  the  respect- 
ive colleges. 

In  addition  to  the  governmental  powers  possessed  by  the  uni- 
versity, it  has  the  professional  schools  of  divinity,  law,  and  medi- 
cine, and  a  school  of  philosophy  under  its  direction.  Connected 
with  these  schools,  or  otherwise  belonging  to  the  university,  are 
about  twenty-seven  professorships,  which  are  worth,  besides  the 
income  from  their  lectures,  on  an  average,  from  fifty  to  two  hun- 
dred pounds  per  annum.  Two  of  them  have  an  income  of  a  thou- 
sand pounds  each.  Some  of  these  professorships  were  founded 
by  the  king,  and  are,  therefore,  called  regius  professorships  ;  oth- 
ers are  founded  by  private  individuals.*  There  is  a  suite  of  rooms 
in  an  edifice  erected  for  that  purpose,  where  these  professors  lec- 

•*  Many  of  these  professors  are  chosen  by  the  executive  officers  of  the  senate ;  some 
are  appointed  by  the  king,  and  others  are  nominated  by  individuals. 


.  COURSE    OF    STUDY.  567 

ture ;  and  here  also,  in  the  upper  story  of  the  same  edifice,  is  the 
university  library,  consisting  of  about  one  hundred  and  ten  thou- 
sand volumes,  many  of  them  choice  and  rare  books  and  manu- 
scripts. Among  the  latter  is  perhaps  the  oldest  Biblical  manu- 
script extant.  It  is  the  four  Gospels  and  the  Acts,  in  uncial  let- 
ters, on  vellum,  in  Greek  and  Latin.  In  this  library  are  paintings 
and  statuary,  and  various  curiosities.  The  university  has  also  a 
line  senate  house,  a  university  press,  in  which  its  many  classical 
works  have  been  executed,  and  which  is  a  source  of  revenue  to 
the  corporation,  and  a  fine  collection  of  paintings,  called  the  Fitz- 
william  Museum.  This  was  given  by  Richard,  Viscount  Fitzwil- 
liam,  who  died  in  1816,  and  is  the  best  collection  of  the  old  mas- 
ters we  saw  in  England.  Among  them  were  the  works  of  the 
Caraccis,  Paul  Veronese,  Rubens,  &c. 

The  colleges  have  libraries  of  their  own,  some  of  which  we 
visited.  That  of  Trinity  College  contains  about  thirty  thousand 
volumes.  Here  also  we  saw  several  interesting  manuscripts, 
among  which  was  the  original  plan  of  Paradise  Lost,  in  the  hand- 
writing of  Milton,  and  in  the  form  of  a  tragedy;  showing  that  the 
first  conception  of  the  poet  on  this  subject  was  in  a  dramatic 
form,  but  was  afterward  changed  to  the  epic.  Here  are  also  pre- 
served the  globe,  ringdial,  quadrant,  and  compass  which  formerly 
belonged  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  with  many  other  curiosities.  This 
college  boasts  of  having  educated  the  greatest  men  of  the  world  : 
Newton  and  Bacon,  as  also  the  poets  Cowley  and  Dryden,  and 
many  others.  Each  college  has,  in  general,  a  chapel,  a  public 
hall,  a  combination  room,  rooms  for  the  master  and  fellows,  and 
also  rooms  for  the  students,  together  with  the  necessary  refectory 
apartments,  and  lodges  for  the  servants  of  all  grades.  \ 

The  course  of  instruction  and  study  necessary  for  a  degree  is, 
on  the  whole,  not  as  extended  as  in  the  United  States.  It  is  di- 
vided into  three  parts,  viz. :  philosophy,  including  pure  and  mixed 
mathematics  and  astronomy  ;  this  is  about  the  same  as  in  our  col- 
leges. Theological  and  moral,  or,  as  we  should  term  it,  depart- 
ment of  intellectual  and  moral  science  ;  this  is  not  as  extended 
as  our  course  in  the  same  department.  Locke  is  the  text-book  in 
intellectual  philosophy  ;  Duncan  in  logic ;  to  which  if  you  add 
Paley  and  Butler,  you  have  the  great  whole  of  this  important  class 
of  studies.  The  third  division  is  called  belles  lettres,  but  only  em- 


568  ENGLAND, 

braces  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics  and  literature.  In  classical 
studies  they  certainly  make  maturer  scholars  than  we  do,  for  these 
languages  are  studied  eight  years  before  the  pupil  enters  college. 
Here  is  nothing  of  chymistry,.  mineralogy,  geology,  botany,  politi- 
cal economy,  or  rhetoric ;  nor  is  there  need  of  much  hard  study 
in  the  authors  required,  unless  the  student  reads  for  the  honours  ; 
in  that  case  he  needs  to  apply  himself  closely,  especially  to  the 
mathematics,  which  are  the  principal  thing  at  Cambridge.  They 
are  pretty  strict  in  requiring  students  to  keep  term,,  as  they  call  it  f 
that  is,  be  present  in  Cambridge,  and  attend  to  some  of  the  duties,, 
such  as  dinners,  and  prayers  also,  at  least  once  a  day  °r  and  if  they 
are  guilty  of  any  small  offence,  they  are  required,  as  a  punishment, 
to  attend  prayers  twice  a  day.  A  good  way  this  to  bring  praying 
into  bad  odour.  As  to  study,  they  may  attend  to  that  or  let  it 
alone.  They  arer  in  general,  not  even  examined  when  they  en- 
ter, but  must  bring  a  certificate  from  some  master  of  arts  that  they 
are  suitable  persons  I®  enter.  The  students  have  examinations' 
before  the  college,  attend,  if  they  please,  the  lectures  of  the  tutor 
and  of  the  professors  of  the  university,  and  frequently,  in  addition, 
have  a  private  tutor.  They  have  two  examinations  before  the  uni- 
versity. One  in  the  second  year,  called  the  previous  examination? 
and  one  at  the  close  of  their  collegiate  course. 

At  the  previous  examination,,  which  is  before  four  examiners 
appointed  by  the  senate  of  the  university,  and  who  have  twenty 
pounds  each  for  attending  to  that  duty,  the  junior  sophs,  as  they 
are  called,  are  examined  in  one  of  the  four  Gospels  or  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  in  the  original  Greek,  Faley's  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity, one  of  the  Greek  and  one  of  the  Latin  classics-.  It  i» 
often  the  case  that  the  student  has  not  looked  at  his  authors  until' 
perhaps  a  few  weeks  before  the  examination.  He  then  gets  him 
a  private  tutor,  and  commences  what,  in  the  Cambridge  technics? 
is  called  cramming;  a  very  expressive  appellation,  a-nd  one- 
which  we  give  to  the  method  of  fattening  turkeys  speedily  by 
cramming  down  their  throats  more  than  they  would  naturally  be 
inclined  to  eat.  So  these  tutors  cram  their  students,  against  their 
stomachs,  doubtless,  to  prepare  them  in  a  short  time  for  the  exam- 
iner's knife.  The  fat  acquired  in  this  way  is  probably  lost  about 
as  speedily  as  gained.  However,  they  can  be  crammed  again  for 
the  second  examination^  which  takes  place  preparatory  to  a  degree. 


UNIVERSITY    EXAMINATIONS.  569 

All  who  present  themselves  to  this  examination  are  called  ques- 
tionists.  The  first  exercise  is  three  questions  :  one  taken  from 
the  Principia  of  Newton,  one  from  some  other  writer  in  mathe- 
matics or  philosophy,  and  one  from  Locke,  Paley,  or  Butler. 
These  questions  the  respondent,  as  he  is  called,  pledges  himself 
to  maintain  against  all  opposition.  The  moderator  assigns  three 
opponents  to  oppose  this  respondent.  At  the  time  appointed  he 
appears  and  reads  a  Latin  thesis  on  one  of  the  questions,  at  his 
own  option  ;  generally  it  is  the  moral  question.  Whether  the  re- 
spondent writes  his  own  theme  cannot  be  known,  and,  therefore, 
unless  he  should  be  called  upon  as  an  opponent  to  some  other, 
this  examination,  so  far  as  he  is  concerned,  may  be  said  to  go  for 
nothing.  To  him  the  opponents  answer  in  turn.  Then  another 
respondent  is  brought  on,  and  so  of  the  rest  The  most  part  wha 
graduate  go  out,  as  they  term  it,  in  the  pol ;  an  abbreviation  of 
*«7  fl-oAAo/,  meaning  that  they  graduate  with  the  multitude.  They, 
it  is  true,  have  a  further  examination,  but  in  mathematics  it  only 
extends  to  arithmetic,  algebra,  and  Euclid ;  and  in  the  classics  to 
the  first  six  books  of  Homer  and  six  of  Virgil ;  less  than  our  col- 
leges require  to  enter ;  and  in  moral  and  intellectual  science  they 
are  examined  in  Paley's  Evidences  and  Philosophy,  and  in  Locke ! 
A  little  cramming  soon  fits  them  for  this.  And  this  is  all  to  ob- 
tain a  degree  at  the  University  of  Cambridge  !*  It  is  true,  those 
who  present  themselves  for  the  mathematical  honours  undergo  a 
more  rigid  and  severe  trial,  and  are  carried  over  the  general  range 
of  the  ordinary  course  of  mathematics,  pure  and  mixed.!  All  the 
examinations  are  conducted  in  a  manner  entirely  different  from 
ours.  The  questions  or  problems  are  all  printed,  and  distributed 
to  those  who  are  to  be  examined,  and  they  are  allowed  a  given 
time,  and  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  and  nothing  else  to  make  out  their 
written  answers.  These  are  done  in  the  presence  of  the  exam- 
iners and  moderator,  who  take  the  papers,  and,  after  examining 
them,  assign  the  rewards  or  prizes  to  the  most  meritorious.  This 
saves  the  embarrassment  of  an  extempore  answer,  and  more  cer- 
tainly calls  out  the  knowledge  of  the  student  than  our  method. 

*  Sometimes  the  questionist  fails  even  in  this,  and  is  denied  his  degree.  This  they 
call  being  plucked. 

t  This  is  called  the  examination  of  the  tripos,  probably  because  the  patients  used  to 
sit  on  a  three-legged  stool.  The  technics  of  Cambridge  are  amusing,  not  to  say  ludicrous, 
&r  I  suppose  it  will  not  do  to  apply  the  latter  term  to  this  ancient  seat  of  learning. 

48  4C 


570  ENGLAND. 

The  student  who  passes  the  best  examination  in  the  senate-notise 
is  called  senior  wrangler,  and  then  follow  the  other  wranglers  in 
their  respective  grades,  all  arranged  according  to  their  rank. 

On  the  whole,  this  system  of  education  seems  very  defective. 
No  wonder  it  should  confer  degrees  on  thousands  of  blockheads, 
and  no  wonder  it  should  learn  thousands  of  youths  to  be  ensnared 
and  corrupted  by  vicious  influences.  There  seems  very  little  pa- 
ternal watchcare  over  these  youths  ;  very  little  prompting  to  duty. 
Ambition  and  rivalry  are  the  great  motives  by  which  any  are 
prompted  to  action,  and,  of  course,  feelings  are  begotten  that  con- 
travene all  the  principles  of  the  gospel,  even  in  the  minds  of  those 
inost  attentive  to  their  collegiate  duties. 

The  students  are  generally  of  the  nobility  or  gentry,  and  the 
expenses  are  considerable.  A  few  fag  up,  that  is,  maintain  them- 
selves by  menial  services.  Some  have  exhibitions,  a  term  ex- 
pressive of  certain  allowances  for  the  support  of  undergraduates 
from  specific  funds  willed  or  appropriated  for  that  purpose,  and 
belonging  sometimes  to  the  college,  and  sometimes  to  some  lower 
school,  and  sometimes  to  particular  trades  and  companies,  as  to 
the  carpenters,  fishmongers,  hatters,  &c.,  of  London.  The  stu- 
dent deposites  a  sum  at  his  entrance  called  caution  money,  viz. : 
noblemen,  fifty  pounds ;  fellow-commoners,  twenty-five  pounds  ; 
pensioners,  fifteen  pounds  ;  and  sizers,  ten  pounds  each.  This 
caution  money  is  to  secure  their  attention  to  certain  academic  ex- 
ercises, which,  if  not  attended  to,  the  money  is  forfeited.  Money, 
it  seems,  win  secure  at  Cambridge  almost  any  exemption  from 
duty,  and  gain  almost  any  college  degree.  There  is  also  another 
entrance  fee  to  the  college  of  from  six  to  eighteen  shillings,  ac- 
cording to  the  rank  of  the  student,  for  the  expenses  are  mostly 
graduated  by  rank  ;  and  also  another  to  the  university  called 
matriculation  fee,  graduated  in  the  same  proportions  as  the  cau- 
tion money,  viz. :  noblemen,  ten  pounds  ;  fellow-commoners,  five 
pounds  ;  pensioners,  two  pounds  ten  shillings ;  sizers,  one  pound 
five  shillings  each.  These  are  also  precisely  the  sums  paid 
quarterly  for  tuition,  with  the  exception  of  the  sizer,  who  pays 
but  fifteen  shillings  tuition-fees.  Besides  this,  there  are  fees  for 
everytMng.  I  will  not  attempt  to  enumerate  all  the  small  expen- 
ses that  are  required  of  the  student  in  his  progress.  The  fees  for 
bachelor's  degree  varies,  at  the  different  colleges,  from  two  to  four 


CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY.  571 

or  five  pounds  sterling,  and  for  the  higher  degrees  still  in  advance 
according  to  the  dignity  of  the  degree.  The  highest  I  noticed 
was  twenty-seven  pounds  thirteen  shillings. 

It  should  be  noticed,  in  respect  to  the  preceding  grades,  that 
a  fellow-commoner  is  the  younger  son  of  a  nobleman,  or  a  young 
man  of  fortune,  who  has  the  privilege  of  dining  with  the  fellows  , 
pensioners  form  the  great  body  of  the  students,  and  are  such  as 
pay  for  their  commons,  chambers,  &c. ;  sizars  are  the  poorer 
class  of  students,  and  have  their  commons  free. 

To  one  who  is  disposed  to  make  the  best  use  of  his  time, 
whether  he  be  an  undergraduate,  or  a  student  in  the  professional 
schools,  or,  in  fact,  holding  any  other  relation  to  the  university, 
there  are  in  Cambridge  great  advantages.  The  material  for 
learning  is,  for  the  most  part,  here  ;  and  here  are  many  learned 
men  :  but  here,  also,  is  much  sinecurism,  much  idleness,  much 
to  tempt  the  footsteps  of  the  young  astray.  The  funds  that  are 
here  available  might  be  laid  out  to  much  better  advantage,  and 
the  university  might  be  much  better  adjusted  to  the  present  state 
of  literature  and  science.  There  is  not,  for  example,  any  chymi 
cal  apparatus,  except  what  belongs  to  the  professor  as  his  private 
property — a  most  vital  deficiency  this — and  others  might  be 
mentioned.  There  is,  in  fact,  at  Cambridge,  more  form  than 
study ;  and  the  arrangement  and  operations  of  this  ancient  and 
venerable  seat  of  learning  are  more  suited  to  the  purposes  of  ex- 
ternal pomp — to  public  display — to  the  pampering  of  an  over- 
grown aristocracy — to  the  sustaining  of  a  defective  church 
establishment,*  than  to  the  great  purposes  of  intellectual  and 
moral  elevation.  I  say  this  with  the  greatest  respect  for  the 
learned  men  who  are  now  there  or  have  there  been  educa- 
ted. Why  should  there  not  be  great  men  there  ?  With  two 
thousand  undergraduates,  with  between  four  and  five  hundred 
fellows,  who  have  none  of  the  anxieties  of  domestic  or  public 
life  ;  who  have,  in  fact,  nothing  to  do  but  to  cultivate  science — 
besides  more  than  as  many  more  men,  in  the  different  offices  of 
the  colleges  and  the  university — what  ought  not  the  world  to  ex- 
pect ?  There  should  appear  not  merely  an  occasional  star,  bu 
the  whole  sensible  horizon  of  Cambridge  should  be  one  expanded 

*  Every  student,  before  he  is  admitted  to  his  degree,  must  take  an  oath  that  he  is- 
bonajidet  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  by  law  established. 


572  ENGLAND. 

galaxy  of  crowded  constellations.  But  is  it  so?  and  is  there 
not  some  serious  defect  in  all  this  splendid  array  of  wealth  and 
show,  when  the  results  are  so  much  below  what  they  should  be  ? 
No  man  can  look  at  Cambridge  without  admiration,  and  almost 
veneration  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  must  be  with  mingled  regret. 

Evangelical  piety,  it   is  thought,  has  in  Cambridge,  as  else 
where  in  the  kingdom,  advanced  within  a  few  years.     To  this 
Mr.  Simpson  has  contributed  much.     He  deservedly  stands  in 
high  repute  here  ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  savour  of  an  influ- 
ence like  his  may  be  greatly  extended. 

Our  next  excursion  from  London  was  to  his  majesty's  royal 
residence  at  Windsor  Castle.  This  is  twenty-two  and  a  half 
miles  from  London,  up  the  Thames.  In  going  thither  we  pass  the 
beautiful  parks,  and  many  other  beautiful  and  interesting  objects. 
It  seems,  in  fact,  most  of  the  way,  like  a  continuous  city.  Twenty 
miles  out  is  Slough,  the  late  residence  of  Sir  William  Herschel. 
Here  we  saw,  still  standing,  the  frame  of  his  large  telescope.  He 
has  gone  where  he  needs  no  telescope,  and  his  son  has  left  Eng- 
land to  point  his  glass  into  the  southern  hemisphere  from  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Two  miles  farther  is  Eton,  celebrated  for 
its  classical  school,  founded  by  Henry  VI.  in  1441.  It  is  the 
great  literary  gymnasium  for  the  children  of  the  nobility,  and  the 
most  wealthy  and  aristocratical  of  the  gentry.  The  number  of 
pupils,  I  believe,  is  between  three  and  four  hundred.  Some  of 
the  peculiarities  of  the  school  are,  that  it  consumes  a  great  por- 
tion of  childhood  and  youth  in  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages, 
and  sanctions  the  practice  of  fagging ;  the  younger  pupils, 
whether  they  be  noble  or  gentle,  serve  the  elder — by  doing  their 
errands,  blacking  their  shoes,  and  performing  other  menial  offices  ; 
and  the  senior  students  have  power  to  exact  obedience  and  ser- 
vice by  corporeal  punishment.  This  is  doubtless  often  abused ; 
at  any  rate,  our  country  youth,  Zerah  Colburn,  complained  bit- 
terly of  the  cruelties  practised  upon  him  when  placed  in  this 
school ;  and  he  and  his  father  took  such  a  stand  against  it  as 
finally  secured  him  an  exemption  from  such  impositions.  This 
irreconcilable  opposition  of  a  Vermont  peasant  to  the  Eton  aris- 
tocracy shows  the  misconceptions  of  some  respecting  this  school. 
"  Surely,"  they  say,  "  you  cannot  complain  that  Eton  is  aristo- 
cratic, when  noblemen,  as  well  as  others,  are  subjected,  in  their 


WINDSOR.  573 

turn,  to  the  same  servitude."  Most  certainly ;  it  is  the  quintes« 
sence  of  aristocracy ;  and  nowhere  but  in  an  aristocratic  coun- 
try could  such  an  institution  be  maintained.  It  is  true,  the 
hereditary  aristocrat  for  a  time  submits  to  it.  But  it  is  on  the 
same  principle  that  the  pope  sometimes  washes  and  kisses  the 
dirty  feet  of  the  devotees  at  the  Hospital  of  the  Pilgrims — it  is  a 
part  of  the  system,  and  the  pope  must  do  a  little  at  it,  in  due  form, 
to  set  an  example  for  others.  Our  countryman,  Irving  (I  quote 
from  memory,  and  do  not  give  his  exact  words),  in  describing  a 
rich  English  gentleman's  apparent  devotion  and  loud  responses 
in  a  country  parish  church,  looking,  as  he  occasionally  did,  upon 
the  poor  parishioners  around  him,  as  if  he  should  say,  "  Look  at 
me,  and  follow  my  example,"  compares  him  to  a  magistrate, 
who  sups  down  the  broth  prepared  for  the  parish  paupersy  smacks 
his  lips,  and  commends  the  soup,  saying,  "  See  how  I  eat  it — it 
is  good  enough  for  the  poor."  This  is  the  principle  at  Eton. 
The  boys  of  the  nobility  will/ag-  a  few  terms  at  school,  that  they 
may  set  the  example  to  that  part  of  the  nation  who  must  fag  all 
their  lives  for  them.  "  See  how  I  submit  to  it — it  is  good  enough 
for  the  poor." 

There  always  will  be  poor  and  rich — those  who  labour  and 
those  who  are  exempt  from  it :  and  far  be  it  from  me  to  excite  in 
the  breasts  of  the  former  the  rankling  feelings  of  envy  towards 
the  more  fortunate  and  wealthy.  What  I  complain  of  in  England 
is,  that  society  is  formed  and  maintained  on  such  an  artificial 
principle,  that  every  layer  in  the  social  strata  is  compelled,  in  a 
great  measure,  to  keep  its  position.  The  social  elements  are  not 
free  to  find  their  own  level,  restrained,  as  they  are,  by  the  super- 
incumbent weight,  girded  and  bound  down  by  the  very  structure 
and  framework  of  society. 

But  enough  of  this  here.  Passing  Eton  a  half  mile  you  reach 
Windsor,  an  ancient  borough,  containing  about  seven  thousand 
inhabitants,  situated  upon  the  side  of  a  hill  rising  up  from  the 
bank  of  the  Thames,  and  upon  the  top  of  which  towers  the  mag- 
nificent castle.  It  is  a  residence  worthy  of  a  king.  It  has.  a 
terrace  around  it,  which  has  been  considered  one  of  the  noblest 
walks  in  Europe.  There  are  numerous  towers  and  apartments  ; 
one  is  called  the  Round  Tower,  situated  between  the  two  princi- 
pal courts,  which  rises  above  the  rest,  and  exhibits  a  splendid 

4C 


574  ENGLAND. 

panorama.  The  Royal  Park,  and  the  neighbouring  grounds  and 
villages,  and  the  meandering  river  in  the  vale  below,  are  all  mag- 
nificent. The  view,  also,  is  extensive  ;  it  is  said,  twelve  counties 
are  discerned  from  this  tower  by  the  naked  eye.  This  castle  has 
been  a  royal  estate  ever  since  William  the  Conqueror.  Succes- 
sive monarchs  have  enlarged  and  improved  it.  In  the  reign  of 
George  III.  it  was  greatly  improved  ;  and  still  more  under 
George  IV.,  who  lavished  a  part  of  his  extravagance  here.  To 
him,  chiefly,  is  the  castle  indebted  for  its  splendid  collection  of 
paintings  and  its  princely  furniture.  We  were  fortunate  in  our 
day — the  king  was  gone  to  town,  which  left  the  apartments  free 
for  the  gaze  of  strangers ;  and  the  Wesleyan  minister,  being  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  the  members  of  the  domestic  court,  pro- 
cured for  us  admittance  into  the  various  apartments.  These  I 
will  not  attempt  to  describe  in  detail ;  but  the  wealth  and  magnif- 
icence of  a  nation  are  here.  We  went  into  the  rooms  of  the 
gold  plate,  and  such  a  display  of  magnificence  and  wealth  I  never 
before  beheld.  The  plates,  turrenes,  goblets,  saucepans,  salts, 
fruit-dishes — in  short,  every  form  of  dish  that  the  most  refined 
luxury  could  require,  many  of  them  set  off  with  brilliants  and 
precious  stones,  filled  two  large-sized  rooms.  I  counted  one  pile 
of  gold  dining-plates,  amounting  to  between  four  and  five  hun- 
dred. The  cost  of  these  dining-sets  and  other  dishes  was  from 
ten  to  fifteen  millions  of  dollars.  This  is  one  of  the  methods  by 
which  the  British  national  debt  has  accumulated. 

This  splendid  plate  is  not  used  ordinarily,  but  only  on  state 
occasions.  Silver  answers  for  common  use.  And  for  whom  is 
all  this  expenditure  and  profligacy  ?  For  a  frail,  erring  mortal, 
like  ourselves.  The  poor  old  king — his  present  majesty,  William 
IV. — has  not  vital  energy  enough,  with  all  his  sparkling  appara- 
tus and  tempting  luxuries  around  him,  to  keep  awake  during  his 
ordinary  dinner ;  but  uniformly,  after  the  cloth  is  removed,  he 
falls  asleep  in  his  chair ;  and  as  it  is  a  part  of  the  court  etiquette 
for  none  to  speak  or  leave  the  table  while  the  king  sleeps,  the 
household  who  dine  with  him  are  obliged  to  sit  in  mute  dignity, 
till  his  majesty  finishes  his  nap.*  Thi*  was  communicated  to 
one  of  our  party  by  a  member  of  the  domestic  court. 

Near  the  castle  is  the  collegiate  church  of  Windsor,  called  St. 
*  He  has  since  fallen  asleep  in  death — (1837), 


ST.  GEOXGE'S  CHAPEL.  575 

George's  Chapel.  It  is  an  elegant  specimen  of  architecture  of 
the  kind — it  being  of  the  florid  Gothic- — although  the  style  itself 
had  its  origin  in  a  corruption  of  taste.  In  this  edifice  are  the 
tombs  of  several  of  the  kings,  and  a  number  of  other  members  of 
the  Brunswick  family.  In  one  of  the  chapels  is  a  most  touching 
and  elegant  monument  to  the  Princess  Charlotte,  erected  by 
subscription,  from  the  designs  of  M.  Wyatt,  Esq.  In  design  and 
execution  it  is,  to  my  eye,  a  masterly  production ;  it  is  pathetic — 
it  is  the  very  eloquence  of  pathos. 

This  chapel  was  erected  in  honour  of  the  Knights  of  the  Garter, 
and  its  ceiling  is  hung  with  their  banners. 

We  happened  in  at  the  time  of  service,  which  is  performed 
here  morning  and  evening,  at  half  past  ten  and  four.  The  exer- 
cises were  a  fac-simile  almost  of  the  Catholic  service  ;  all  artifi- 
cial— prayers  chanted — responses  made  by  a  company  of  boys, 
habited  for  the  service  with  what  would  have  been  white  canoni- 
cals if  they  had  been  clean,  joining  in  the  responses  in  the  most 
heartless  and  careless  manner  conceivable.  I  believe,  from  my 
heart,  that  such  a  service  is  an  abomination  to  the  Most  High. 
How  much  of  the  trappings,  and,  I  may  add,  of  the  spirit  of 
Babylon,  still  hangs  round  what  is  so  often  called  the  "  venera- 
ble church  establishment"  of  England. 

The  two  parks  adorning  the  neighbourhood  of  Windsor  Cas- 
tle cover  twenty-three  hundred  acres ;  one  of  them,  fourteen 
miles  in  circumference,  is  traversed  by  what  is  called  the 
"  long  walk" — a  most  splendid  avenue,  extending  out  in  front 
of  the  magnificent  terrace.  Near  the  farther  end  of  this  is  a 
royal  lodge  and  sheet  of  water,  called  "  Virginia  water,"  for  Majesty 
to  sport  upon.  But  as  I  have  much  to  see,  and,  of  course, 
much  to  say  yet  of  England,  I  cannot  stop  to  visit  or  describe 
all  the  interesting  objects  in  and  around  this  royal  residence. 
It  is  said  to  be  the  most  splendid  palace  of  the  English  monarch ; 
but  whether  it  is  or  not  I  cannot  judge,  for  I  was  inside  of  no 
other.  Indeed,  I  had  become  so  weary  of  visiting  palaces  while 
on  the  continent,  I  had  very  little  desire  to  enlarge  my  observa- 
tions on  this  class  of  subjects.  I  have  seen  enough  to  be  con- 
vinced that  his  majesty  of  England  is  a  most  wealthy  king  of  a 
most  wealthy  kingdom.  I  di-d  not  even  see  the  king  ;  I  saw  his 
coach  and  six,  and  infe-rred  he  was  in  it ;  but  whether  he  was  or 


576  ENGLAND. 

not  was  of  little  consequence  :  his  coach  was,  doubtless,  a  finer 
sight  than  he  would  be.  It  is  said  to  be  a  very  common  thing  for 
our  countrymen  to  be  introduced  at  the  queen's  levee.  Our 
charge  informed  a  friend  of  mine  that  more  citizens  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  applied  to  be  introduced  to  their  majesties  than  of 
all  other  countries  put  together.  Our  republicans,  it  seems,  have 
a  great  desire  to  see  the  splendour  of  majesty  and  of  a  royal 
court ;  for  myself,  I  thought  it  not  worth  the  trouble. 

We  left  London  July  19th,  for  Birmingham,  the  seat,  the  pres 
ent  year,  of  the  Wesleyan  Annual  Conference.  The  first  day 
brought  us  to  Oxford,  where  we  spent  two  nights,  for  the  purpose 
of  examining  this  ancient  seat  of  learning.  But  as  I  have  spent  so 
much  time  and  paper  in  describing  Cambridge  University,  I  shall 
say  but  little  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  especially  as  the  essen- 
tial features  of  the  two  institutions  are  the  same.  A  few  things, 
however,  may  be  worthy  of  notice.  Oxford  is  a  far  more  beautiful 
town  than  Cambridge — its  environs  are  fine,  and  the  country 
around  fertile — many  of  the  walks  are  delightful,  and  the  streets 
are  good  and  very  well  built. 

The  state  of  morals  here  is  thought  to  be  better  than  at  Cam 
bridge,  and  they  are  much  greater  sticklers  for  high  churchism 
than  at  Cambridge.  At  the  latter  place  the  student  cannot  take 
his  degree  without  swearing  his  allegiance  to  mother  church,  but 
in  Oxford  he  must  do  this  before  he  can  enter.  Rev.  Mr.  Hill  stands 
at  Oxford  in  the  place  of  Rev.  Mr.  Simpson  at  Cambridge.  The 
Oxford  apostle,  however,  is  more  decidedly  Calvinistic,  and  more 
strenuous  in  his  notions  of  the  exclusive  claims  of  "the  church." 
Around  him  the  more  pious  students  gather  as  their  leader,  and,  of 
course,  they  drink  into  his  notions  and  spirit.  It  is  greatly  to  be  la- 
mented that  these  views  of  doctrine  and  succession  are  so  prevalent 
among  those  who  call  themselves  evangelical  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. Indeed,  the  arrogancy  of  the  church  of  England  in  these 
matters  cannot  be  tolerated.  It  is  subversive  of  some  of  those  best 
principles  on  which  Protestants  in  general  depend  for  the  spread 
of  the  Gospel,  and  promotive  of  the  most  arrogant  and  exclusive 
claims  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  I  cannot  conceive  how  the 
premises  of  the  secessionists  in  the  church  can  be  granted  with- 
out leading  directly  to  the  Romish  Church,  as  the  one  most  un- 
questionably entitled  to  the  character  of  the  true  church.  I  met, 


OXFORD  577 

in  Italy,  a  clerical  gentleman  from  Natchez,  United  States,  who 
had  given  up  his  charge  as  an  Episcopal  minister,  and,  with  his 
wife  and  two  children,  had  gone  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome  to  find 
the  true  church ;  and  on  Palm-Sunday  he  formally  renounced  his 
Protestantism,  and  took  upon  him  the  Roman  yoke.  The  reasons 
he  assigned  to  me  for  this,  for  I  had  many  long  and  faithfu1 
dialogues  with  him  on  the  subject,  were  precisely  those  which 
the  high  church  clergy  in  England  and  America  assign  for  claim- 
ing to  be  the  exclusive  church  of  Christ ;  if  the  succession  of 
the  priesthood  and  the  line  of  bishops  from  the  apostles  be  the 
only  criterion  of  the  true  church,  then  truly  the  Church  of  Rome 
has  the  strongest  claims,  and  all  who  dissent  from  her  are  schis- 
matics and  heretics.  The  Church  of  England  is,  in  fact,  a  little 
more  exclusive  than  popery,  for  although  the  Episcopacy  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  the  United  States  was  derived 
from  the  English,  the  latter,  nevertheless,  exclude  the  former  from 
their  pulpits ;  even  an  American  bishop  is  not  allowed  to  preach 
in  the  most  obscure  parish  church  in  England. 

Mr,  Hill  and  his  coadjutors  have  engaged  in  writing  and  pub- 
lishing tracts  of  late,  some  of  which  fell  into  my  hands — and 
what,  kind  reader,  do  you  think  is  the  object  of  these  zealous 
tract  distributors  ? — not  to  get  unbelieving  sinners  converted — not 
to  teach  the  important  experimental  and  practical  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel,  but  to  impress  the  common  people  with  the  danger  and 
heresy  of  going  to  the  meetings  of  the  dissenters.  Whatever 
may  be  the  character  of  the  parish  clergyman,  his  is  the  true 
ministry  ;  the  dissenter  is  a  schismatic,  and  must  not  be  counten- 
anced. This  is  the  great  work  of  the  evangelical  party  at  Oxford. 
This  is  a  leading  feature  in  the  great  reform  that  is  said  to  be 
going  on  among  the  clergy  of  the  establishment.  To  this  ftiey 
add  a  strong  spice  of  Calvinism,  bearing  in  many  instances  a 
very  close  relation  to  antinomianism.  With  this  spirit  and  doc- 
trine, what,  after  all,  can  be  hoped  from  such  a  church  for  the 
conversion  of  the  world  ? 

The  university  contains  twenty  colleges  and  five  halls.  The 
halls  at  this  place  are  on  the  same  footing  as  to  literary  advan- 
tages and  university  honours,  but  have  not  the  same  charters  and 
funds  with  the  colleges.  In  this  respect  they  differ  from  Cam- 
bridge, where  the  halls  and  colleges  are  the  same.  In  point  of 
49 


578  ENGLAND. 

architecture,  the  college  buildings  at  Oxford  do  not  compare  with 
those  of  Cambridge.  The  edifices,  for  the  most  part,  appeared  old 
and  weather-beaten.  Some  of  the  buildings  are  more  modern. 
Among  these  is  the  RadclifTe  Library,  which  is  very  well  as  a 
monument,  but  is  anything  but  a  convenient  edifice  for  a  library 
It  is  a  rotunda,  with  a  dome ;  above  the  floor  for  the  library  is 
a  circular  gallery,  under  which  are  the  books.  The  room  is  too 
dark  and  every  way  inconvenient.  There  are  about  15,000 
volumes  in  this  great  cenotaph  of  Dr.  Radcliffe,  who  was  the 
founder  of  the  library.  He  left  forty  thousand  pounds  for  its 
erection,  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  per  annum  for  the  librarian, 
one  hundred  pounds  for  the  purchase  of  books,  and  the  same  sum 
for  repairing  the  edifice  annually.  From  the  dome  there  is  a  fine 
view  of  the  town  and  adjoining  country.  Robert  Hall  was  so 
enchanted  with  the  view,  that  he  called  it  the  "  New  Jerusalem 
descending  from  heaven ;"  but  his  brother,  Andrew  Fuller,  was 
desirous  of  hastening  down,  to  go  to  his  lodgings  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  the  doctrine  of  "  Justification  by  faith  !"  These 
anecdotes  are  remembered  and  repeated,  in  order  to  illustrate  the 
characteristics  of  these  two  eminent  men.  Perhaps  I  did  not 
feel  the  enthusiasm  of  the  former ;  but  I  felt  no  haste,  I  confess, 
to  descend  from  this  commanding  observatory  to  discuss  any 
question  in  philosophy  or  theology. 

There  is  a  very  good  collection  in  natural  history  called  the 
Ashmolean  Museum.     It  is  said  to  be  the  first  collection  for  va 
rieties  in  art  or  nature  ever  established  in  England.     The  founda 
tion  was  by  a  donation  from  Elias  Ashmole,  in  1677. 

In  a  quadrangle  called  the  Schools,  an  edifice  belonging  to  the 
university,  and  used  for  examinations  and  other  public  purposes, 
is  tHe  Bodleian  Library,  so  called  after  Sir  Thomas  Bodley,  who 
was  the  principal  founder,  and  who  died  in  1612.  This  is  a  li- 
brary worthy  of  this  ancient  university.  It  contains  about  four 
hundred  thousand  volumes.  Here  are  many  valuable  manu- 
scripts, European  and  oriental.  No  books  are  allowed  to  be 
taken  out ;  but  all  graduates  of  the  university,  and  literary  stran- 
gers who  are  well  recommended,  are  allowed  an  entrance  and  the 
use  of  the  books.  In  the  same  building  is  a  picture-gallery,  con 
taming  pictures,  busts,  and  some  very  fine  models  of  the  most 
celebrated  ancient  edifices, 


OXFORD.  579 

In  this  building,  also,  are  the  celebrated  "  Arundelian  marbles," 
the  "  Selden  marbles,"  and  the  "  Pomfret  statues."  The  first 
are  among  the  most  ancient  monumental  records  extant,  and  con- 
tain some  important  illustrations  of  antiquity.  They  were  origi- 
nally brought  from  Greece  and  Asia,  and  purchased  by  William 
Petty,  who  had  been  sent  to  Asia  for  making  such  collections, 
by  Thomas,  Earl  of  Arundel  and  Surrey.  Hence  their  name. 
The  Selden  marbles  are  also  antiques ;  and  the  Pomfret  statues 
are  a  collection  of  ancient  busts  and  statues  presented  by  the 
Countess  Dowager  of  Pomfret,  in  1755  :  there  are  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  of  them,  some  of  which  are  very  good. 

We  saw  here,  also,  a  fine  model  in  cork  of  the  ancient  amphi- 
theatre which  we  visited  at  Verona. 

The  university  theatre,  erected,  not  for  dramatic  exhibitions,  but 
for  certain  public  academic  exercises,  is  a  splendid  edifice.  Like 
many  other  buildings  in  Oxford,  it  is  the  work  of  Sir  Christopher 
Wren — that  veteran  labourer  in  the  field  of  architecture.  The 
ground  plan  is  from  the  ancient  theatre  of  Marcellus,  which  we 
had  visited  at  Rome.  Here,  in  1814,  degrees  were  conferred 
upon  the  Emperor  Alexander,  the  King  of  Prussia,  Prince  Met- 
ternich,  Prince  Blucher,  and  other  wondrous  savans,  whose  pro- 
found  scholarship  in  the  work  of  blood  and  tyranny  entitled  them, 
doubtless,  to  these  literary  and  scientific  honours  of  the  first  uni- 
versity in  the  world  ! !  "  Let  the  potsherds  strive  with  the  pot- 
sherds of  the  earth ;"  but  shame  on  the  literary  institution  that 
will  stoop  to  crown  the  victor. 

The  principle  of  conferring  degrees  and  awarding  university 
honours  is  similar  to  that  of  Cambridge,  save  that  here  the  an- 
cient classics  take  the  prominent  place  of  the  mathematics  in 
Cambridge.  In  the  prescribed  examinations,  moral  science  and 
classical  literature  are  required,  and  the  candidate  may,  if  he 
pleases,  add  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy. 

The  stranger's  attention  is  arrested  both  here  and  at  Cambridge 
with  the  costumes  of  the  students  and  others,  members  of  the  univer- 
sity. All  the  officers  have  their  peculiar  dresses,  so  also  have  the 
graduates  in  their  respective  degrees,  and  the  undergraduates. 
These  last  again  vary  according  to  their  rank.  In  Cambridge,  and 
I  suppose  it  is  so  here,  no  undergraduate  is  allowed  to  appear  out 


580  ENGLAND. 

without  having  on  his  academic  gown  and  cap ;  so  that,  in  term- 
time,  the  town  is  full  of  gownsmen* 

In  going  from  Oxford  to  Birmingham  we  passed  the  ancient 
town  of  Warwick,  where  we  made  a  stop  of  several  hours  to  visit 
Warwick  Castle.  The  town  itself  is  rather  interesting  and  ven- 
erable, and  the  castle  is  very  fine.  It  is  a  little  to  the  southeast 
of  the  town,  on  a  rock  forty  feet  high,  the  base  of  which  is 
washed  by  the  river  Avon.  Its  foundation  is  too  remote  to  be 
chronicled.  The  most  ancient  part,  called  Caesar's  tower,  is  one 
hundred  and  forty-seven  feet  high.  In  the  interior  is  a  princely  suite 
of  apartments,  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  in  a  right  line, 
adorned  with  paintings  and  curious  ancient  armour.  In  the  green- 
house is  the  celebrated  Warwick  vase,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
works  of  art  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  antiquity.  It  was 
dug  from  the  ruins  of  Adrian's  Villa,  near  Tivoli,  and  is  supposed 
to  be  the  workmanship  of  Lysippus,  the  celebrated  statuary  of  the 
age  of  Alexander.  Its  capacity  is  one  hundred  and  sixty-three 
gallons,  its  material  white  marble,  and  its-  form,  nearly  sphericaL 
Two  vines  spring  out  of  the  sides,  and,  gracefully  curling  up  to 
the  rim,  divide  into  two  branches  and  form  the  handles  of  the: 
vase  ;  after  this  they  run  round  the  top,  interlace  with  each  other, 
and  form  for  the  upper  border  of  the  vase  a  beautiful  garland  of 
tendrils,  foliage,  and  fruit.  The  sides  are  embossed  with  strong 
relief  of  antique  heads,  a  panther's  skin,  and  the  tliy.rsis*  or  wand 
of  Bacchus. 

The  park  is  venerable  with  branching  oaks.  The  whole  ex- 
hibition, in  short,  is  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  feudal  remains 
to  be  found  in  England.  Guy's  tower,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  feet  high,  is  so  named  after  Sir  Guy  of  Warwick,  one  of 
the  chivalrous  heroes  of  the  wildest  days  of  romance.  Many  are 
the  anecdotes  related  of  him,,  and  many  the  ballads  which  set 
forth  his  prowess.  In  one  of  these  he  is  represented  as  boasting* 

"  On  Dunmore  heath  I  also  slew 

A  monstrous  wild  and  cruel  beast, 
Called  the  Dun-cow  of  Dunmore  heath, 
Which  many  people  had  oppress'd." 

*  We  had  the  curiosity  to  notice,  in  Oxford,  Lincoln  College,  where  Mr.  Wesley  was- 
fellow.  In  the  town,  Methodism  has  taken  root,,  and  I  preached  a  lecture  in  a  neat 
chapel  belonging  to  the  society. 


A  STAGECOACH  CONVERSATION.  581 

Whether  we  saw  the  armour  with  which  he  killed  the  Dun-cow , 
I  cannot  say,  but  we  saw  an  ancient  suit  of  armour,  offensive  and 
defensive,  said  to  be  his,  which  should  be  wielded  by  none  but 
giants. 

We  were  gratified  in  meeting  at  Warwick  our  London  host,. 
Rev.  Mr.  Alder,  with  whom  we  proceeded  to  Birmingham.  We 
met  at  Warwick,  also,  some  Americans,  who  turned  aside  to  visit 
the  ruins  of  Kenilworth  Castle,  a  sight,  it  is  said,  well  worth  see^ 
ing ;  but  we  have  found  that  it  is  impossible  to  see  everything. 

A  gentleman  sitting  beside  me  on  the  stagecoach,  in  the 
course  of  conversation  informed  me  of  a  Baptist  missionary  meet^ 
ing  which  had  been  held  the  night  before  in  Birmingham,  in 
which  a  dissenting  minister  by  the  name  of  East,  and  a  Quaker 
by  the  name  of  Sturge,  had  been  invited  to  speak.  These  gen- 
tlemen, it  appears,  had  left  the  object  of  the  meeting,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  turning  it  into  a  noisy  and  bitter  anti-slavery  meeting. 
Dr.  Hobey,  a  Baptist  minister  of  Birmingham,  who  was  the  col- 
league of  Dr.  Cox  in  a  Christian  embassy  sent  by  the  English 
Baptists  to  their  brethren  in  the  United  States  the  year  before, 
was  the  first  object  of  their  attack.  The  ground  was,  that  he  had 
betrayed  his  trust  in  the  United  States  by  refusing  to  appear  in 
public  to  advocate  the  cause  of  abolition  in  America.  From  Dr. 
Hobey  they  passed  to  the  United  States,  and  from  the  United 
States  they  were  led  to  mention  that  a  Methodist  bishop  (as  they 
were  pleased  to  term  him)  was  expected  at  Birmingham  in  a 
few  days  as  a  delegate  to  the  Wesleyan  Conference  ;  that  he  was 
sent  by  a  pro-slavery  party  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  was  himself  an  advocate  for  slavery ;  and,  as  my  informant 
understood  it,  and  as  one  of  the  public  journals  afterward  reported 
it,  it  was  also  added  that  this  bishop  was  a  slaveholder.  The 
name  of  the  gentleman  was  called  for  by  some  one  in  the  assem- 
bly, that  he  might  be  known  and  treated  accordingly  when  he 
should  arrive.  Bishop  Fisk,  was  the  reply.  My  informant  fur- 
ther intimated  that  it  would  be  very  unpleasant,  if  not  unsafe,  for 
the  American  bishop  to  show  himself  in  Birmingham,  as  he 
would  meet  with  rough  treatment.  I  told  him,  although  I  did  not 
claim  to  be  a  bishop,  yet  as  I  was  the  delegate  from  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  to  the  Wesleyan  Conference  about  to  be 
held  at  Birmingham,  I  supposed  I  must  be  the  person  alluded  to  • 
49 


ENGLAND. 


that  I  should  not  take  any  pains  to  hide  myself  from  the  good 
people  of  Birmingham  ;  and,  therefore,  they  would  have  full  op- 
portunity of  doing  all  their  pleasure  in  the  case. 

It  appeared,  by  what  this  gentleman  informed  me,  and  by  what 
I  further  learned  after  reaching  town,  that  they  had  a  most  un- 
pleasant, nay,  I  might  add,  a  most  disgraceful  me-eting  ;  that  the 
attack  on  Dr.  Hobey  was  most  rude  and  unchristian,  and  the 
missionary  meeting  was  productive  of  anything  but  good  to  the 
cause  of  Christ.  As  John  Bull  often  berates  Brother  Jonathan 
right  lustily  for  his  want  of  politeness  and  courtesy,  I  suppose  he 
wanted  to  give  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  he  would  treat 
a  stranger  and  a  foreigner  ;  viz.,  condemn  and  denounce  him,  and 
hold  his  name  up  to  public  odium,  unheard  and  altogether  un- 
known, except  through  some  private  channel  of  communication, 
which,  from  the  mistakes  as  to  matters-of-fact,  showed  it  to  be 
in  this  case  altogether  indefinite  and  destitute  of  credit.  Far  be 
it  from  me,  however,  to  charge  this  feeling  and  conduct  upon  the 
better  part  of  Englishmen.  The  sequel  showed  that  neither  the 
citizens  of  Birmingham  in  general,  nor  the  Wesley  an  Confer- 
ence, sanctioned  this  wild  procedure,  which,  even  in  the  actors 
themselves,  is,  to  a  great  extent,  to  be  attributed  to  a  too  highly 
excited  and  misdirected  public  feeling  ;  bating  always  the  dema- 
gogical agency  that  fattens  upon  such  excitements.  In  short,  it 
is  but  justice,  I  believe,  to  give  Mr.  Sturge  himself  the  principal 
credit  of  this  whole  affair  ;  to  which  he  had  been  prompted,  it 
seems,  by  letters  and  communications  which,  he  said,  he  had  re- 
ceived from  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

HAVING  arrived  at  the  seat  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Confer- 
ence, one  of  the  most  important  purely  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  this 
or  any  country ;  a  body,  too,  to  which  I  had  been  officially  dele- 
gated by  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States,,  it  will  be  expected,,  of  course,  that 


METHODISM.  583 

a  small  portion  of  my  journal  should  be  devoted  to  the  official  do- 
ings of  this  body.  To  avoid,  however,  such  details  as  would  be 
at  best  only  interesting  to  those  of  the  same  denomination,  I  shall 
touch  only  upon  those  points  that  will  serve  to  show  the  general 
constitution  and  present  condition  of  this  very  efficient  branch  of 
the  Christian  church ;  a  subject  which,  to  the  philosopher  and  the 
politician,  the  observer  of  man  as  a  social  and  a  religious  being, 
must,  in  any  event,  be  one  of  deep  interest.  To  see  one  individ- 
ual start  up  in  the  bosom  of  a  civilized  and  Christian  community, 
and  become  the  founder  and  leader  of  a  sect  which,  in  all  its 
branches,  numbers  more  than  a  million  of  members,  and  between 
four  and  five  thousand  travelling,  and  nearly  twice  as  many  local 
ministers  and  public  teachers,  and  that,  too,  in  less  than  a  century, 
is  a  phenomenon  in  the  moral  world  such  as  is  rarely  beheld. 
To  see  it  spreading  out  its  influences  over  the  world,  and  carry- 
ing forward  its  moral  conquests  in  every  continent,  and  in  the  isles 
of  the  sea,  advancing  still  with  all  the  vigour  of  fresh  manhood, 
with  a  surprising  uniformity  both  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  and 
with  a  marvellous  unity  of  design  and  of  effort  in  its  moral  and 
religious  achievements,  is  an  exhibition  which  may  well  attract 
the  careful  attention  and  study  of  every  investigating  mind. 

The  most  perfect  exemplification  of  this  system  is  in  England, 
for  this  is  the  parent  stock,  and  here  the  system  has,  in  its  prac- 
tical operations,  ripened  into  its  greatest  maturity  and  acquired  its 
greatest  vigour. 

Methodism  in  the  United  States  has  become  more  extended 
than  the  British  connexion,  including  all  their  missions,  in  the 
ratio  of  two  to  one.  But  the  peculiarities  of  our  country,  con- 
nected with  the  fact  of  the  more  recent  establishment  of  the  cause 
in  America,  has  prevented  that  practical  perfection  of  the  organi- 
zation that  is  exhibited  in  England.  The  present  is  the  ninety- 
third  annual  conference  of  the  British  connexion,  whereas  the  first 
conference  in  the  United  States  was  held  in  1773,  only  sixty -three 
years  since.  At  that  time  there  were  but  ten  preachers  in  the 
connexion,  and  for  the  ten  following  years,  in  consequence  of  the 
revolutionary  war,  there  was  very  little  increase,  comparatively : 
so  that  the  principal  gain  of  the  Methodist  cause  in  the  United 
States  has  been  in  a  little  over  half  a  century. 

To  understand  the  present  position  of  the  connexion  in  Eng- 


584  ENGLAND. 

land,  the  reader  should  be  informed  that  a  severe  attack  had  been 
made  upon  the  integrity  of  the  body  by  some  malecontents  of  the 
ministry  and  membership,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  Dr.  Warren, 
a  minister  of  some  standing  and  age,  who  had  become  disaffected, 
as  many  thought,  for  the  same  reason  that  Diotrephes  opposed  the 
apostles.  The  general  accusations  by  these  schismatics  were, 
that  the  ministry  had  too  much  power,  both  in  their  Conference 
capacity  and  as  administrators  of  discipline  ;  that  even  the  Con- 
ference itself  was  under  the  control  of  a  few  individuals,  and 
especially  of  one,  whose  power  and  influence  was  dreaded  and 
denounced  more  than  all  the  rest.  In  short,  all  the  discontent  and 
restlessness  of  the  connexion  seemed  to  be  rallied  under  this 
leader  and  in  this  excitement;  not  that  there  was  any  harmony 
of  feeling  among  the  different  malecontents  themselves,  except  in 
the  simple  point  of  being  dissatisfied  and  wishing  for  a  change. 
The  principal  ground  of  direct  attack  upon  the  Conference  was 
the  establishment  in  London  of  a  theological  seminary  for  the 
improvement  of  the  junior  preachers.  This  was  denounced  as 
unconstitutional  and  unmethodistical ;  and,  in  addition  to  this, 
claims  were  set  up  for  changes  and  popular  rights,  as  they  were 
called,  which  showed  that  the  whole  movement  had  its  origin  in 
that  revolutionary  spirit  of  radicalism  so  rife  at  the  present  day  in 
church  and  state  on  both  sides  of  the  water.  To  accomplish  their 
objects,  Dr.  Warren  and  his  party  formed  "  an  association"  for  the 
factious  purpose  of  effecting  a  change  in  the  economy  of  the  con- 
nexion, and  finally  they  adopted  the  modern  process  of  "  agitation" 
by  the  press  and  by  popular  harangues,  for  the  purpose  of  stirring 
up  faction  and  division  in  the  regular  societies. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  decide,  because  I  am  not  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  all  the  facts  in  the  case  to  do  so,  that  there  was  no 
ground  of  complaint  in  any  of  the  matters  alleged  by  the  malecon- 
tents. I  could  not,  however,  fail  to  notice  the  close  sympathy  of 
feeling  in  this  schism  with  that  which  prompted  the  schism  in  the 
American  connexion  in  1828.  The  principal  complaint  in  both 
cases  was  "  clerical  domination,"  "  ecclesiastical  oppression."  It 
undoubtedly  originated,  in  both  instances,  in  that  ultra  democratic 
spirit  which  may  be  carried,  as  all  must  allow,  too  far  in  the  state, 
and  which  is  certainly  erroneous  when  it  founds  its  claims  in  the 
church  on  a  marked  and  literal  analogy  between  the  government 


METHODISM,  585 

of  the  church  and  of  the  state.  From  the  nature  of  the  case  there 
always  must  be  a  marked  distinction  between  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  government ;  and  the  safety  of  the  people,  in  ecclesiastical 
government,  consists  in  this,  that  it  is  armed  by  no  secular  power. 
The  extent  of  its  authority  is  moral  discipline  by  moral  means, 
with  no  other  power  but  that  of  withdrawing  fellowship  from  the 
incorrigible  offender.  The  association  itself  is  a  voluntary  one, 
and  the  ministry  entirely  dependant,  not  only  for  their  influence, 
but  also  for  their  support,  upon  the  affection  and  confidence  of 
those  among  whom  they  exercise  the  pastoral  office.  That  there 
is  danger  of  "  lording  it  over  God's  heritage,"  however,  is  evident 
from  experience,  from  the  nature  of  man,  and  from  the  cautions 
of  the  New  Testament.  But  one  thing  is  very  evident ;  the  man 
or  party  of  men  that,  because  of  some  real  or  supposed  offence 
of  this  kind,  undertakes  to  agitate  publicly  and  to  divide  the 
church  of  Christ,  to  stir  up  discontent  and  beget  distrust  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  against  their  religious  pastors,  assumes  a 
fearful  amount  of  responsibility.  Such  a  man  is  doing  the  work 
of  the  accuser  of  the  brethren,  and  will,  without  repentance,  find, 
in  the  day  of  eternity,  the  blood  of  souls  in  his  skirts. 

The  Warren  schism  agitated  the  connexion  through  a  great 
part  of  the  kingdom.  The  strenuous  efforts  of  the  schismatics-, 
however,  were  met  by  equally  vigorous  efforts  of  the  ministers 
and  members  opposed  to  them,  and  the  result  has  been  much 
more  favourable  than  could  have  been  anticipated.  I  could  not 
ascertain  the  precise  loss,  but  probably  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
thousand  members.  During  the  two  years  of  agitation,  however, 
the  connexion,  as  a  whole,  has  gained  in  membership  some  thou- 
sands ;  and  are  now  bound  together  by  stronger  sympathies,  proba- 
bly, than  at  any  former  period  since  the  death  of  Mr.  Wesley. 
The  ministers  and  people  understand  each  other  and  their  church 
rules  and  privileges  better  than  ever,  and  especially  one  point 
has  been  settled,  which,  more  than  anything  else,  settles  and  con- 
solidates the  connexion  on  a  stable  basis.  I  allude  to  a  legal  de- 
cision obtained  in  the  court  of  chancery  on  the  authority  of  the 
Conference  and  its  legalized  organs  over  the  chapels  and  other 
church  property  of  the  Wesleyan  connexion.  This  property  is 
held,  as  with  us,  by  trustees  ;  but  this  is  for  the  specific  purposes 
mentioned  in  the  trust  deeds.  And  among  these  is  the  right  of 

4E 


586  ENGLAND. 

occupying  the  pulpits  of  the  chapels  by  ministers  regularly  ap» 
pointed  and  controlled  by  the  Conference.  The  object  was  to 
discard  this  control,  and  still  retain  the  pulpit.  On  this  issue  the 
action  was  commenced  and  prosecuted.  The  interest  on  the 
subject  was  intense,  as,  in  a  great  measure,  the  constitution  of  the 
Methodist  connexion  was  jeopardized.  The  subject  was  ably 
canvassed  in  the  chancellor's  court,  and  decided  in  favour  of  the 
claims  of  the  Conference. 

The  basis  of  the  powers  of  the  Conference,  in  all  questions  of 
this  nature,  is  a  poll  deed,  executed  by  Mr.  Wesley,  February  28, 
1784,  and  enrolled  in  the  high  court  of  chancery  on  the  9th 
of  March,  1784 ;  by  which  he  gave  legal  existence  to  the  Metho- 
dist Conference,  which,  by  that  instrument,  is  always  to  consist 
of  one  hundred,  the  vacancies  being  filled  annually  in  the  man- 
ner prescribed  by  the  deed.  By  this  deed,  also,  the  power  of  ap- 
pointing preachers  and  expounders  of  God's  word  to  occupy  the 
chapels,  which  before  had  belonged  to  Mr.  Wesley,  was  granted 
and  secured  to  the  Conference  ;  and,  in  addition,  that  the  Metho- 
dist chapels  might  never  be  perverted  from  their  original  design, 
in  the  trust  deeds  of  all  the  chapels  a  clause  is  inserted,  in  which 
reference  is  made  to  this  poll  deed  of  Mr.  Wesley's,  and  also  to 
the  first  four  volumes  of  Mr.  Wesley's  sermons,  and  to  his  notes 
on  the  New  Testament ;  and  it  is  declared  that  "  no  person  or 
persons  whatsoever  shall  be  permitted  to  preach  or  expound  God's 
Holy  Word  in  the  said  chapel  who  shall  maintain  any  doc- 
trine contrary  to  what  is  found  in  these  works."  By  the  decision 
of  the  chancellor,  Mr.  Wesley's  deed  is  confirmed  and  estab 
lished,  and  the  Conference  is  recognised  as  a  legal  body ;  and  all 
their  constitutional  acts,  therefore,  are  sanctioned  by  the  law  of 
the  land.  Hence  their  trust  deeds,  with  all  their  provisions,  are 
sanctioned ;  thus  the  unity  of  the  body  is  secured,  a  uniformity 
of  doctrine  is  established,  and  the  power  to  maintain  and  enforce 
moral  discipline  in  the  church  is  confirmed  to  the  Conference  and 
their  official  organs  and  members.  The  Wesleyan  Methodists, 
therefore,  may  claim  Mr.  Wesley's  poll  deed  as  their  Magna 
Charta,  and  the  chancellor's  decision  as  confirming  to  them  all 
the  rights  and  immunities  therein  contemplated.  This  is  one 
among  many  evidences  of  the  reach  of  Mr.  Wesley's  mind,  and 
of  his  remarkable  adaptation  to  and  fitness  for  the  office  of  a  re 


METHODIST  CONFERENCE.  587 

former,  and  of  a  founder  of  a  religious  society  of  extraordinary 
comprehension  and  efficiency. 

It.  is  true,  there  have  been  frequent  defections,  in  a  small  way, 
from  this  body.  The  most  considerable  was  in  1797,  in  which 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  preachers  and  between  five  and  six  thou- 
sand members  drew  off,  and  set  up  a  "  new  connexion,"  as  it  is 
sometimes  called  ;  and  at  other  times  they  are  called  Kilhamites, 
from  one  Kilham  who  was  the  principal  leader  in  the  schism. 
This  connexion  numbers  now  two  hundred  and  fifty-five  chapels, 
eighty-two  travelling  preachers,  six  hundred  and  -sixty-seven  lo- 
cal preachers,  and  nineteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  nineteen 
members.  Their  growth,  however,  has  been  comparatively  slow, 
especially  when  it  is  considered  that  they  have  been  the  recepta- 
cle of  a  great  portion  of  the  discontented  of  the  old  connexion, 
until  this  last  schism  by  Dr.  Warren.  Some  attempts  have  been 
made  to  unite  these  to  the  Kilhamites,  but  the  materials  which 
are  composed  of  malecontents  of  any  community  are  generally 
possessed  of  such  repulsive  influences  and  forces  as  to  prevent 
any  close  and  general  aggregation  either  among  themselves  or  to 
any  foreign  body.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  present  instance  ;  and 
although  they  may  have  succeeded  in  drawing  off  between 
twelve  and  twenty  thousand,  yet  it  is  doubtful  whether,  when 
the  elements  come  to  settle  according  to  their  elective  affinities,  if 
affinities  they  have,  any  considerable  number  will  be  found  in 
any  one  association. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Conference  the  present  year  the  storm 
had  passed  over ;  hardly  was  the  pattering  of  the  lingering  drops 
heard  upon  the  ecclesiastical  edifice.  With  renewed  confidence 
in  their  cause,  and  with  stronger  motives  for  union  among  them- 
selves, they  assembled  for  their  annual  business  at  Birmingham — 
the  first  session  ever  held  in  this  town.  The  most  important 
parts  of  their  business  are  arranged  and  prepared  in  committees 
that  are  appointed  the  year  before,  and  meet  several  days  before 
the  session  of  the  Conference  for  that  purpose.  At  most  of  these 
committees,  lay  members  are  invited  to  be  present  to  take  part  in 
the  deliberations,  and  especially  to  assist  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  financial  concerns  of  the  church. 

As  this  part  of  the  system  is  a  beautiful  feature  in  the  econo- 
my of  Methodism,  I  will  give  some  of  its  general  features. 


588  ENGLAN3, 

Although  the  financial  resources  are  altogether  from  jthe  volun- 
tary offerings  of  the  people,  yet  they  inculcate  the  principle  that 
every  one  ought  to  do  something ;  and  the  least  that  any  one 
should  do  who  is  not  absolutely  a  pauper  is  reckoned  at  a  pen- 
ny a  week,  and  in  addition  one  shilling  at  each  quarterly  renewal 
of  the  ticket  of  membership.  All  will  do  this  much,  it  is  calcu- 
lated, and  the  money  thus  collected  nearly  meets  the  current  ex- 
penses of  the  societies.  But  in  addition  to  this  there  are  several 
other  sources  of  income,  which  are  called  funds  ;  not  that  there 
is  any  money  funded  which  is  made  available  for  the  church,  but 
moneys  collected  for  specific  objects  are  called  the  funds  for  those 
objects  respectively.  Such  as  the  school  fund ;  the  contingent 
fund;  the  chapel  fund  ;  the  children's  fund  ;  the  preachers9  aux- 
iliary fund ;  the  missionary  fund,  &c.  A  short  explanation  of 
some  of  these  will  show  upon  what  liberal  and  evangelical  prin- 
ciples their  ecclesiastical  affairs  are  conducted. 

School  Fund. — There  are  two  schools  for  the  sons  of  the  Meth- 
odist travelling  preachers,  viz. :  Kingswood  School,  near  Bristol, 
and  Woodhouse  Grove  School,  near  Leeds,  in  Yorkshire.  These 
have  each  one  hundred  boys,  who  are  educated  by  collections 
made  yearly  in  all  the  circuits  for  that  specific  object,  consisting 
of  a  public  collection  in  the  month  of  October,  and  private  dona- 
tions. It  costs  only  about  twenty-two  pounds  sterling  per  annum 
to  educate  a  boy  at  one  of  these  schools,  including  clothing  and 
books.  As  the  schools  will  not  hold  all  the  boys,  and  there  is  no 
public  provision  for  girls,  the  parents  are  allowed  a  given  sum  for 
each  child  educated  at  home.  The  whole  amount  expended  in 
the  school  fund  this  year  appeared  by  the  report  of  the  committee 
to  be  eight  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-four  pounds.* 

Children's  Fund. — It  was  found  that  the  itinerant  system  was 
embarrassed  from  the  fact  that  some  had  large  families,  while 
others  had  smaller,  or  perhaps  none  at  all.  This  made  it  diffi- 
cult both  for  circuits  and  preachers.  The  preachers  with  large 
families  could  not  be  supported,  where,  perhaps,  they  were  really 

*  The  schools  have  a  debt  on  them  of  between  six  and  seven  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling, to  pay  which  the  bookroom  appropriates  annually  one  thousand  pounds.  Th« 
amount  of  sales  from  the  bookroom  the  past  year  has  been  forty-four  thousand  six 
hundred  and  fifty-one  pounds,  three  shillings,  and  ninepence  ;  nett  income  appropriated 
to  the  different  funds  from  this  source  is  six  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
pounds. 


METHODIST  CONFERENCE.  589 

needed,  and  many  large  families  were  rather  considered  a  burden 
to  the  circuits  where  they  were  appointed.  To  equalize  this 
expense,  and  make  it  more  pleasant  for  both  preachers  and  peo- 
ple, a  calculation  is  made  at  the  Conference  of  the  number  of 
preachers'  children  to  be  supported  by  the  connexion  the  ensu- 
ing year ;  this  ascertained,  they  are  divided  out  on  paper  to  the 
different  districts  according  to  the  members  in  the  societies,  and, 
at  the  first  district  meeting  after  Conference,  this  number  for  each 
district  is  divided  out  to  the  respective  circuits!  according  to 
their  number  of  members,  and  each  circuit  must  furnish  the  sup- 
port for  the  number  attached  to  it.  Treasurers  and  other  officers 
are  appointed  to  receive  this  money  when  a  surplus  is  raised  in 
one  circuit  over  and  above  the  number  of  children  actually  living 
in  it,  and  to  disburse  it  to  other  circuits  where  they  have  more 
children  than  belong  to  them  to  support. 

Contingent  Fund.  —  It  was  found  that  while  one  circuit 
whose  needs  for  ministerial  labour  were  as  great  as  those  of 
another  might  nevertheless  be  comparatively  poor,  and,  there- 
fore, not  able  to  support  its  needed  amount  of  ministerial  and 
pastoral  labour,  the  other  circuit  was  able  to  do  something 
more  than  support  its  own  pastors.  Hence  the  following  plan 
was  adopted :  each  district  furnishes  to  the  Conference  the 
amount  it  will  want  the  ensuing  year  from  the  contingent  fund. 
The  Conference  makes  an  aggregate  of  these  claims.  It  then 
ascertains  by  estimate  the  probable  amount  of  the  available  funds 
which  may  be  collected  from  all  the  circuits  to  make  up  these 
deficiencies,  and  then  it  divides  this  amount  to  the  respective  dis- 
tricts in  due  proportions ;  and  the  districts,  at  their  first  district 
meeting  after  Conference,  divide  it  out  in  such  proportions  as 
they  judge  just  and  equal  to  the  needy  circuits.  If  the  Confer- 
ence cannot  meet  the  full  amount  of  the  requests  for  aid  from  the 
different  districts,  it  curtails  where,  in  its  judgment,  it  can  be  done 
with  the  greatest  propriety.  This  contingent  fund  is  raised  from 
a  public  collection  made  for  that  purpose,  and  from  an  annual 
subscription  taken  up  among  the  members  ;  to  which  is  added  an 
appropriation  from  the  bookroom.  Out  of  the  moneys  thus 
raised  a  certain  portion  is  reserved  to  meet  miscellaneous  ex- 
penses and  special  cases  which  could  not  be  foreseen,  of  sick- 
ness, or  expensive  removals,  or  necessary  changes,  and  from  vari- 
50 


590  ENGLAND. 

ous  other  sources.  This  portion  is  called  the  appropriation  for 
extraordinaries  ;  the  other  is  for  ordinaries.  The  whole  amount 
collected  for  this  fund  the  present  year,  including  an  appropriation 
of  a  thousand  pounds  from  the  bookroom,  is  eleven  thousand  three 
hundred  and  seventy-nine  pounds,  nineteen  shillings,  and  three- 
pence. 

The  Preachers1  Auxiliary  Fund  is  for  the  superannuated 
preachers,  preachers'  widows  and  orphans.  This  is  made  up  of 
collections,  donations,  and  legacies.  Many  of  the  most  wealthy 
every  year  make  liberal  donations  to  this  fund.  I  should  judge, 
however,  that  the  provision  for  this  interesting  part  of  the  work 
is  the  most  uncertain  and  inadequate  of  any  of  the  others,  not- 
withstanding I  saw  in  the  list  of  donations  to  this  fund  quite  a 
number  of  fifty  pounds  each.* 

The  Preachers'  Annuity  Fund  is  for  a  similar  object  with  the 
preceding.  It  is  the  income  of  property  funded,  given  by  legacies 
and  otherwise,  and  from  an  annual  payment  of  five  guineas  from 
each  member  of  the  annuitant  society,  and  of  twenty  guineas 
from  each  on  entering  the  society ;  by  which  a  fund  is  formed 
from  which  those  preachers  who  are  worn  out  in  the  service,  and 
their  wives  and  families,  receive  an  annuity  proportioned  to  the 
time  they  have  been  contributors  to  the  fund.  The  object  seems 
to  be  to  lay  by  something,  while  in  youth  and  in  health,  for  old 
age  and  sickness.  Whether  the  plan  is  altogether  productive  of 
the  good  that  has  been  proposed  by  it,  is  to  me  doubtful ;  per- 
haps if  I  understood  it  better  I  should  think  more  favourably  of 
it.  The  collection  of  that  fund  seemed  to  me,  in  some  cases,  to 
produce  as  much  embarrassment  as  its  disbursement  was  cal 
culated  to  relieve. 

The  Chapel  Fund,  and  Chapel  Loan  Fund. — I  have  put  these 
together  because  they  are  united  in  their  operations  ;  and,  taken 
altogether,  this  is  the  most  interesting  feature  of  Methodist 
finance.  To  understand  it,  the  principle  of  building  chapels 
should  be  explained.  In  the  first  place,  the  spirit  of  a  national 
debt  appertains  also  to  the  church.  The  English  hardly  think 
they  can  carry  on  any  great  public  enterprise  without  a  public 

*  I  might  have  added  here  the  seniors' fund,  which  is  made  up  of  an  appropriation  from 
the  bookroom  and  a  portion  of  the  auxiliary  fund.  This  is  for  those  who  have  travelled 
thirty-five  years  5  all  such  have  an  annuity  of  one  hundred  pounds. 


METHODIST    CONFERENCE.  591 

debt ;  so  much  does  the  general  policy  of  a  nation  give  character 
to  all  the  subordinate  social  relations  of  its  citizens. 

The  national  debt,  or,  in  other  words,  the  ecclesiastical  debt 
of  the  Methodist  connexion  in  England  for  chapels  amounts,  in 
the  opinion  of  some  good  judges  with  whom  I  conversed,  to  half 
the  value  of  the  real  property  of  the  connexion.  In  some  cases 
chapels  had  become  extremely  embarrassed,  and  were  thrown 
into  the  market  for  sale  to  meet  the  debts  upon  them. 

To  prevent  building  with  indiscretion,  no  chapel  is  to  be  com- 
menced until  approved,  first,  by  the  quarterly  meeting  in  the  cir- 
cuit where  the  chapel  is  proposed  ;  secondly,  by  the  district 
meeting;  and,  finally,  by  a  chapel  building  committee  appointed 
annually  by  the  Conference  for  the  whole  connexion.  These  ap- 
proving, which  they  do  on  certain  conditions,  one  of  which  is, 
that  a  certain  portion  of  the  necessary  funds  for  building  be  first 
obtained,  the  building  of  the  chapel  is  authorized.  If  the  society 
proposing  to  build  neglect  this  course  they  are  entitled  to  no 
aid  from  the  chapel  fund.  In  general,  they  are  under  the  patron- 
age of  that  fund.  To  obtain  aid,  special  application  is  necessary 
to  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Conference  for  that  purpose, 
who  receive  and  examine  the  representations  of  the  state  of  the 
chapel,  and  apportion  their  disbursements  according  to  their 
available  means  to  the  most  distressed  cases.  Most  of  the  chap- 
els which  are  in  debt  make  no  such  application,  for  the  reason 
that  their  seat-rents  pay  the  interest  of  their  debt,  and,  in  many 
cases,  annually  sink  a  portion  of  the  principal;  for  in  all  the 
chapels  the  larger  portion  of  the  seats  are  rented. 

The  chapel  fund  is  obtained  by  an  annual  collection  taken  up 
for  that  express  purpose  in  all  the  societies.  But  this  fund,  it 
was  found,  was  not  ample  enough  to  meet  the  pressing  wants  of 
many  of  the  chapels ;  to  supply  this  lack  and  relieve  the  work, 
the  chapel  loan  fund  was  got  up.  A  committee  appointed  for 
that  purpose  borrows  an  amount  of  money,  which  it  disburses  to 
the  most  distressed  chapels  on  certain  conditions ;  one  of  which 
is,  that  the  society  applying  for  a  grant  shall  consider  this  grant 
as  final,  and  shall  hereafter  make  no  application  to  the  chapel 
fund  for  such  partial  and  annual  relief  as  they  have  heretofore  re- 
ceived from  that  source  ;  and  another  is,  that  the  society  shall 
raise  a  given  amount,  generally  a  sum  equal  to  the  grant  from 


592  ENGLAND. 

the  fund.     This,  so  far  as  the  trustees  of  that  particular  chapel  are 
concerned,  is  a  gift,  and  the  committee  of  the  loan  fund  look  to  the 
chapel  fund  for  their  pay.     The  chapel  fund  being  thus  relieved 
from  a  portion  of  its  annual  drafts,  can  afford  now  to  devote  a 
part  of  its  avails  to  meet  the  annual  interest  of  the  loan  fund,  and 
help  sink  the  principal.     The  advantage  of  this  complicated  ma- 
chinery appears  to  be  this.    It  affords  immediate  and  permanent 
relief  to  the  distressed  cases  beyond  what  the  chapel  fund  could 
do ;  and,  by  holding  out  the  offer  of  this  relief  on  the  above  con 
ditions,  it  stimulates  the  societies  asking  relief  to  make  a  vigor 
ous  effort  to  reduce  their  debt.     This  loan  fund,  moreover,  be 
comes  a  kind  of  savings  bank,  where  many,  having  full  confidence 
in  the  credit  of  the  connexion,  deposite  their  money  which  they 
wish  to  put  out  to  interest ;  whereas  they  would  not  so  readily 
loan  it  to   individual   societies  or  boards   of  chapel   trusts.     It 
forms,  therefore,  if  not  a  church  stock,  at  least  a  sort  of  ecclesias- 
tical bank,  and  may,  as  some  boast  of  the  national  debt,  have  a 
great  influence  in  ensuring  safety  and  integrity  to  the  connexion. 
Their  pecuniary  interest  as  well  as  their  spiritual  is  involved  in 
the  prosperity  of  the  church ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  those  who 
deposite  money  here,  in  addition  to  the  security  of  their  interest, 
have  the  gratification  of  knowing  that  their  capital  is  employed  to 
promote  the  interests  of  the  church. 

The  committee  have  loaned  since  the  establishment  of  the  loan 
fund  about  thirty-five  thousand  pounds,  and  have  thereby  con- 
tributed to  the  sinking  of  double  that  amount  of  debt,  an  amount 
of  about  three  hundred  and  thirty  or  three  hundred  and  forty  thou- 
sand dollars. 

From  181 7  to  1836  the  chapel  building  committee  have  granted 
permission  for  the  erection  or  enlarging  of  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-seven  chapels,  and  some  have  been  erected  with- 
out official  permission.  From  this  some  estimate  may  be  formed 
of  the  increase  of  the  denomination,  being  an  average  increase  or 
enlargement  of  more  than  sixty-five  chapels  annually. 

This  system  of  finance  may  seem  complicated  to  the  stranger, 
but  it  operates  like  clockwork.  Every  wheel  moves  in  its  own 
place  and  performs  its  appropriate  functions.  A  committee, 
treasurer,  secretary,  &c.,  are  appointed  every  year  in  advance  to 
superintend  each  department  or  fund ;  the  appropriation  is  gen- 


METHODIST  CONFERENCE.  593 

erally  made  in  advance  upon  the  credit  of  what  is  expected ;  so 
that  each  district  and  circuit  knows  what  is  required,  or  how 
much  will  be  bestowed,  as  the  case  may  be.  The  collections 
are  made  for  each  fund  at  a  given  time  in  the  year,  and  the 
preacher  who  neglects  to  make  the  collection  will  be  called  to 
an  account  as  certainly  as  though  he  neglected  any  other  ministe- 
rial duty. 

On  the  annual  committees  quite  a  number  of  laymen  are  en- 
listed, by  which  their  business  talent  is  employed  to  advantage, 
and  their  interests  and  feelings  also  become  enlisted.*  Everything 
is  done  by  system,  and,  therefore,  well  done.  The  minister's  sup- 
port is  liberal  and  certain  ;  his  extra  bills  for  sickness  are  all  met ; 
his  house  is  furnished  with  everything  necessary  for  the  family  use, 
so  that  nothing  is  removed  from  one  circuit  to  another  but  his  books, 
clothing,  and  family.  In  this  way  a  great  portion  of  the  pains  and 
privations  of  an  itinerant  life,  such  as  we  have  it,  are  avoided. 

Missionary  Fund. — This  is  the  great  fund  of  the  connexion, 
and  gives  operation  to  one  of  the  most  efficient  subordinate  or- 
gans of  moral  power  now  in  existence  in  the  Christian  church. 
The  number  of  members  under  the  care  of  this  society  is,  as  re- 
ported for  the  present  year,  sixty-one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
three.  Of  these,  thirty-eight  thousand  and  twenty-five  are  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  mostly  coloured  ;  and  ten  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty-five  are  in  the  British  colonies  of  North  America, 
The  others  are  in  India,  Africa,  Continent  of  Europe,  islands  of 
the  Pacific,  New  Holland,  &c.  In  these  missionary  stations  two 
hundred  and  eighty-one  preachers  are  employed,  besides  teachers 
and  other  agents. 

To  meet  the  expense  of  this  part  of  the  work,  above  fifty-two 
thousand  pounds  have  been  raised  by  subscriptions  and  contribu- 
tions during  the  past  year,  and  by  legacies  and  from  other  sour- 
ces sufficient  to  make  the  income  for  the  year  sixty-two  thousand 
one  hundred  and  ninety-six  pounds,  fourteen  shillings.  This  sum 
is  raised  in  various  ways  ;  by  public  contributions  at  anniversary 
meetings,  by  missionary  boxes,  by  annual  subscriptions,  by  do- 
nations, by  collectors  who  go  from  house  to  house  to  obtain  aid 
for  the  missions,  by  missionary  teas  ;  in  short,  almost  every  law- 

*  As  a  proof  of  the  interest  thus  excited,  quite  a  number  of  these  laymen,  when  they 
left  town,  gave  fifty  pounds  each  for  the  funds  of  the  connexion. 

50  4  F 


594  ENGLAND. 

ful  thing  that  can  be  thought  of  is  put  in  requisition  to  aid  this 
cause.  The  great  means,  however,  and  that  which  gives  life  to 
all  the  rest,  are  the  anniversaries  that  are  held  in  all  the  societies. 
These  anniversaries  are  attended  by  delegates,  who  are  selected 
from  among  the  preachers  at  the  Conference,  to  visit  each  a  given 
portion  of  the  work,  to  make  speeches,  state  facts,  and  attract  the 
attention  of  the  people  to  this  great  enterprise.  In  this  way  not 
only  has  the  missionary  feeling  become  intense  throughout  the 
whole  connexion,  but  it  has  become  a  matter  of  principle  and  an 
important  and  indispensable  part  of  practical  godliness  to  give  to 
the  missions. 

At  the  head  of  this  work  are  the  missionary  secretaries,  four  in 
number,  including  the  assistant,  who  devote  their  time  entirely  to 
the  missions.  They  are  assisted  in  London  by  a  committee  of 
preachers  and  laymen,  and  the  Conference  also  have  a  missionary 
committee,  which  meets,  like  the  other  committees,  the  week  pre- 
ceding the  annual  session  to  review  the  business  of  the  year  and 
prepare  all  new  measures  for  Conference.  The  secretaries  have 
all  power  in  the  executive  department,  as  well  as  the  principal 
agency  and  influence  in  forming  the  plans  of  operation.  They  se- 
lect the  missionaries  out  of  those  who  offer  themselves  for  the  mis- 
sionary work,  change  and  remove  them,  and  select  their  fields  of 
labour.  Notwithstanding  the  preachers  of  the  British  connexion 
suppose  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States  have  too  much  power,  yet  the  missionary  secreta- 
ries have  more  power  in  their  department  than  our  bishops. 

Among  the  other  committees  that  meet  on  the  week  preceding 
Conference,  the  stationing  committee  is  of  the  first  importance. 
The  preceding  committees  have  the  charge  of  the  distribution  of 
the  funds  of  the  church ;  this  of  the  ministerial  gifts  of  the  church. 
This  work  is  very  much  lessened,  however,  by  private  arrange- 
ments previously  made  between  the  preachers  and  circuits.  It 
is  customary  at  the  first  quarterly  meeting  after  Conference  for 
the  circuit  by  its  official  board  to  invite  their  preachers  for  the 
next  year.  If  those  invited  comply  with  the  request,  the  subject 
rests  until  the  Conference,  when,  if  nothing  special  intervene  to 
prevent,  the  arrangement  is  confirmed.  Those  who  are  not  pro- 
vided for  by  this  arrangement  are  to  be  distributed  among  the  va- 
cancies on  the  circuits.  Although  each  preacher  is  permitted  to 


METHODIST  CONFERENCE.  595 

be  stationed  three  successive  years  on  the  same  circuit,  yet  it 
must  be  by  reappointment  in  a  formal  way,  so  that  every  appoint- 
ment is  canvassed,  first  in  the  stationing  committee,  and  then  re- 
viewed and  revised,  and  finally  acted  upon  and  confirmed,  after,  I 
think,  the  third  reading  in  Conference. 

On  the  subject  of  stationing  the  preachers,  I  saw  again  how 
important  was  Mr.  Wesley's  poll  deed.  Make  the  best  of  an  itin- 
erant life,  there  is  something  in  it  so  unpleasant  to  flesh  and  blood 
that  there  is  a  constant  tendency  to  a  more  permanent  system ; 
and  the  idea  was  decidedly  expressed  by  several  of  the  leading 
preachers,  that  a  longer  stay  than  three  years  would  be,  in  some 
cases,  important ;  but  the  poll  deed  will  not  allow  of  it.  Thus 
has  Mr.  Wesley's  forethought  perpetuated  a  travelling  ministry, 
which  otherwise,  by  its  own  friction,  would  sooner  or  later  have 
run  itself  down  to  a  dead  locality. 

The  preachers  think  they  have  more  voice  in  their  appointments 
than  we  have  in  our  method ;  but  I  believe,  with  the  exception 
of  a  portion  of  the  more  favoured,  there  is  more  diiference  in  name 
than  in  reality.  In  no  case  was  the  question  of  the  appointment 
of  a  preacher  put  to  vote.  The  voice  of  the  elders,  and  especially 
of  the  president,  prevailed,  and  the  preacher  submitted.  It  is  true, 
he  had  an  opportunity  of  telling  his  wishes  to  the  Conference ;  of 
saying,  as  was  often  done,  that  he  thought  he  should  do  for  such 
a  circuit,  &c. ;  and  he  also  had  the  opportunity  of  hearing  it  said 
very  plainly  in  the  Conference  that  he  would  not  do  for  such  a 
circuit,  they  never  would  receive  him,  and  the  like.  This  was 
at  first  a  little  amusing  to  me ;  but  I  found  habit  had  made  them 
familiar  with  these  things,  and  it  was  thought  little  of.  It  was 
pleasing,  however,  to  see  with  what  submission  they  yielded 
when  the  voices  seemed  to  be  against  them. 

But  I  anticipate  ;  for,  heretofore,  I  have  only  been  speaking  of 
the  doings  of  the  committees  before  Conference.  This  body  com- 
menced its  regular  session  on  the  27th  July.  Dr.  Bunting  was 
chosen  unanimously  to  fill  the  president's  chair.  This  was  done 
to  show  the  schismatics  the  confidence  they  had  in  the  doctor, 
and  in  those  principles  which  he  had  sustained,  and  for  which 
he  had  received  so  much  personal  abuse.  This  office,  also,  he 
was  well  qualified  to  fill.  He  is  perfectly  acquainted  with  the 
Methodist  system  ;  he  knows  the  men  ;  he  knows  the  work  ;  he 


596  ENGLAND. 

knows  the  rule ;  he  has  a  most  extraordinary  business  tact  tnat 
grasps  the  whole  and  inspects  the  parts.  He  has  a  mind  for  gen- 
eralization and  analysis,  and  a  ready  skill  to  adapt  the  means  to 
the  end ;  to  do  the  proper  thing  in  the  proper  way.  Having 
spoken  thus  freely  of  him  in  his  official  relations,  I  might  add, 
that  in  the  chair  he  exercises  more  authority  than  could  be  ex- 
ercised in  the  United  States.  Indeed,  I  believe  everywhere  in 
England  the  president  or  chairman  in  church  and  state  exercises 
more  authority  than  with  us.  At  any  rate,  if  I  may  judge  of  the 
authority  of  the  president  of  the  Wesleyan  connexion  in  England 
by  what  I  saw  at  the  Conference  and  elsewhere,  he  has  twice  the 
power  of  the  entire  board  of  Methodist  bishops  in  America,  if  we 
except  the  power  of  stationing  the  preachers ;  and  in  practice  even 
here  the  president's  power  was  greater  than  that  of  our  bishops'. 
When  he  said  let  it  be  so,  the  voice  of  the  elders  said  let  it  be  30, 
and  so  it  was.  No  man,  probably,  since  the  days  of  Mr.  Wesley, 
has  had  such  a  control  and  influence  in  the  connexion  as  the 
present  president ;  and  richly  does  he  merit  it.  If  knowledge,  if 
judgment,  if  integrity,  if  entire  devotion  of  time  and  talents  ought 
in  any  case  to  secure  influence  to  a  man,  then  is  his  authority 
legitimate,  and  all  who  know  him  know  that  it  is  also  safe. 

I  was  pleased  at  the  deference  paid  to  seniority  and  to  office 
in  the  British  Wesleyan  Conference ;  and  not  only  here,  but  in 
all  the  social  and  domestic  relations  of  this  country.  Honesty 
and  candour  oblige  me  to  say  it  is  the  contrast  of  what  we  see  in 
America  ;  and  it  is  but  candid  to  acknowledge  that  this  difference 
is  doubtless  owing,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  difference  in  the  in- 
fluence of  the  political  institutions  of  each  country  respectively 
upon  social  and  domestic  habits.  We  gain  nothing  in  favour  of 
republicanism  to  claim  for  it  what  does  not  belong  to  it ;  and  we 
are  great  losers  by  shutting  our  eyes  to  its  unfavourable  bearings. 
Everything  has  its  defects,  and  the  height  of  human  perfection 
is  to  fix  upon  that  which  has  the  fewest  imperfections  ;  and 
then,  instead  of  shutting  our  eyes  to  the  imperfections  of  our 
chosen  system,  it  becomes  us  to  know  them  well,  and  provide 
against  them.  Where  everything  is  carried  by  vote,  and  every 
man's  vote,  whether  young  or  old,  rich  or  poor,  ignorant  or  learned, 
is  of  equal  value  with  that  of  any  other ;  and  where,  too,  these 
votes  are  courted  by  flattering  the  besotted  and  ignorant,  and  or- 


METHODIST    CONFERENCE.  597 

ganizing  and  setting  forward  the  young  and  inexperienced  in  the 
great  affairs  of  the  nation,  we  could  expect  little  else  than  that  the 
tendency  would  be  to  the  levelling  system,  to  the  prostration  of 
all  distinctions,  not  only  the  arbitrary  and  oppressive,  but  also 
the  natural  and  salutary ;  the  guards,  therefore,  should  be  on  that 
side.  Where  men  do  not  come  up  to  the  natural  mark,  there  is 
no  danger  of  their  passing  beyond.  But  we  have  come  up,  in  the 
constitution  of  society,  to  the  full  point  of  popular  and  equal  priv- 
ileges ;  and  a  man  must  be  but  half  of  a  philosopher  not  to  be 
able  to  infer  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  that  the  press  will  be 
onward  towards  radicalism  and  agrarianism;  to  a  levelling,  in  fact, 
of  those  distinctions  of  respect  for  the  aged  and  the  wise  which 
even  savage  life  recognises.  For  when  civilized  communities 
break  over  their  just  social  bounds,  they  rush  into  a  worse  state 
than  exists  in  original  barbarism ;  they  have  refined  upon  theory 
until  they  have  stifled  the  voice  of  those  gregarious  instincts  that 
constitute  the  rude  elements  of  savage  or  barbarous  clanship. 
That  we  have,  in  our  social  constitutions,  come  fully  up  10  the 
line  in  this  direction,  shows  our  courage,  if  not  our  wisdom  ;  and 
the  only  way  now  to  sustain  ourselves  is  to  know  our  exposed 
sides,  and  guard  against  them  ;  here  is  one  point  of  exposure,  and 
here,  we  should  set  our  double  guard,  and  this  is  to  be  done  mainly 
in  the  domestic  circle.  We  must  cease  to  flatter  our  children, 
and  to  press  them  forward  into  early  public  notoriety;  and  in 
more  extended  associations  we  must  be  cautious  how  we  spoil  our 
youth  of  promise,  who  are  shooting  up  from  the  dust,  under  the 
patronage  of  our  genius-fostering  institutions,  by  too  much  flat- 
tery, and  by  giving  them  a  premature  pre-eminency.  Let  them 
rise  ;  it  is  well  that  we  have  thrown  off  those  shackles  of  rising 
genius  which,  in  Europe,  make  every  case  of  elevation  from  the 
lower  grades  of  society  a  phenomenon  ;  but  it  is  not  well  that  we 
guard  so  little  against  any  peculiar  evils  incident  to  such  a  state 
of  society.  I  have  said  more  on  this  subject  than  I  should  have 
done,  but  for  the  conviction  that  the  evil  is  a  growing  one  ;  and 
for  the  known  fact  that,  when  it  is  seen  and  charged  upon  us  by 
Europeans,  we  deny  it. 

The  manner  of  doing  business  in  the  Conference  was  much 
less  in  regular  parliamentary  order  than  with  us.  In  their  mis- 
cellaneous  business  several  would  speak  at  a  time.  Whenever 

4G 


598  ENGLAND. 

the  subject  was  one  of  moment,  however,  and  required  grave  de- 
liberation, they  spoke  successively  and  in  set  form  ;  but  very 
few  questions  were  put  to  vote.  In  general,  they  talked  over  the 
subject,  and  settled  down  upon  what  seemed  to  be  the  voice  of 
the  majority,  and  especially  the  majority  of  the  more  experienced 
and  the  aged. 

As  I  have  mentioned  the  affair  of  Mr.  Sturge  and  the  Baptist 
missionary  meeting,  I  will  add  that  Mr.  Sturge  was  true  to  his 
promise  of  making  my  character  (as  he  preferred  to  understand 
it)  known  to  the  Conference.  He  procured  a  printed  circular  to 
be  sent  to  every  member  of  the  Conference,  informing  them  of 
the  bad  man  that  had  come  among  them,  and  calling  upon  them 
to  treat  him  accordingly.  In  allusion  to  this,  and  in  explanation 
of  the  slave  question  in  our  country,  I  spoke  at  some  length  on 
the  subject  when  I  was  officially  introduced.  The  Conference 
received  me  with  great  apparent  cordiality  and  kindness,  and  the 
president  expressed  his  disapprobation  of  the  interference  of 
another  in  their  concerns.  On  hearing  our  rules  and  doings  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  it  was  declared  by  several  that,  so  far  as 
ecclesiastical  action  was  concerned,  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  had  done  more  than  the  Wesleyans 
of  England  ;  that  the  instructions  given  to  their  missionaries  sent 
to  the  West  Indies  prohibited  them  altogether  from  agitating  the 
question  of  emancipation ;  since  they  were  sent  there,  not  to  med- 
dle with  civil  relations,  but  to  preach  the  gospel  and  bring  sinners 
to  repentance.  In  doing  this,  they  considered  they  were  adopting 
the  apostolical  example.  To  this  there  seemed  to  be  a  general 
assent ;  the  president,  however,  stated  that  it  would  have  been 
more  gratifying  to  him  if  the  General  Conference  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  had  expressed,  at 
their  late  session,  their  official  and  continued  disapprobation  of 
slavery ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  expressed  his  conviction  that  it 
did  not  become  the  English  to  interfere  or  dictate  in  this  matter, 
and  especially  to  send  agents  to  the  United  States  to  agitate  the 
public  mind. 

Mr.  Sturge  afterward  sent  another  circular,  expressing,  among 
other  things,  that  "something  approaching  to  indignation  had 
been  raised  in  his  mind  at  seeing  it  announced  in  the  public  pa- 
pers'* that  I  had  been  "most  cordially  and  affectionately  re- 


METHODIST  CONFERENCE.  599 

ceived."  But  this  second  produced  as  little  effect  as  the  first. 
I  am  thus  particular  on  this  subject  for  two  reasons  :  to  show  the 
extreme  ultraism  of  a  certain  portion  of  the  English  population, 
and  the  rational  and  honourable  course  adopted  by  the  Wesleyan 
Methodists  tovyards  their  brethren  in  America.  The  British 
Methodists  are  certainly  decided  emancipationists,  but,  as  a  body, 
they  are  reasonable  men ;  whereas,  on  this  question,  many  in 
the  other  dissenting  sects  of  England  and  Scotland  have  treated 
the  subject,  so  far  as  the  United  States  are  concerned,  altogether 
unreasonably.  Some  of  the  Baptists  were  ready  to  quarrel  with 
Rev.  Doctors  Cox  and  Hobey  because  they  did  not  commence  a 
crusade  on  abolitionism  as  soon  as  they  reached  America.  The 
Presbyterians  treated  the  Presbyterian  delegation  from  the  United 
States  this  very  season  in  a  way  that  will,  it  is  presumed,  effectually 
suspend  all  further  interchanges  of  official  messengers  of  peace 
and  salutation  between  the  two  Christian  bodies  in  the  respect- 
ive countries.  The  Methodists  alone  stand  in  that  relation  to  each 
other  which  will  authorize  the  continuance  of  these  Christian  em- 
bassies between  the  two  countries ;  and  it  is  devoutly  to  be  de- 
sired that  nothing  may  occur  to  prevent  the  friendly  relations  that 
exist  between  these  two  great  divisions  of  the  Methodist  family. 

Two  or  three  things  more,  and  I  must  dismiss  the  subject  of 
the  Conference.  One  interesting  change  was  made  this  year  by 
the  British  Conference  in  their  manner  of  setting  apart  their 
young  ministers  for  their  work.  Before,  it  was  done  without  the 
laying  on  of  hands,  except  in  case  of  those  who  were  ordained  for 
foreign  missions.  This  year  that  ceremony  was  adopted.  Why 
it  should  have  been  delayed  so  long  is  not  readily  accounted  for. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  Methodists  have,  from  the  begin- 
ning, very  reluctantly — too  reluctantly,  as  I  think — assumed  any 
attitude  that  would  appear  like  setting  up  a  separate  and  a  dis- 
senting church.  Even  to  this  day,  many  of  the  ministers  and 
people  will  tell  you  they  are  not  dissenters,  and  that  they  do  not 
like  dissent.  Although  they  have  all  the  attributes  of  a  regular 
and  distinct  church  organization;  their  doctrinal  creed;  their 
church  covenant  and  moral  discipline ;  their  distinct  ministry  and 
ordinances  ;  their  places  of  worship,  and  their  legal  recognition 
as  a  distinct  religious  community,  yet,  strange  to  tell,  even  intel- 
ligent men  among  them  will  tell  you  they  are  not  dissenters  !  It 


600  ENGLAND, 

is  difficult  to  know  what  they  mean  by  this.  I  suppose  it  is, 
however,  that  they  do  not  wish  to  supplant  or  help  destroy  the 
establishment.  This  step  of  a  formal  ordination  by  the  laying  on 
of  hands,  small  as  it  is,  will  help  widen  the  division,  probably, 
that  separates  them  from  the  establishment. 

As  this  was  the  first  Conference  held  in  Birmingham,  the  citi- 
zens struck  a  medal  in  commemoration  of  it,  and  got  up  a  public 
breakfast,  where  these  medals  were  presented,  with  appropriate 
speeches,  on  both  sides  to  the  president  and  secretary  of  the  Con- 
ference, and  to  the  American  and  Irish  delegates ;  the  thing  was 
executed  in  a  way  very  creditable  to  the  friends  in  Birmingham. 
The  breakfast  was  served  in  the  large  new  town-hall,  which  is  a 
fine  specimen  of  Grecian  architecture,  and  a  spacious  edifice  for 
public  meetings.  I  know  not  the  number  that  were  seated  at  the 
breakfast-tables*  ladies  and  gentleman,  but  I  think  there  could  be 
little,  if  any,  short  of  a  thousand ;  and  numbers  paid  a  liberal  fee 
for  a  ticket,  just  to  have  the  privilege  of  coming  into  the  gallery 
to  see  and  hear.  The  whole  scene  was  peculiarly  English,  but 
none  the  less  interesting  for  that;  the  topics  discussed  in  the 
speeches  were  themes  connected  with  the  past  and  present  state 
of  the  great  Methodist  family  in  Europe  and  America,  and  with 
the  general  interests  of  the  great  Christian  cause.  Here  were  pres- 
ent more  than  four  hundred  ministers ;  here  were  representatives 
of  the  cause  from  almost  all  the  British  colonies,  from  Africa,  from 
the  United  States,  and  from  Ireland,  and  even  one  converted  In- 
dian chief  from  the  wilds  of  Canada.  The  cheer  was  good,  the 
tide  of  feeling  strong  and  pure  ;  at  suitable  intervals  a  most  splen- 
did organ,  elegantly  played,  rolled  its  deep  tones  around  the  echo- 
ing arches  of  the  spacious  edifice.  At  the  close  of  the  breakfast, 
anu.  just  before  the  ceremony  of  the  medals,  the  favourite  air  of 
"  God  save  the  king"  was  struck  by  the  organ.  I  noticed  a 
movement  before  I  was  aware  of  the  cause.  "  Is  that  c  God 
save  the  king  ?'  "  I  asked.  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "  Then,"  said 
I,  "I  must  rise  also;"  at  the  same  time  dropping  my  cup  of  cof- 
fee, and  rising  upon  my  feet.  The  remark  and  rising  were  no- 
ticed and  applauded  in  English  style  by  loud  cheers  and  clap- 
ping, as  though  they  had  hardly  expected  that  a  plain  republican 
would  rise  to  honour  a  king  ;  but  my  religion,  as  well  as  my  sense 
of  propriety,  teaches  me  not  only  to  "  love  the  brotherhood,"  but 
also  to  "  honour  the  king." 


METHODISM    IN    ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA.  601 

It  is  often  asked  what  are  the  points  of  difference  or  coinci- 
dence between  English  and  American  Methodists.  I  answer, 
that  in  everything  essential  they  coincide ;  in  doctrine  and  moral 
discipline,  perfectly  ;  in  all  the  ceremonies  and  general  usages 
they  are  the  same.  The  English  are  more  systematic  than  we 
are ;  everything  is  in  order ;  everything  is  done  at  the  time  and 
in  the  manner  the  rule  proposes.  This  is  a  commendable  trait, 
and  is  in  a  great  measure  the  secret  of  their  success.  In  this 
respect  the  inconveniences  of  a  new  country  have  contributed  to 
lead  us  to  relax  too  much  from  the  rules  of  our  great  founder,  who 
left  on  all  the  institutions  of  Methodism  the  stamp  of  his  method 
ical  mind. 

The  character  of  their  ministry,  intellectual  and  theological, 
and,  indeed,  for  general  pulpit  qualifications,  does  unquestionably, 
in  the  great  whole,  exceed  ours.  I  do  not  mean  that  we  have 
not  as  many  of  what  would  be  called  superior  preachers  as  they 
have,  but  the  great  body  sinks  below  theirs,  and  that  for  very 
good  reasons.  Many  of  our  most  promising  men  have  been  com- 
pelled, or,  at  any  rate,  induced,  for  the  want  of  competent  support, 
to  leave  us  and  join  others  ;  or,  what  is  more  common,  go  into 
the  local  ranks  and  engage  in  some  secular  calling.  To  this,  in 
England,  there  is  no  temptation.  In  addition,  their  ministers  in- 
crease faster  than  their  calls  for  them.  The  consequence  is, 
they  are  not  obliged,  in  order  to  fill  up  or  enlarge  their  work,  to 
take  any  but  the  best ;  the  barely  passable  they  pass  by,  whereas 
our  great  call  for  ministerial  labour  leads  us  to  take  all  who  offer 
that  are  judged  barely  passable. 

Their  theological  school  in  London  will  operate  still  more  to 
improve  their  ministry.  The  students  consist  of  those  who  have 
been  examined  and  admitted  into  the  Conference,  but  whose  la- 
bours are  not  yet  wanted,  and  they  are  therefore  put  on  what 
they  call  their  list  of  reserve.  Some  of  these,  as  is  judged  expe- 
dient and  as  their  funds  will  allow,  they  select  and  place  here, 
board  and  instruct  them,  and  pay  them  their  ministerial  allowance 
besides.  They  are  instructed  in  science,  literature,  and  theology. 
Reverend  John  Hannah,  known  to  many  in  the  United  States  as 
the  associate  delegate  to  the  American  General  Conference  in 
1824,  is  the  theological  professor. 

That  the  Methodists  in  England  are  more  spiritual  and  devout 
51  4  G 


602  ENGLAND 

than  they  are  with  us,  I  could  not  say.  On  both  sides  of  the 
water  the  free  social  intercourse  of  the  ministers  with  each  other 
sometimes  borders  very  close  upon  a  compromise  of  what  some, 
at  least,  would  think  a  commendable  ministerial  gravity.  In  this 
respect,  however,  I  think  our  British  brethren  rather  surpass  us, 
They  are  the  most  cheerful  class  of  men  I  ever  saw ;  and  one 
would  judge  that,  to  look  at  them.  As  I  sat  upon  the  platform  in 
the  Conference  room,  elevated  some  seven  or  eight  feet  above  the 
great  majority  of  the  preachers,  I  said  to  myself,  you  are  the  best 
fed  and  happiest  countenanced  class  of  men  I  ever  saw.  One 
would  think  they  had  been  selected  from  the  nation  for  some  office 
where  corpulency  was  the  qualification  for  the  appointment.  As, 
however,  they  are  not  appointed  because  they  are  fat,  they  prob- 
ably get  fat  after  they  are  appointed.  This,  however,  is  not  pecu- 
liar to  the  ministry;  corpulency  is  a  prevailing  physical  charac- 
teristic of  the  English.*  For  this  I  cannot  account ;  perhaps  it  is 
drinking  beer ;  perhaps  it  is  in  the  climate.  Bilious  complaints 
are  certainly  much  less  prevalent  than  with  us.  There  are  few 
sallow,  but  many  fair,  ruddy  faces  ;  although  I  might  say  here,  as 
a  passing  remark,  that  I  saw  no  evidence  that  there  was  greater 
longevity  in  Old  England  than  in  New  England ;  indeed,  I  should 
think  the  latter  has  the  advantage  in  this  respect.  It  might  be  said, 
perhaps,  that  in  England  they  have  fewer  lingering  chronic  dis- 
eases and  sickly  constitutions,  but  more  acute  disorders  and  sud- 
den deaths.  But  I  wander. 

The  preaching  of  the  Methodists  in  England,  and,  I  may  say, 
that  of  all  others  whom  I  heard,  is  not  so  much  directed  to  influ- 
ence the  unregenerate  to  an  immediate  decision  to  dedicate  them- 
selves to  a  religious  life  as  with  us.  The  consequence  is  as 
might  be  expected  ;  the  marked  and  sudden  changes  are  far  less 
frequent  than  in  Mr.  Wesley's  days,  and  what  we  in  America 
term  revivals  are  comparatively  rare,  especially  in  some  parts  of 
the  country.  There  is  a  difference  in  this  respect.  A  Wesleyan 
preacher  in  England  seriously  asked  me  whether  I  thought  revi- 
vals were,  on  the  whole,  advantageous  to  the  church.  I  could 
only  reply  to  him  that  I  was  astonished  to  hear  a  professed  dis- 
ciple of  Wesley  make  that  a  question. 

*  Another  very  prevailing  physical  characteristic  is  a  bald  head.  The  bald  heads  ex- 
c«ed  those  in  America,  I  should  think,  five  to  one,  if  not  ten  to  one. 


BIRMINGHAM.  603 

The  manner  of  preaching,  or,  more  properly,  the  style  of  elo- 
cution among  the  preachers  generally,  is  far  from  being  natural. 
There  is  a  mouthing  of  their  words  ;  a  drawling  or  dwelling  on 
certain  syllables  to  make  them  solemn  or  emphatic  that  is  the 
very  essence  of  affectation,  and  could  only  be  tolerated  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  habit  has  become  very  general.  It  is  borrowed 
from  mother  church.  The  clergymen  of  the  establishment  abound 
in  it.  They  frequently  read  the  service  so  outrageously  that  one 
unaccustomed  to  it  can  hardly  endure  it.  The  same  habit,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  has  gained  some  countenance  in  our  own  country, 
especially  among  Episcopal  clergymen  ;  although  the  greater  part 
do  not  copy  it.  But  in  England,  although  it  is  not  so  preva- 
lent among  the  other  dissenters,  you  find  it  extensively  among  the 
Methodists,  and  it  is  naturalized  to  some  extent  even  in  parlia- 
ment. It  has  taken  root  in  their  universities,  and  therefore  it  will 
continue  to  fill  the  nation  with  its  fruit.  When  the  Methodists, 
as  a  body,  have  such  a  sample  of  natural,  unaffected  elocution,  as 
is  exhibited  by  their  honoured  president,  and  some  others,  it  is 
surprising  to  me  that  they  will  ever  leave  it  to  follow  this  Gothic 
sing  song,  this  antiquated,  intolerable  drawl. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  town  of  Birmingham  has  been  called  the  "  toyshop  of  Eu- 
rope." It  contains  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, who  are  devoted  chiefly  to  the  manufacture  of  the  smaller 
articles  made  of  metals,  such  as  buttons,  buckles,  toys,  knives, 
scissors,  pins.  Muskets,  and  other  weapons  of  death,  are  also 
manufactured  here,  together  with  a  great  variety  of  plated  ware. 
The  trade  of  the  town  is  mainly  with  America;  perhaps  more 
than  with  all  other  countries  put  together  in  the  ratio  of  four  to 
one.  The  abundance  of  coal  and  of  metals  in  the  neighbourhood 
affords  the  principal  materials  that  feed  these  manufactories. 

There  is  in  the  town  a  delightful  variety  of  hill  and  dale,  and 
the  prospective  on  the  east  side  especially  is  vciy  fine.  At  its 


604  ENGLAND. 

highest  level  it  has  a  canal  basin,  from  which,  in  different  cuts,  it 
distributes  its  wares  to  different  parts  for  the  home  and  foreign 
markets.  Birmingham  is  almost  the  centre  of  the  kingdom,  and 
is,  therefore,  a  grand  thoroughfare  for  this  populous  nation  and 
for  strangers,  to  which  its  fine  branching  roads  in  every  direction, 
and  its  canals,  greatly  contribute ;  and  to  all  of  which,  the  addi- 
tional advantage  of  a  railroad  extending  from  Londonto  Liverpool, 
now  in  progress,  will  soon  be  added.  The  surrounding  country 
is  very  fertile,  and  affords  an  abundant  and  varied  market  to  the 
town.  The  public  buildings  are  not  numerous ;  but  the  town- 
hall,  already  alluded  to,  is  a  fine  Corinthian  temple,  with  a  peri- 
style of  fluted  columns  on  a  lofty  base,  twelve  on  the  sides  and 
eight  at  the  ends,  reckoning  the  corners  twice.  There  are  also  a 
fine  market,  an  elegant  edifice  for  a  free  grammar-school  in  the 
Gothic  style,  just  being  finished,  and  in  the  old  market-place  is  a 
statue  of  Lord  Nelson. 

Although  Birmingham  is  an  old  town,  yet  its  principal  growth 
has  been  since  the  peace  with  the  United  States  in  1783  ;  showing, 
as  well  as  Liverpool  and  other  towns>  that  the  trade  of  a  free  and 
an  independent  nation  is  abundantly  better  than  that  of  shackled  and 
dependant  colonies  ;  and  that  what  Great  Britain  lost  in  foreign  ter- 
ritory she  gained  in  commerce  and  wealth  at  home.  Populous  as 
Birmingham  is,  she  never  was  represented  in  the  national  parliament 
until  the  passage  of  the  Reform  Bill.  She  now  has  two  members. 

A  little  out  of  town  are  the  works  of  Boulton  and  Watt,  sup- 
posed to  be  the  first  of  the  kind  in  Europe,  in  which  one  thousand 
workmen  are  employed.  This  Watt  is  the  son  of  the  celebrated  in- 
ventor of  the  steam-engine,  whose  single  invention  has  conferred  a 
favour  upon  his  country  and  upon  the  world  beyond  all  human  cal- 
culation. Imagination  herself  would  grow  weary  in  attempting  to 
follow  out  the  advantages  that  result  from  this  method  of  applying 
steam  power  to  the  arts  ;  and,  what  is  still  more  wonderful,  al- 
though the  engine  itself  has  been  considerably  improved  in  many 
respects,  yet  all  the  important  principles  were  conceived  and  ma- 
tured in  the  single  mind  of  the  original  inventor. 

Although  Birmingham  is  in  Warwickshire,  yet  it  is  close  upon 
the  borders  of  Staffordshire ;  so  near,  in  fact,  that  my  own  lodg- 
ings during  the  session  of  the  Conference  were  in  the  latter  county, 
in  the  town  of  West  Bromwich.  We  had  lodgings  with  a  Mrs. 


COAL  AND  IRON  MINES.  605 

Hartly,  with  whom  and  her  kind  and  interesting  family  we  enjoyed 
all  the  kindness  and  cordiality  of  Christian  hospitality.  We  had 
four  other  ministers  lodging  with  us,  with  whom  we  enjoyed  sea- 
sons of  delightful  intercourse  long  to  be  remembered. 

Here  we  were  on  the  very  borders  of  the  coal  and  iron  mines  ; 
and,  by  the  politeness  of  Mr.  Bagnall,  one  of  the  principal  owners 
of  extensive  works  in  the  neighbourhood,  we  were  taken  over  the 
whole.  It  would  be  interesting,  perhaps,  to  describe  the  various 
processes  and  parts  of  the  works,  but  it  would  swell  my  volume 
too  much.  Their  extent,  order,  and  productiveness  surprised  us. 
They  were  manufacturing  railroad  bars  for  Russia,  in  the  north 
of  Europe,  and  for  the  United  States 

That  all  the  materials  for  making  iron,  the  ore,  the  coal  for 
roasting  and  smelting,  and  the  lime  for  the  flux,  should  be  arranged 
precisely  as  they  were  wanted  in  the  same  locality,  is  a  wonderful 
provision  of  our  bountiful  Creator.  The  strata  of  these  different 
materials  lie  one  above  another  at  different  depths,  so  that,  by  sink- 
ing a  shaft,  they  throw  out  of  the  same  pit  all  the  materials  men- 
tioned. Among  their  forges  and  pits  canals  are  cut  in  every  di- 
rection, by  which  everything  is  carried  by  water  almost  to  the 
very  spot  where  it  is  needed.  The  whole  of  the  natural  agents 
seemed  to  be  used  up  in  these  great  workshops  of  England. 
Many  hands  are  also  employed,  and  at  this  time  they  command 
great  wages ;  and  yet,  sad  to  reflect  upon,  very  few  of  them  lay 
up  anything  for  the  future  ;  owing  chiefly  to  the  great  prevalence 
of  intemperance.  The  hands,  in  general,  can  only  be  made  to 
work  about  three  or  four  days  in  the  week ;  the  rest  of  the  time, 
including  Sabbath,  is  spent  in  rioting.  By  means  of  trades'  unions 
they  compel  their  employers  to  pay  them  exorbitant  wages,  for 
which  they  are  none  the  better,  but  rather  the  worse.  If  any  of 
their  trade  break  over  the  rules  and  work  for  less  wages,  they  are 
persecuted,  and  punished,  and  sometimes  even  murdered,  by  their 
fellow-crafts.  Business  is  good ;  never  better,  perhaps,  in  Eng- 
land ;  orders  for  manufactures  are  abundant ;  and  this  gives  the 
manual  labourer  the  control.  Times  will  doubtless  change,  and 
then  what  will  become  of  those  who  now  control  the  market  of 
wages  by  combination,  and  spend  those  wages  in  strong  drink? 
But  on  this  they  spend  no  thought.  "  A  short  life,  and  a  merry 
one,"  is  their  motto.  The  villages  are  full  of  shops  fox  strong 
51 


606  ENGLAND. 

drink,  and  the  streets  are  full  of  children,  growing  up  to  drink 
and  die,  as  their  fathers  now  drink  and  die  before  them ;  #and 
yet,  who  cares  for  their  souls  ?  Who  steps  in  to  turn  aside  those 
streams  of  molten  fire  that  are  overwhelming  successive  gen- 
erations and  scorching  this  fair  land  with  its  consuming  flames  ? 
The  neighbourhood  of  West  Bromwich  was  one  of  additional  inter- 
est from  its  having  been  the  birthplace  and  scene  of  the  early  minis- 
terial labours  of  the  venerated  Francis  Asbury,  who  may  be  called, 
under  God,  the  principal  founder  of  Methodism  in  America.  We 
visited  the  house  of  his  former  residence,  and  the  room  where  his 
parents  lived  and  died.  The  only  relic  I  could  procure  was  an 
earthen  cup  with  two  handles,  which  served  as  the  family  drinking- 
cup,  and  was  common  for  the  parents,  and  the  son,  and  the  itin- 
erant preacher,  who  always  preached  and  lodged,  when  he  came 
round,  at  old  Mr.  Asbury 's.  I  inquired  for  letters  of  the  people 
who  lived  in  the  same  cottage  and  took  care  of  the  old  people 
until  they  died,  supposing,  of  course,  that  the  many  letters  which 
it  was  known  he  wrote  to  his  parents  might  be  preserved. 
"  Law  me,"  said  the  woman,  "  I  didn't  know  that  the  papers  were 
good  for  anything ;  it  isn't  a  year  since  I  emptied  the  old  trunk 
and  burnt  up  the  contents."  Disappointed  here,  I  went  to  a  Mrs., 
Mosely  at  Sneal's  Green,  whose  father  was  a  cousin  and  corres- 
pondent of  the  bishop's.  Here,  however,  I  could  get  but  two 
letters. 

My  conductor  over  these  scenes  was  a  Mr.  John  Reeves,  a 
labouring  man,  but  quite  an  antiquarian  in  his  way,  who  seemed 
to  know  everything  connected  with  the  neighbourhood,  either  in 
the  past  or  present  generation ;  among  other  things,  he  showed  us 
in  the  churchyard  at  Barr  the  grave  and  monument  of  our  adopted 
countryman,  Henry  Foxall,  Esq.,  who  died  here  while  on  a  visit  to 
his  native  country  and  friends  in  1823.  To  him  our  own  denom- 
ination are  under  special  obligations  in  Washington  City  ;  and  he 
was  also  favourably  known  to  the  public,  and  especially  to  the 
ordnance  department  of  the  government. 

As  I  know  whatever  appertains  to  Bishop  Asbury  will  be  of 
special  interest  to  all  who  know  his  character,  or  anything  of  his 
history  in  the  United  States,  I  will  give  the  following  statement 
of  John  Reeves,  which,  at  my  request,  he  reduced  to  writing,  and 
I  believe  it  will  be  more  interesting  to  give  it  in  his  own  words. 


BISHOP    ASBURY.  607 

"The  late  Mr.  Francis  Asbury  was  born  on  the  20th  or  21st 
of  August,  1745,  near  the  foot  of  Hampstead  old  bridge  (this 
house  has  been  taken  down  some  years),  on  the  Handsworth  side 
of  the  water  in  Staffordshire,  three  miles  from  Birmingham. 
His  father's  name  was  Joseph,  and  his  mother's  Elizabeth  As- 
bury. Joseph  Asbury,  about  the  period  Francis  was  born,  and  for 
some  years  after,  was  employed  under  Wyrley  Birch,  Esq.,  of 
Hampstead  Hall,  as  farmer.  W.  Birch  was  a  magistrate  ;  appli- 
cation had  at  several  times  been  made  to  him  to  protect  the 
Methodists  from  the  rioters.  He  once  went  to  Joseph  Asbury 
(about  1764),  and  said  to  him,  *  Well,  Joe,  how  do  they  use  you  ? 
If  anything's  the  matter,  bring  them  before  me,  and  I  will  punish 
them  ;  and  if  you  have  a  mind  to  pray  with  your  'eels  uppermost, 
I  will  make  them  to  know  better  than  disturb  you.' 

"About  the  period  mentioned  above,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Mather 
laboured  in  this  round ;  Wednesbury*  was  the  principal  place ; 
persecution  raged  at  Wolverhampton  and  Birmingham.  At  the 
latter  place  some  'prentices  and  others  broke  into  the  preaching- 
house  down  an  entry  in  Moor-street,  Birmingham  (formerly  an  old 
playhouse) ;  one  mounted  the  pulpit,  others  threw  the  books  at  him, 
and  much  damage  was  done.  Mr.  Mather  took  these  persons  be- 
fore Sir  Wyrley  Birch,  of  Hampstead  ;  his  worship  declared  he 
would  send  them  for  soldiers ;  but  turning  to  Mr.  Mather,  whose 
good  sense  he  admired,  said,  *  What  do  you  intend  to  do  ?  must  I 
commit  them  ?'  The  answer  was,  *  If  they  will  promise  not  to  do 
the  same  again,  we  will  forgive  them.'  The  justice  sternly  re- 
plied, *  Ah,  you  are  always  such  fools.'  After  this  there  was  peace 
at  Birmingham. 

"  While  F.  Asbury  was  a  child  his  parents  removed  to  Barr, 
about  a  mile  and  a  quarter  from  where  he  was  born,  and  from  this 
place  he  was  sent  to  school  to  Anther  Taylor,  at  Sneal's  Green.f 
His  master,  as  he  says,  '  was  a  great  churl,  and  used  to  beat  me 
cruelly  ;  this  drove  me  to  prayer,  and  it  appeared  to  me  that  God 
was  very  near  to  me.'  I  am  informed  that  while  the  other  boys 
were  at  play  Frank  would  retire  into  the  fields  to  pray.  He 
sometimes  wore  a  white  smock  frock,  and  the  lads  in  derision 
called  him  the  parson. 

*  Wednesbury  was  where  Mr.  Wesley  was  assaulted  and  his  life  endangered.    It  is 
in  full  view  from  Barr,  perhaps  about  three  miles  distant,  on  a  neighbouring  hill. 
t  We  visited  the  schoolroom  at  Sneal's  Green ;  a  school  is  still  kept  there 


608  ENGLAND. 

"  At  thirteen  and  a  half  years  of  age  he  was  bound  an  apprentice 
to  John  Griffin  ;  his  trade  was  chape  filing '.*  (A  man  of  the  name 
of  Thorp  now  lives  in  the  house.t)  The  Rev.  Mr.  Ryland,  of 
Sutton  (a  church  clergyman),  hearing  of  his  piety,  and  going  about 
to  preach,  paid  him  several  visits,  lent  him  books,  and  gave  him 
Christian  advice.  When  F.  A.  and  his  young  companions  went 
to  the  preaching  at  Wednesbury,  it  was  his  usual  custom  to  walk 
a  little  distance  behind  them.  It  has  been  known  that  when  he 
has  gone  to  a  distance  to  preach,  he  has  sat  with  the  people  wait- 
ing for  the  clock  to  strike,  when  one  would  say  to  the  other,  '  I 
wish  the  preacher  would  come  ;'  when,  to  their  surprise,  he  would 
mount  the  chair,  or  what  else  was  ready  for  him,  and  commence 
the  service. 

"  About  the  year  1763  Mr.  Asbury  met  class  at  West  Brom- 
wich,  and  met  in  band  at  Wednesbury.  He  began  to  preach 
when  he  was  about  sixteen  years  of  age ;  was  about  twenty-one 
when  he  went  out  as  an  itinerant  preacher  (1766).  He  landed 
at  Philadelphia  on  the  27th  October,  1771.  The  first  Sabbath- 
schools  ever  established  in  America  were  organized  under  the 
direction  of  Bishop  Asbury  for  the  benefit  of  the  slaves  in  the 
south  of  the  Union,  A.D.  1786.  He  died  March  31,  1816." 

Mr.  Reeves  further  informed  me  that  he  was  well  acquainted 
with  Thomas  Ault,  who  was  an  intimate  companion  with  Asbury 
in  his  boyhood.  Ault  lived  in  the  house  adjoining  the  first  preach- 
ing-room built  at  West  Bromwich  in  1764  ;  and  Mr.  Asbury 
preached  his  last  sermon  there,  previous  to  his  departure  for 
America  in  1771,  from  2  Timothy  ii.,  20.  At  that  time  there 
were  but  fifteen  or  sixteen  persons  in  the  society  ;  now  they  have 
a  very  large  chapel,  at  the  opening  of  which,  a  year  or  two  since, 
they  took  up  a  collection  of,  I  think,  seven  or  eight  hundred  pounds 
sterling.  Such  are  the  changes  of  sixty  years  ;  indeed,  all  this  re- 
gion abounds  with  Methodists,  and  it  is  a  little  singular  that  this 
neighbourhood  should  have  given  two  Methodist  bishops  for  the 
United  States ;  for  at  Dorlaston,  three  miles  from  Barr,  Bishop 

*  A  "  chape"  is  the  catch  of  a  buckle ;  a  small  business  for  so  great  a  man.  It  is 
said,  however,  he  was  a  dull  mechanic,  and  his  mind  see'med  to  be  too  much  on  other 
subjects  to  allow  him  to  excel  in  his  business. 

t  And  a  wretched  fellow  he  is ;  it  seemed  a  sort  of  sacrilege  to  see  the  house  where 
Asbury  used  to  live  converted  into  a  den  of  thieves. 


LABOURING   IRISHMEN.  609 

Whatcoat,  when  a  boy,  was  also  an  apprentice  to  a  trade,  which 
he  left  for  the  ministry. 

We  left  Birmingham  by  a  new  route  on  the  13th  of  August, 
which  was  the  day  after  the  Conference  adjourned,  and  reached 
London  the  same  evening.  These  stagecoaches  go  at  the  rate 
of  ten  or  twelve  miles  an  hour,  and  on  some  of  the  lines  the 
horses  are  always  upon  the  run.  We  met  one  wreck  of  a  coach 
upon  the  way,  which  is  no  very  uncommon  thing ;  for,  although 
the  roads  are  remarkably  fine,  still  the  coaches  are  so  topheavy, ' 
and  the  speed  is  so  great,  a  trivial  obstruction  will  overset  them. 

We  remarked  great  droves  of  the  common  labouring  Irishmen 
upon  the  road,  all  travelling  north.  These  poor  fellows  come 
over  in  harvest  to  get  a  little  money  to  pay  their  rents  ;  and,  as 
the  harvest  is  ripe  in  the  south  soonest,  they  land  there  and  work 
up  until  they  reap  their  way  through  the  kingdom.  The  number 
surprised  us ;  we  met  hundreds  on  hundreds  in  addition  to  those 
who  were  in  the  fields.  One  would  suppose  that  so  many  could 
scarcely  find  employment ;  but  the  agricultural  products  of  Eng- 
land are  immense,  especially  the  wheat.  Indian  corn  does  not 
grow  at  all ;  there  is  not  sun  enough.  Indeed,  for  my  part,  I 
hardly  see  how  anything  grows.  The  greater  portion  of  the  time 
during  this  absence  from  London  I  have  felt  the  need  of  a  sur- 
tout  or  cloak,  and  the  hours  of  sun  have  been  few  and  far  be- 
tween. But  this  seems  to  be  the  better  for  the  wheat,  and  the 
crops  are  fine.  One  would  suppose,  on  noticing  the  immense 
number  of  manufactories,  and,  of  course,  the  numerous  hands  to 
be  sustained  which  are  not  employed  in  agriculture,  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  supply  the  nation  with  bread-stuffs  at  home. 
The  fact,  however,  is,  that  the  nation  is  supplied,  and  large  ex- 
ports, especially  the  present  year,  are  made  to  the  United  States. 
And  when  we  consider  the  great  extent  of  pleasure-grounds  and 
hunting-grounds  that  are  still  unproductive  in  the  necessaries  of 
life,  and  the  possibility  of  subjecting  much  that  is  now  waste  land 
to  profitable  culture,  the  presumption  is,  that  England  might  be 
made  to  support  double  its  present  population. 

The  landscape  views  in  England  are  often  commended.  They 
are  rather  beautiful  than  grand.  The  frequent  hedges  of  haw- 
thorn and  other  shrubs  give  the  whole  a  very  fresh  and  verdant 
appearance  ;  but  to  me  they  appeared  to  have  injured  rather  than 

4H 


610  ENGLAND. 

helped  the  prospects  by  too  minute  divisions.  The  two  most  in- 
teresting features  in  the  country  parts  of  England  are  the  very 
contrast  of  each  other.  The  lordly  castle  or  palace,  with  its  ex- 
tensive parks  and  pleasure-grounds,  and  sometimes  antique  edi- 
fices ;  its  porters'  lodges  ;  its  magnificent  gates  and  extended  ave- 
nues, arid  all  the  concomitants  of  wealth  and  splendour,  constitute 
one  of  these  features ;  and  the  other  is  the  humble  rural  cottage, 
it  may  be,  thatched  with  straw ;  it  may  be  small,  and,  perhaps,  an- 
cient, but  it  has  around  it  numerous  little  appendages  of  taste  and 
comfort.  The  little  patch  in  front  is  tastefully  adorned  with 
flowers ;  a  vine  runs  over  the  door,  and  a  flower  blooms  in  the 
window.  The  charm  is  in  the  verdure  and  in  the  taste  which 
cultivates  it.  The  climate,  however,  is  so  temperate,  that  it  has 
undoubtedly  begotten  and  fostered  this  taste  for  verdure.  There 
are  very  few  countries  where  there  is  so  little  biting  frost  in  the 
winter  and  scorching  sun  in  the  summer  as  in  England.  One 
luxury  they  have  comparatively  little  of  in  England — except  at 
the  great  expense  of  a  hot-house  growth — that  is  fruit.  They 
have  the  gooseberry  in  perfection,  such  as  I  have  never  tasted 
anywhere  else  ;  but  the  apple,  the  pear,  the  peach,  are  very  indif- 
ferent ;  melons  they  have  none.  In  short,  their  supplies  of  fresh 
fruit  are  very  limited  and  generally  poor. 

We  spent  another  week  in  London,  and  then,  in  company  with 
our  excellent  hostess,  Mrs.  Alder,  started  for  Bristol  on  the  20th 
of  August.  There  was  nothing  unusual  in  the  journey.  We  had 
the  common  lot  of  a  ride  on  the  top  of  an  English  stagecoach ; 
hard  seat,  an  iron  rod  to  the  back,  and  frequent  showers  upon  the 
head,  which,  thanks  to  a  water-proof  coat  purchased  in  London, 
slid  off  without  penetrating.  The  ladies  had  worse  fare  ;  for  to 
hold  an  umbrella  was  to  shed  your  rain  upon  your  neighbour, 
and  give  him  full  license  to  hold  one  and  shed  his  upon  you  ;  so 
that  there  was  little  gain  in  that.  To  go  inside  is  to  see  nothing 
and  enjoy  nothing;  yet  you  are  better  there  than  outside  in  a 
rain ;  but  the  difficulty  is,  the  morning  often  promises  fair  and  the 
treacherous  day  deceives  you. 

We  stopped  to  dine,  but  could  get  neither  seats  nor  food, 
and  the  coachman  hurried  us  away  before  we  had  half  satisfied 
our  hunger ;  and,  at  the  close,  the  servant  had  the  impudence  to 
come  to  me  to  be  "  remembered,"  I  shall  always  "  remember9 


BATH.  611 

Kim ;  and  I  told  him  when  I  called  again,  if  the  hotel  could  afford 
waiters  enough  to  give  us  our  dinner,  I  would  pay  them.  But 
that  is  not  the  policy.  As  the  time  is  very  limited,  if  embarrass- 
ments can  be  thrown  in  the  way  of  eating  for  a  few  minutes,  the 
dinner  is  saved  and  the  fee  is  gained.  Why  will  not  Madam 
Trollope  travel  through  her  own  country,  and  chastise  some  of 
her  own  countrymen  into  good  manners  ? 

There  was  nothing  important  to  notice  until  we  reached  Bath, 
one  hundred  and  six  miles  from  London.  This  is  a  beautiful 
town,  situated  on  the  Avon  in  Somersetshire,  and  owes  its  exist- 
ence and  importance  chiefly  to  its  medical  springs.  This  town 
contains  nearly  forty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  is  built  chiefly  of 
a  beautiful  white  stone  called  the  Bath  stone,  from  its  being 
found  in  the  town  and  vicinity.  The  architecture  is  imposing, 
and  some  of  it  elegant.  The  ground  rises  considerably,  and  the 
brows  of  the  eminences  are  crowned  with  ranges  of  architecture, 
terrace  above  terrace,  which  sweep  round  in  the  form  of  a  crescent, 
and  make  a  magnificent  appearance  Bath  is  supposed  to  have 
had  an  existence  before  the  Roman  conquest.  It  became  a  place 
of  celebrity  and  even  of  imperial  residence  under  the  Romans ; 
a-nd  here  they  built  splendid  baths,  the  ruins  of  which  were  found 
in  1755,  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  twenty  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  ground.  The  celebrated  Beau  Nash,  who  was  king,  in  his 
day,  of  the  world  of  etiquette  and  fashion,  lies  buried  here.  He 
died  in  1762.  The  temperature  of  the  Bath  waters  is  about  one 
hundred  and  sixteen  degrees. 

In  thirteen  miles  more  we  reached  Bristol,  and  were  welcomed 
to  delightful  lodgings,  according  to  previous  arrangements,  at  J. 
Irving's,  Esquire,  a  little  out  of  town.  With  this  truly  hospitable 
family  we  spent  ten  days,  during  which  time  we  visited  the  envi- 
rons to  some  extent,  but  were  principally  occupied  in  attending 
the  "  British  Association  for  the  promotion  of  Science,"  for  which 
purpose  we  had  selected  this  time  to  visit  Bristol.  I  had  at  first 
designed  to  give  a  particular  account  of  this  association,  but  find 
my  limits  will  only  permit  a  slight  sketch. 

This  association  had  its  origin  in  a  suggestion  of  Sir  David 
Brewster's,  purporting  that  it  was  very  desirable  for  scientific  men 
to  have  an  opportunity  of  associating  together,  and  exchanging  views 
and  enjoying  each  other's  commurications  on  scientific  subjects. 


612  ENGLAND. 

This  led  to  the  first  meeting  at  York  in  1830.  Their  subsequent 
annual  meetings  have  been  at  Cambridge,  Oxford,  Edinburgh, 
Dublin,  and  now  commencing  on  22d  August,  and  ending  on  the 
27th,  at  Bristol.  The  object  of  the  meetings  is  to  promote  science 
by  bringing  together  the  improvements  of  all,  by  discussing  scien- 
tific subjects,  by  promoting  sympathy  and  concert  in  and  among 
the  lovers  of  science,  and  by  interesting  the  public  in  the  process 
and  results  of  scientific  investigation.  As  the  object  is  to  promote 
science,  and  not  to  honour  scientific  men  by  admitting  them  into 
a  select  fraternity,  the  privileges  of  membership  are  open  to  all 
respectable  persons  who  will  pay  the  accustomed  fee,  one  sover- 
eign. Twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  new  members  were  added  at 
the  late  session  ;  and  as  none  are  admitted  to  the  meetings  but 
such  as  are  members,  there  is  a  great  anxiety  among  the  citizens 
of  the  place  where  the  meeting  is  held  to  become  members ;  and 
thus  a  great  accession  is  made  to  the  society,  and,  of  course,  to 
its  funds,  every  year.  Nor  is  the  increase  of  funds  the  only  ad- 
vantage. All  who  attend  the  meetings  become  more  deeply  inter- 
ested in  science  and  in  scientific  men ;  an  impulse  is  given  to  the 
public  mind  ;  the  great  advantages  of  philosophy,  and  its  connex- 
ion with  the  practical  arts,  are  more  clearly  seen,  and  thus  the 
narrow  prejudices  of  popular  feeling  are  removed.  Indeed,  the 
advantages  are  unspeakable;  and  I  have  only  to  hope  that  our 
own  country  will  soon  avail  herself  of  such  an  institution.  There 
are,  of  course,  more  difficulties  with  us  to  prevent  success  in  such 
an  association  than  exist  here.  We  are  more  widely  scattered  ; 
we  have  not  so  many  scientific  men,  and  those  we  have  are  not 
so  much  at  leisure  as  many  of  the  scientific  men  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland.  But  all  these  considerations  only  go  to  show  the 
more  need  we  have  of  some  general  association  to  operate  as  a 
convex  lens  to  converge  to  a  common  focus  our  sympathies,  our 
discoveries,  and  our  efforts.  As  a  high  intellectual  feast  of  a 
most  uncommon  character,  to  say  nothing  of  other  advantages,  I 
should  think  our  men  of  science  would  make  great  efforts  and 
sacrifices  to  establish  and  sustain  such  an  institution.  Never  did 
I  before  so  fully  realize  what  was  meant  by  "  the  feast  of  reason 
and  the  flow  of  soul"  as  during  my  attendance  upon  these  meet- 
ings of  the  British  Association.  I  never  expect  again  to  enjoy  the 
like ;  but  if  we  could  have  a  distant  approximation  to  it  in  some- 


THE    BRITISH    ASSOCIATION.  613 

thing  of  the  kind  in  the  United  States,  it  would  be  in  some  re- 
spects more  gratifying,  as  it  would  promise  so  much  good  to  our 
rising  country.  Nor  can  I  doubt,  from  the  known  enterprise  and 
perseverance  of  our  men  of  science,  that,  should  they  engage  in 
an  association  of  this  kind,  they  would  make  it  interesting  and 
profitable  ;  especially  when  I  see,  as  I  have  seen  here,  one  of  our 
own  countrymen,  Professor  Hare,  of  Philadelphia,  contributing  to 
the  chymical  department  of  the  British  Association  as  great  or  a 
greater  portion  of  important  and  interesting  matter  as  perhaps  any 
other  individual  member. 

For  the  better  division  of  labour,  the  association  is  divided  into 
seven  departments,  called  sections,  viz.,  mathematics  and  physics, 
chymistry  and  mineralogy,  geology  and  geography,  zoology  and 
botany,  medical  science,  statistics,  and  mechanical  science.  These 
all  meet  at  different  rooms  during  the  day,  and  have  each  its  pres- 
ident, two  vice-presidents,  and  three  secretaries,  and  a  committee 
consisting  in  the  different  departments  of  members  varying  from 
eight  to  eighteen.  Besides  these,  there  were  a  president,  vice- 
presidents,  treasurer,  secretaries,  and  a  general  committee  for  the 
association.  Before  each  section  respectively  papers  were  read, 
communications  made,  and  discussions  carried  on  upon  subjects 
relating  to  that  department ;  each  important  paper  having  first 
been  presented  to  the  committee  for  its  approval,  that  nothing  un- 
suitable or  unprofitable  should  occupy  the  time  of  the  section. 
The  sectional  committees  also  took  into  consideration  all  proposi- 
tions for  important  investigations  and  experiments  which  required 
particular  attention  and  expense.  These  propositions  were  ex- 
amined ;  and  such  as  were  approved  of  were  referred  to  the  gen- 
eral committe,  when,  if  approved  of  by  them,  committees  were 
appointed,  and  appropriations  of  money  were  made  to  carry  on  the 
investigations  during  the  year,  the  results  of  which  were  to  be  re- 
ported at  the  next  annual  meeting.  Besides  these  there  was  a 
local  committee  for  the  town  of  Bristol,  to  make  all  necessary  ar- 
rangements for  the  accommodation  and  the  proper  conducting  of 
the  meetings  and  the  entertainment  of  the  members.  This  was 
done  in  a  way  highly  creditable  to  the  citizens  of  Bristol.  Rooms 
were  nicely  fitted  up ;  all  the  public  rooms,  and  institutions,  and 
gardens,  and  collections  of  the  arts,  &c.,  were  thrown  open  for 
the  free  access  of  the  members ;  an  ordinary  was  provided,  where 
52 


614  ENGLAND. 

all  might  meet  together  and  dine  at  a  common  table,  and  the  the- 
atre was  fitted  up  for  the  general  meetings  of  the  society  three 
evenings  in  the  week,  where  the  doings  of  each  section  were  re- 
ported in  a  condensed  form  for  the  general  information  of  the 
members.  At  these  meetings  each  member,  by  applying  before- 
hand and  obtaining  a  ticket,  was  permitted  to  introduce  a  lady, 
and  I,  as  a  foreigner,  was  favoured  with  two  ladies'  tickets.  They 
also  favoured  foreigners  in  other  respects,  by  giving  them  a  (red) 
ticket,  which  gave  them  admission  to  the  committee  rooms  and 
to  the  platforms  at  the  general  meetings,  which  was  no  small  fa- 
vour in  the  immense  crowd  which  thronged  the  theatre  on  these 
occasions.  One  of  the  greatest  drawbacks  upon  the  gratifications 
of  these  meetings  was,  that  the  house  was  too  small  for  the  as- 
sembly. This  occasioned  a  great  rush  as  soon  as  the  doors  were 
opened  by  the  multitude  that  had  assembled  at  an  early  hour  to 
secure  seats,  by  which  the  ladies  were  exposed  to  such  crushing  as 
threw  some,  I  believe,  into  hysterics ;  tore  off  shawls,  Vandykes, 
and  headdresses  from  numbers,  and  greatly  incommoded  many 
others.  I  had  known  something  of  John  Bull's  character  for 
pushing  with  his  head  and  horns  during  Passion  Week  at  Rome, 
and  I  now  discovered  that  what  he  was  abroad  he  was  also  at 
home.  One  of  them  declared  he  would  break  my  arm,  because 
I  persisted  in  interposing  it  between  him  and  Mrs.  F.,  on  whom 
he  was  rushing  with  such  violence  as  made  her  cry  out  for  relief, 
to  which  he  paid  no  regard  ;  having,  however,  come  to  a  passage 
where  I  could  clinch  the  moulding  with  my  hand,  I  held  him 
at  bay  until  the  ladies  could  be  relieved. 

These  general  meetings  were  of  great  service,  as  they  gave  to 
all  the  members  a  comprehensive  view  of  what  was  done  in  each 
section.  This  was  an  inadequate  compensation  for  one's  not  being 
able  to  attend  all  the  sections.  For  myself,  I  would  have  been 
glad  to  be  in  several  places  at  once,  so  interesting  were  the  do- 
ings of  each  section.  At  a  common  room,  however,  called  the 
Inquiry  Room,  the  papers  to  be  read  each  day  were  advertised 
in  the  morning ;  and  we  had  an  opportunity,  in  this  way,  of  se- 
lecting those  sections  where  the  subject  promised  the  most  in- 
terest. 

The  president  of  the  mathematical  and  physical  section  was 
Rev.  W.  Whewell,  of  Cambridge  University,  and  one  of  the  wri- 


THE    BRITISH    ASSOCIATION.  615 

ters  of  the  celebrated  Bridgewater  Treatises.  He  is  a  most  talented 
man,  and  in  his  reports  of  his  section  showed  a  most  comprehen- 
sive view  and  penetrating  mind.  Here,  also,  were  Sir  David 
Brewster  and  Sir  W.  R.  Hamilton  the  astronomer,  Mr.  Babbage 
the  author  of  the  Calculating  Machine,  Rev.  G.  Peacock,  who  has 
written  on  the  hieroglyphics,  and  a  host  of  others. 

In  the  section  of  chymistry  and  mineralogy  were  several  veter- 
ans in  science.  Dr.  Dalton,  of  Manchester,  who  is  the  author  of 
the  "  Atomic  theory."  He  is  a  physician  by  profession,  a  Quaker 
in  his  religion.  Doctors  Henry*  and  Thompson,  the  authors  re- 
spectively of  the  works  in  chymistry  which  bear  their  names. 
Our  countryman,  Professor  Hare,  of  Philadelphia,  was  also  pres- 
ent, and  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  business  of  the  section, 
and  was,  in  fact,  a  member  of  the  sectional  committee. 

The  paper  in  this  section  which  excited  the  greatest  attention, 
was  read  on  the  second  day  by  Thomas  Exley,  Esquire,  the  au- 
thor of  a  treatise  in  which  he  endeavours  to  reduce  all  the  phe- 
nomena of  matter  to  the  two  grand  laws  of  attraction  and  repul- 
sion, Mr.  Exley  is  a  teacher  of  mathematics  in  the  city  of  Bris- 
tol, a  local  preacher  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  a  brother-in-law 
of  the  late  Doctor  Clark.  His  paper  was  on  "  the  reduction  of 
chymistry  to  mathematical  principles."  This  paper  was  highly 
complimented  by  the  first  chymists  present,  and  may  possibly 
lead  to  a  new  era  in  the  science  of  chymistry ;  a  science  which 
has  already  passed  from  era  to  era  with  such  rapidity  as  almost 
makes  one's  head  giddy  to  follow  its  history  with  the  eye,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  experiments  and  the  science  itself. 

By  far  the  most  attracting  section  of  the  association  was  that  of 
geology  and  geography.  This  was  owing,  in  part,  to  the  character 
of  the  subjects  discussed,  and,  in  part,  to  the  popular  eloquence 
of  some  of  the  gentlemen  belonging  to  this  section ;  especially  of 
Professor  Sedgewick  and  Professor  Phillips.  The  former,  more 
particularly,  was  one  of  the  most  fluent  speakers,  abounding  in 
rich  and  spontaneous  tropes  and  imagery,  that  I  ever  heard.  I 
listened  to  him  repeatedly,  not  only  with  great  pleasure,  but  with 
great  astonishment.  The  most  happy  and  masterly  effort  of  all 
was  the  first  that  I  attended.  It  was  a  description  of  a  geologi- 

*  A  few  weeks  after  this  Doctor  Henry  committed  suicide.    He  was  in  bad  health 
and  spirits  at  the  time  of  the  meeting. 


616  ENGLAND. 

cal  section  in  the  county  of  Devonshire.  Mr.  Murchinson,  the  ge- 
ologist who  has  made  himself  so  favourably  known  to  the  scien- 
tific world  by  his  description  and  classification  of  a  system  6-f 
rocks,  which  he  calls  the  "  Silurian  system,"  began  the  discus- 
sion, for  he  and  Professor  Sedgewick  had  examined  it  together. 
After  Mr.  Murchinson  had  given  a  very  beautiful  and  scientific 
analysis  and  description  of  the  section,  Professor  Sedgewick  arose. 
He  complained,  at  first,  that  his  friend  Mr.  Murchinson,  having 
gone  over  the  field  first,  had  left  him  very  little  to  say.  "How- 
ever, gentlemen,"  said  he,  pointing  to  a  fine  drawing  of  the  section 
that  had  been  stretched  across  the  lecture-room,  "  here  is  a  fine 
haunch  of  Nature's  game ;  and  although  you  have  been  feasting 
upon  it  from  the  carving  of  my  friend  Mr.  Murchinson,  it  will  not, 
perhaps,  be  offensive  to  your  geological  tastes  to  take  another 
slice."  He  then  began  to  carve  for  us  in  fine  style,  basting  it 
•with  tropes,  seasoning  it  with  the  most  happy  and  illustrative  im- 
agery, and  spicing  it  with  wit  and  (eloquence.  It  was  a  masterly 
production. 

But  it  would  be  too  tedious  to  follow  out  the  different  sections. 
I  will  just  add,  however,  that,  in  the  section  of  mechanical  science, 
over  which  that  veteran  philosopher,  for  a  long  time  president  of 
the  Philosophical  Society,  Gilbert  Davis,  presided,  the  time  was 
mostly  taken  up  in  discussing  the  science  of  steam,  and  its  va- 
rious applications.  Doctor  Lardner  (author  of  the  Cyclopedia) 
gave  us  a  very  long  lecture  to  prove  the  impossibility  of  naviga- 
ting with  steam  from  the  British  Isles  to  the  United  States  with- 
out an  intermediate  stopping-place  to  take  in  fuel.  He  recom- 
mended the  Azores  or  St.  John's  in  Nova  Scotia.  Mr.  Brunei, 
the  architect,  who  is  concerned  in  the  new  steamer  now  building 
in  Bristol  to  try  the  experiment,  opposed  him.  It  was  to  me  a 
very  interesting  discussion,  and  resulted  in  a  stronger  impression 
of  the  practicability  of  the  project. 

The  last  evening  in  the  theatre  was  very  crowded,  and  would 
have  been  more  interesting  if  Doctor  Buckland  (the  author  of  the 
last  Bridgewater  Treatise)  had  not  attempted  to  bring  his  philos- 
ophy down  to  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  comprehension  of  the 
ladies  ;  in  doing  which  he  became  not  only  boyish,  but  indelicate. 
The  American  ladies,  perhaps,  are  fastidious  upon  some  points; 
S0j  at  least,  Mrs.  Trollope  thinks  ;  and  I  am  very  sure  that  no  as- 


BRISTOL.  617 

sembly  of  American  ladies  would  have  listened  to  Doctor  Buck- 
land's  remarks  ;  and  I  am  very  happy  in  believing  that  no  philos- 
opher educated  in  our  country  would  have  attempted  to  entertain 
them  with  such  remarks  as  characterized  a  great  part  of  his  speech. 
Doctor  Buckland  paid  a  poor  compliment,  withal,  to  the  intellects 
of  his  countrywomen,  if  he  supposed  it  necessary  to  lower  him- 
self to  such  a  position  to  make  himself  intelligible  and  entertain- 
ing. I  know  well  that  many  of  them  were  as  disgusted  with 
him  as  we  were  ;  and  yet  Doctor  Buckland  is  a  man  of  science. 
His  late  work  is  very  valuable. 

On  Saturday  the  general  committee  met  to  finish  up  their  busi- 
ness, and  adjourned  to  meet  next  year  in  Liverpool. 

Bristol  was  for  a  long  time  second  only  to  London  in  popula- 
tion and  commercial  importance  ;  but  other  towns  have  now  gone 
far  before  it.  Its  population,  including  the  out-parishes,  is  about 
one  hundred  thousand,  more  than  half  of  which,  however,  belong 
to  the  city  proper.  One  cause  of  its  not  keeping  pace  with  Liv- 
erpool, Glasgow,  &c.,  is  the  great  inequality  in  the  height  of  the 
water  at  high  and  low  tides.  The  highest  tides  rise  about  forty- 
two  feet.  The  town,  however,  keeps  up  a  foreign  trade  with 
most  parts  of  the  commercial  world. 

The  situation  of  the  town  is  most  delightful,  and  the  surround- 
ing scenery  very  fine.  It  is  on  the  Avon,  about  ten  miles  from  its 
junction  with  the  Severn.  Just  below  the  town  are  heights, 
through  which  the  Avon  has  cut  a  channel  that  is  extremely  pic- 
turesque and  bordering  upon  the  sublime.  Here  a  suspension 
bridge  is  about  to  be  erected,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Brunell, 
the  first  chain  of  which  was  stretched  across  during  our  stay  at 
Bristol.  This  bridge  will  be  higher  than  the  one  at  Friburg,  in 
Switzerland,  although  not  so  long.  Its  proposed  length  is  seven 
hundred  feet,  height  two  hundred  and  thirty,  and  width  thirty- 
four.  This,  when  completed,  will  be  the  third  wonder  of  the 
kind,  that  of  Menai,  in  Wales,  being  the  first ;  which,  however, 
falls  behind  both  the  others,  being  but  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
in  length,  and  one  hundred  feet  above  high  water.  The  one  at 
Bristol  connects  Clifton,  a  beautiful  town  one  mile  from  Bristol, 
and  known  to  the  American  reader  as  the  late  residence  of  Miss 
Hannah  More,  with  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Avon. 

The  association  of  illustrious  names  with  Bristol  renders  it  in-? 
52  41 


618  ENGLAND. 

teresting  to  the  traveller.  Here,  in  an  ancient  cathedral  founded 
in  1140,  is  the  tomb  of  Bishop  Butler,  the  author  of  the  "Analo- 
gy ;"  and  at  a  more  modern  Baptist  chapel  is  the  grave,  covered 
by  a  simple  slab,  of  the  no  less  celebrated  Robert  Hall.  This  is 
the  chapel  where  he  exercised  his  ministerial  office.  At  the 
Portland-street  Methodist  chapel  lies  the  dust  of  Captain  Webb, 
the  first  Methodist  preacher  in  America,  who,  in  his  military 
dress,  used  to  preach  the  gospel  to  a  handful  in  a  sailloft  in  New- 
York.  Sebastian  Cabot,  the  navigator,  who  first  discovered  the 
Continent  of  America,  was  born  here,  and  sailed  from  this  port  in 
1497  on  his  voyage  of  discovery  to  America.  The  poet  Chat- 
terton,  Hannah  More,  Southey,  Coleridge,  and  numerous  others 
of  note,  were  also  natives  of  this  metropolis  of  the  west  of  Eng- 
land. One  would  think  it  must  produce  poets,  for  the  scenes  are 
inspiring  in  almost  every  direction.  I  think  for  a  residence  I 
should  prefer  the  neighbourhood  of  Bristol  to  any  other  part  of 
England  which  I  visited. 

The  Wesleys  were  much  in  Bristol,  and  Methodism  had  an 
early  growth  in  this  city.  I  visited  the  first  preaching-place  built 
•here  by  Mr.  Wesley.  The  construction  is  singular  ;  on  the  same 
level  with  the  gallery  of  the  chapel  were  several  rooms  fitted  up 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  preacher.  Here  are  still  shown  Mr. 
Wesley's  study  and  parlour.  He  passed  from  his  rooms  directly 
into  the  gallery,  and  thence  to  the  desk  of  the  chapel.  This  in- 
teresting chapel,  to  the  discredit  of  the  society  in  this  place,  has 
been  suffered  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  another  religious  sect. 

Near  my  lodgings  is  a  rural  lane  called  "  Charles  Wesley's 
Lane,"  where  Mr.  Charles  Wesley  used  to  walk  and  meditate ; 
and  here,  it  is  said,  he  composed  many  of  his  inimitable  hymns. 

A  few  miles  from  Bristol  is  Kingswood,  which  is  a  settlement 
of  colliers.  Here  the  gospel,  under  Mr.  Wesley,  took  great  effect 
among  these  outcasts  of  society,  which  so  endeared  the  place  to 
him  that  he  built  a  school  here.  Its  first  destination  was  for  gen- 
eral and  public  use,  but  it  has  now  come  to  be  used  exclusively 
for  the  sons  of  the  travelling  preachers,  a  hundred  of  whom  are 
kept  here  constantly.  The  arrangements  in  general  seemed  ap- 
propriate, with  the  exception  that  the  boys,  in  their  hours  of  re- 
cess, had  no  appropriate  home.  They  must  either  be  in  their 
public  schoolroom  or  out  in  the  public  yard.  They  had  no  place 


KINGSWOOD.  619 

of  retirement  for  reflection,  writing,  or  study;  and  no  place  of  de- 
posite  to  which  they  could  have  free  access  for  any  such  toys  or 
tools  as  boys  are  fond  of.  This  struck  me  as  a  grand  defect. 

At  Kingswood  we  were  shown  Mr.  Wesley's  gown,  now  al- 
most hanging  in  shreds,  which  I  had  the  curiosity  to  put  on ;  the 
association  was  almost  inspiring,  but  I  fear  no  permanent  in- 
spiration resulted  from  the  temporary  investiture.  Who  of  his 
numerous  sons  has  been  able  to  receive  and  wear  his  official  man- 
tle ?  Not  one.  In  the  history  of  Methodism  Wesley  stands,  and 
will  for  ever  stand,  alone. 

Here,  too,  is  a  beautiful  walk,  shaded  and  perfumed  with  flow- 
ers, faint  emblem  of  the  savour  of  his  memory,  called  "  Wesley's 
Walk."  His  library  is  here,  many  of  the  books  containing  notes 
by  his  own  hand ;  and  here  are  still  preserved  his  chair  and  other 
articles  of  furniture ;  and  in  the  yard  is  the  tree  under  which  he 
used  to  preach  to  the  colliers,  until  the  tears,  coursing  down  the 
rough  black  cheeks  of  these  sons  of  the  pit,  washed  a  stripe  that 
gleamed  with  the  light  of  penitence  in  the  dark  background,  not 
only  of  a  polluted  face,  but  of  a  still  more  polluted  heart.  This 
tree,  however,  is  dead ;  its  verdure  has  departed,  and  it  is  going 
rapidly  to  decay.  Not  so  the  gospel  that  was  preached  under  its 
shade  ;  that  still  blooms  and  bears  fruit  all  around  these  regions. 
What  an  illustration  of  the  words  of  St.  Peter :  "  The  grass 
withereth,  and  the  flower  thereof  falleth  away  :  but  the  word  of 
the  Lord  endureth  for  ever.  And  this  is  the  word  which  by  the 
gospel  is  preached  unto  you." 

We  left  Bristol  on  the  30th  of  August  in  a  steamer  for  Dublin, 
and  had  a  wretched  voyage  ;  but,  as  I  have  already  said  enough 
about  sea-sickness,  I  will  pass  this  over.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  four  in  the  afternoon  the 
next  day,  neither  Mrs.  F.  nor  myself  took  any  nourishment,  and 
were,  for  a  good  part  of  the  way,  in  a  miserable  state  of  suffering. 
To  add  poignancy  to  all  these  transient  seasons  of  suffering,  the 
voyage  home  is  lived  over  and  over  again  in  painful  anticipation. 


620  IRELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXXL 

THE  approach  to  Dublin  is  fine  ;  the  perspective  is  bounded  by 
an  amphitheatre  of  hills  covered  with  verdure,  and  beautifully 
spotted  with  country-seats  and  other  edifices  ;  islands  and  rocky 
eminences  skirt  you  on  the  right  and  left.  Several  villages  also  at- 
tract the  stranger's  attention,  and  especially  that  of  Kingston,  which 
bids  fair  ultimately  to  become  the  principal  harbour  for  Dublin, 
as  it  is  more  accessible  and  convenient  than  the  one  nearer  the 
city ;  it  has  a  pier  two  thousand  eight  hundred  feet  in  length, 
around  the  head  of  which,  at  low  tide,  there  is  twenty-four  feet 
of  water.  A  railroad  connects  this  village  with  the  city ;  passen- 
gers frequently  land  here,  but  we  kept  on,  as  the  tide  was  favour- 
able, up  to  town. 

On  landing  we  were  saluted  by  a  number  of  obsequious  por- 
ters with  "  Your  honour,"  "  Your  worship,"  "  Your  excellency," 
"  Will  you  go  to  our  hotel  ?"  "  We  will  give  you  a  room  almost 
for  nothing  at  all,  and  good  enough  for  his  majesty."  As  the 
"jaunting  cars"  were  all  taken  up,  we  made  the  nearest  port* 
but,  alas  !  "  for  his  majesty,"  if  he  had  to  lodge  here.  We  made 
a  stay  of  it  for  one  night ;  and  the  next  morning,  according  to  an 
arrangement  made  by  the  Wesleyan  superintendent  of  the  Dublin 
Circuit,  we  were  hospitably  lodged  with  a  Mr.  Owen,  from 
whom  and  his  family,  as  well  as  from  many  others  in  Dublin, 
we  received  much  kind  attention. 

Before  we  left  our  lodgings  in  the  morning  we  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  a  specimen  of  Irish  justice.  A  poor  fellow 
was  carried  by  on  a  rail,  followed  by  a  multitude,  and  ever  and 
anon  tossed  up  and  shaken,  to  make  his  seat  more  "  unaisy" 
"  What  is  that  for  ?"  said  I  to  a  bystander  "  Och  !  sir,  and  he 
refuses  to  pay  his  socket  money."  It  seems  he  had  just  got  mar- 
ried, and  refused  to  pay  the  usual  treat ;  for  this  offence  he  was 
carried  down  the  public  quay  in  broad  daylight,  no  one  saying 
"Why  do  ye  so?" 

We  visited  most  of  the  public  places  in  Dublin,  and  were  much 


DUBLIN,  621 

pleased  with  this  beautiful  city ;  although  in  the  midst  of  princely 
splendour  there  was  much  of  beggary  and  wretchedness.  The 
contrast  of  poverty  and  wealth  is  more  strongly  marked,  and  more 
constantly  noticed,  perhaps,  in  Dublin,  than  in  any  other  city  we 
have  visited.  I  cannot  attempt  a  description  of  Dublin,  for  I  find 
I  am  swelling  my  journal  already  beyond  what  many  will  think  a 
readable  extent ;  indeed,  we  came  to  Dublin  with  a  view  of  de- 
voting but  little  time,  and  therefore  of  getting  but  a  smattering  of 
personal  knowledge  of  this  interesting  island. 

Dublin  is  divided  into  nearly  two  equal  parts  by  the  almost 
straight  channel  of  the  river  Anna  Liffey  running  through  it  from 
west  to  east.  Over  this  river  are  seven  beautiful  bridges,  the  low- 
est of  which  is  Carlisle  Bridge  ;  from  this  bridge  you  have  a  fine 
view  of  the  most  elegant  part  of  Dublin.  To  the  north  is  Sack- 
ville-street,  a  spacious  avenue  constituting  the  main  artery  of  the 
city ;  .in  the  centre  of  this  street  is  Nelson's  column,  surmounted 
by  a  statue  of  this  naval  hero,  the  whole  elevated  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four  feet ;  it  is  a  Doric  shaft  of  fine  workmanship. 
This  street  is  finely  built ;  in  the  opposite  direction  is  Westmore- 
land-street, leading  through  between  the  old  parliament  house, 
now  the  bank,  and  Trinity  College  ;  up  the  river  the  beautiful 
bridges  are  stretching  their  arches  across  the  LifTey,  and  below 
are  the  fine  quays,  custom-house,  public  stores,  &c.  It  is  a 
charming  view.  There  are  numerous  public  squares  in  Dublin, 
and  a  great  number  of  fine  buildings,  which  I  cannot  describe. 

The  only  church  which  I  will  stop  to  notice  is  the  Cathedral  of 
St.  Patrick ;  it  occupies  the  site  where  the  patron-saint  of  Ire- 
land is  supposed  to  have  had  a  chapel  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century ;  this  is  a  fine  old  building,  with  numerous  monuments 
and  much  architectural  taste.  It  was  in  this  cathedral  that  Jona- 
than Swift  was  dean,  and  here  he  was  buried ;  he  wrote  his  own 
epitaph,  which  is  inscribed  upon  his  monument  in  Latin,  the  pur- 
port of  which  is,  that  "Jonathan  Swift  is  buried  here,  where 
cruel  insult  can  no  longer  lacerate  his  heart.  Go,  stranger,  and 
imitate,  if  you  can,  this  strenuous  advocate  for  liberty.  He  died 
the  19th  of  October,  1745,  aged  seventy-eight."  His  "  Stella" 
has  a  monument  in  the  same  church,  and  his  servant  also,  with 
an  epitaph  by  the  dean.  By  the  politeness  of  Mr.  M'Guire,  who 
waited  upon  us,  we  were  permitted  to  inspect  some  of  the  old 


622  IRELAND. 

records,  and  he  gave  me  also  an  autograph  signature  of  the 
dean's ;  by  these  records  we  saw  the  strong  and  rough  character 
of  Swift  delineated  in  some  of  the  records  he  made.  A  deed,  for 
instance,  which  he  appears  to  have  believed  was  executed  in 
fraud,  was  endorsed  as  the  work  of  "  that  rascal  Jones,  and  the 
knaves  or  fools,  his  chapter."  Swift  knew  very  well  that  deans 
might  be  rascals. 

Mr.  M'Guire  showed  us  the  dean's  scull,  the  conformation  and 
developments  of  which  were  a  positive  contradiction  of  all  the 
principles  of  phrenology.  Of  its  being  the  identical  head  of  the 
dean  there  can  be  no  doubt;  first,  because  it  was  found  in  his 
tomb ;  and,  secondly,  because  it  was  found  sawed  in  two ;  an  oper- 
ation which  was  known  to  have  been  performed  on  his  head  after 
his  death.  This  cranium  was  shown  to  some  of  the  phrenologists 
who  attended  the  British  Association  the  year  before,  and  was  at 
first  so  strong  an  argument  against  the  supposed  science  as  to  be 
extremely  perplexing  to  them  ;  but  they  finally  accounted  for  it 
by  supposing  that  the  cranium  must  have  changed  its  size  and 
form  during  the  three  years  of  his  insanity  and  idiocy,  the  last  of 
his  life  !  That  he  was  insane  no  more  than  three  years  is  evi- 
dent from  the  fact  that  I  saw  a  signature  of  his  in  a  regular  busi- 
ness transaction,  requiring  the  use  of  his  reason,  in  the  year  1742. 

From  the  cathedral  we  went  to  the  residence  of  the  present 
dean,  where  we  saw  a  most  splendid  collection  of  ancient  Irish 
curiosities,  all  collected  by  the  dean  within  the  last  six  years. 

Queen  Elizabeth,  under  whom  the  most  important  statutes  of 
the  English  universities  were  enacted,  was  the  sovereign  who 
founded  and  chartered  Trinity  College.  The  first  students  were 
admitted  in  1593.  Thirty  years  ago,  it  is  said,  there  were  but 
about  five  hundred  students,  but  now  they  reckon  about  two  thou- 
sand. But  it  is  not  much  to  be  a  member  of  Trinity  College,  for 
residence  is  not  required.  If  the  student  is  present  to  answer  to 
eight  examinations,  held  at  the  commencement  of  the  term,  he 
may  be  anywhere  the  rest  of  the  time  without  detriment  to  his 
degree  ;  but  the  course  of  study  and  of  examination  for  a  degree 
is  much  more  extended  than  in  the  English  universities. 

Doctor  Sadleir,  regius  professor  in  Greek,  was  kind  enough 
to  take  us  over  the  university.  The  entire  suite  of  buildings  con- 
sists of  three  successive  quadrangles,  containing  the  public  rooms 


EDUCATION    IN    IRELAND.  623 

and  the  rooms  for  the  pupils.  The  library  is  a  fine  room,  contain- 
ing about  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  volumes.  It  is  two 
hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  long  by  two  hundred  and  fourteen 
broad.  The  books  are  well  arranged.  At  the  extremity  of  this 
room  is  another  library,  consisting  of  twenty  thousand  volumes ; 
besides  which  there  is  another  room  of  manuscripts.  Books  that 
are  brought  here  are  never  allowed  to  be  carried  out.  The  offi- 
cers are  obliged  to  take  an  oath  to  this  effect.  So  scrupulous  are 
they  in  observing  this  oath,  that,  when  they  found  that  a  number 
of  pernicious  books  had,  by  some  means,  been  introduced,  they 
held  a  consultation,  and  finally  concluded  to  cut  a  hole  in  the  wall 
and  do  them  up  with  masonry,  and  thus  purify  the  library  and 
save  the  law  and  the  oath. 

The  cause  of  education  appears  to  be  on  the  advance  in  Ire- 
land, although  an  unhappy  division  has  taken  place  on  the  subject 
of  the  national  schools  which  government  is  establishing  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  kingdom.  These  schools  were  planned  with  a 
design  to  exclude  religious  sectarianism  of  every  kind,  and  to  that 
end  it  was  found  necessary  to  exclude  the  Bible,  except  such  por- 
tions as  have  been  selected  with  care,  so  as  to  have  nothing  that 
shall  give  offence  to  Catholic,  Protestant,  or  infidel.  This  gar- 
bling of  the  Scriptures  has  given  offence  to  many  good  men,  who 
think  the  plan  of  national  education  devised  for  Ireland  is  an  un- 
holy compromise  of  principle  and  of  Protestantism.  The  plan, 
however,  continues  to  be  prosecuted  under  a  board  of  commission- 
ers, consisting  of  a  Catholic  and  a  Protestant  archbishop,  a  Pres- 
byterian clergyman,  and  others.  They  have  established  thirteen 
or  fourteen  hundred  schools  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom,  in 
which  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  children  are  ed- 
ucated, and  the  work  is  advancing.  At  this  time  they  are  getting 
up  some  fine  buildings  in  Dublin  for  a  normal  and  other  schools, 
which  promise  something  very  creditable  to  the  city.  This  sys- 
tem, however  objectionable  it  may  be  in  some  respects,  will  do 
good,  I  think.  It  will  be  a  great  thing  to  get  Ireland  enlightened. 
One  of  the  most  unfavourable  considerations  for  Ireland  is  the 
extreme  jealousy  of  the  respective  parties,  political  and  religious, 
of  each  other.  They  have,  by  mutual  collision  and  provocation, 
become  extremely  sensitive,  irritable,  and  intolerant,  and  there 
appears  little  hope  of  mitigation  or  reconciliation.  The  Catholics 


524  IRELAND* 

especially  are  extremely  sore  on  the  subject  of  tithes ;  constitu- 
ting, as  they  do,  the  great  majority  of  the  population,  they  deem  it 
a  hardship  that  they  have  been  obliged  to  pay  tithes,  and  support  a 
religion  which  they  verily  believe  is  heretical.  And  the  Protestant 
clergy  have,  in  general,  been  anything  but  faithful  pastors  ;  instead 
of  going  after  their  flock  and  faithfully  instructing  them,  they  have 
lorded  it  over  their  spiritual  heritage,  and  urged  their  claim  for  the 
fleece,  while  they  have  paid  but  little  attention  to  the  flock.  This 
is  the  view  which  even  the  established  clergy  take  of  the  subject; 
and  some  of  them  say  they  consider  the  present  situation  of  the 
clergy  in  Ireland  a  just  visitation  for  their  criminal  neglects  and 
covetousness.  Now  many  of  them  cannot  get  their  tithes ;  the 
man  in  the  parish  who  will  pay  is  made  an  outlaw  by  the  com- 
munity, and  the  officer  who  shall  undertake  to  enforce  a  collec- 
tion is  the  same. 

The  position  of  England  to  Ireland  seems  to  me  very  much 
like  that  of  a  man  who  has  seized  a  cur  by  the  ears  and  throat, 
because  he  thought  he  deserved  chastisement  for  some  offence, 
and  has  rubbed  his  ears  and  choked  him  until  he  has  become  mad- 
dened with  irritation.  The  man,  weary  of  struggling  with  the  cur, 
wishes  himself  well  out  of  the  scrape  ;  but  he  dare  not  now  relin- 
quish his  grip  upon  the  dog's  throat,  lest,  as  soon  as  he  is  at  lib- 
erty, he  should  turn  and  bite  him  ;  the  cur  continually  shows  his 
teeth  and  snarles  at  his  master,  which  only  leads  the  latter,  through 
fear,  to  pinch  him  the  tighter.  O'Connel  and  his  party  demand 
the  same  laws  for  Ireland  that  have  been  enacted  for  England  ; 
that  the  close  boroughs  and  corporations  should  be  thrown  open 
to  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  &c.  But  England  says  no  ;  as  you 
are  the  majority,  so  soon  as  we  give  you  permission,  you  will 
annihilate  us  ;  and  the  question  simply  is,  whether  the  Protest- 
ants or  Catholics  shall  be  masters  in  Ireland.  We  have  got  you 
now,  and  we  mean  to  hold  you.  This  only  makes  the  Irish  the 
more  enraged,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  only  makes  the  Eng- 
lish the  more  afraid  to  let  go  their  hold.  Where  will  this  state  of 
things  end  ?  Shall  the  poor  cur  be  choked  to  death  ?  or  shall  the 
master  let  go  and  be  severely  bitten  ?  for  bitten  he  most  surely  will 
be  the  moment  he  lets  go.  This  is  certainly  a  question  in  govern- 
ment of  exceedingly  difficult  solution.  Some,  perhaps,  would  say, 
"  Do  right,  without  regard  to  consequences."  Ay  !  but  there  are 


POLITICAL  STATE  OF  IRELAND.  625 

some  questions,  the  right  of  which  can  only  be  ascertained  by  re- 
ferring to  consequences  ;  and  nowhere  do  questions  of  this  kind 
come  up  more  frequently  than  in  those  relations  which  exist  in. 
civil  society.  All  who  know  anything  of  the  Irish  character 
know  it  is  factious  r.nd  ungovernable  ;  and  all  who  know  anything 
of  the  Catholic  policy  know  that  it  always,  where  it  is  possible, 
aims  at  political  supremacy.  The  contest  between  the  two  par- 
ties then  is,  not  simply  whether  Ireland  shall  have  equal  rights 
with  England,  but  whether  there  shall  be  a  Catholic  or  a  Protestant 
supremacy.  The  parliament  reform  bill,  coming  upon  the  back  of 
the  Catholic  emancipation  bill,  has  already  given  great  power  to 
the  Catholics ;  so  that  the  O'Connel  party  have  the  casting  vote 
in  all  cases  where  there  is  a  division  on  any  important  question. 
If  to  this  were  added  such  municipal  regulations  as  would  give 
the  Catholics  all  the  power  in  the  local  magistracy,  the  conse- 
quences, it  is  feared,  might  be  disastrous.  What,  then,  can  be 
done  ?  Grant  that  the  polity  of  England  with  Ireland  has  been 
bad  ;  allow  that  it  has  been  oppressive  ;  still  that  does  not  help 
the  matter  now.  The  existing  relations  and  feelings  are  what 
they  are ;  the  question  is  as  to  the  remedy.  The  improvement 
in  education  promises  something ;  the  more  ignorant  people  are, 
the  more  they  may  be  made  the  tools  of  designing  priests  and 
demagogues.  What  though  the  education  is  not  all  or  precisely 
such  as  might  be  desired  ?  still  give  the  people  knowledge  ;  dif- 
fuse it  abroad  ;  it  will  show  its  advantages  in  the  end.  I  confess  I 
was  not  able  to  see  the  full  force  of  all  the  opposition  which  many 
of  the  good  people  of  England  and  Ireland  make  to  the  national 
schools.  There  has  been  one  argument  urged  on  this  subject, 
however,  that  is  worthy  of  attention,  and  by  noticing  which  some 
light  will  be  thrown  on  the  affairs  of  Ireland. 

There  was  a  society  incorporated  in  1730  for  the  purpose  of 
instructing  the  poor  children  of  Ireland.  This  society  used  to  re- 
ceive parliamentary  aid,  by  which  it  supported  forty  schools ; 
since  the  national  system  has  been  adopted  this  aid  is  withdrawn, 
and  they  now  support  but  eight  schools.  Here,  it  is  said,  is  a 
great  loss  to  the  Protestant  cause,  since  in  all  these  schools,  though 
Catholic  children  were  admitted,  yet  it  was  with  the  understand- 
ing that  they  should  be  taught  Protestantism.  There  is  also  an- 
other consideration  urged,  which  will  apply  to  this  and  other 
53  4K 


626  IRELAND. 

charity  schools  in  Ireland,  namely,  that  although  where  there  is 
no  other  school  accessible  to  the  children,  many  of  the  Catholics 
would  send  their  children  to  these  decidedly  Protestant  schools, 
yet,  as  soon  as  a  school  less  objectionable  in  its  religious  charac- 
ter is  established  in  the  neighbourhood,  all  these  Catholic  children 
are  withdrawn  and  sent  to  the  latter  schools.  Here,  they  say,  the 
measures  of  government  have  actually  interfered  with  Protestant  ef- 
forts ;  they  take  the  children  away  from  Protestant  influence.  This 
is  plead  by  the  Methodists,  who  employ  twenty-six  schoolmasters, 
and  instruct  in  their  mission  schools  in  Ireland  six  thousand  poor 
children,  "  a  considerable  number"  of  whom,  it  is  stated  in  their 
last  missionary  report,  "  are  of  Romish  parentage."  Grant  all  this, 
still  it  must  seem  that  very  few  Catholics  are  educated  in  all  these 
charity  schools  put  together.  What  are  the  few  Catholic  children 
in  the  fifty  or  sixty,  or  even  in  several  hundred,  if  there  were  so 
many  of  these  Protestant  charity  schools,  compared  with  the  en- 
lightening of  the  whole  mass,  as  the  rTational  system  promises  to 
do  ?  At  best,  they  can  get  but  few  of  these  Catholic  children  into 
Protestant  schools ;  fewer  in  Ireland  than  almost  anywhere  else. 
The  priests  are  opposed  to  it ;  and,  as  they  see  the  design,  they 
are  constantly  on  the  watch ;  the  people  are  irritated  and  suspicious. 
Catholic  Ireland  is  neither  to  be  caught  with  guile  nor  converted 
by  force.  Let  the  schools  go  on,  and  that  will  do  something.* 

Another  thing  England  might  do  for  Ireland  ;  she  might  abate 
her  tithe  system  altogether ;  at  least  in  those  districts  where  the 
people  are  almost  wholly  Catholics.  Wise  men  cannot  well  be 
guilty  of  greater  folly  at  the  present  day  than  to  attempt  to  crowd 
a  religion  down  the  throats  of  an  opposing  community.  There 
are  cases,  I  am  told,  where  the  whole  congregation  of  the  Protest- 
ant clergyman  consists  of  only  the  household  of  the  parson,  and 
yet  the  entire,  parish  are  compelled,  by  the  odious  tithe  system,  to 
support  him.  If  it  were  designed  to  disgust  the  people  with  Prot- 
estantism, this  is  the  way  to  do  it ;  and  if  it  is  intended  to  per- 
petuate this  disgust,  let  this  policy  be  perpetuated.  The  only 
way  to  convert  Ireland  is,  doubtless,  to  take  off  all  legal  disabilities 
and  restraints. 

*  It  is  made  a  still  further  ground  of  complaint  against  the  government,  that  they  have 
become  a  propaganda  for  the  Catholic  church,  for  at  Maynooth,  in  Kildare  county,  twelve 
miles  from  Dublin,  government  actually  supports  a  college  for  the  education  of  Catholic 
priests  ;  for  this  I  can  form  no  excuse. 


METHODISTS    IN    IRELAND.  627 


And  since  I  have  struck  upon  this  subject,  I  will  just  express 
an  opinion ;  whether  it  be  correct  or  not,  time  will  determine. 
The  opinion  is  this,  that  the  questions  at  issue  between  the  English 
and  the  Irish  will  never  be  set  at  rest  until  Ireland  is  admitted  to 
equal  privileges  with  England,  and  until  the  Irish  church  is  left 
entirely  free  from  Protestant  domination  and  taxation.  To  return 
to  my  former  figure,  the  Protestant  grip  must  be  loosed  from  the 
animal's  throat,  bite  or  no  bite.  Give  him  fair  play,  and  fight  it 
out  with  him  on  moral  grounds,  for  here  is  where  the  question  is 
ultimately  to  be  decided,  and  then  the  Irishmen  will  be  aisy,  but 
never  before. 

The  Methodists  have  probably  done  more  towards  spreading 
Protestantism  in  the  wildest  parts  of  Ireland  than  any  other  class 
of  men.  In  addition  to  the  schoolmasters  already  mentioned,  they 
have  eight  Scripture  readers,  and  about  twenty-five  missionaries 
employed  on  the  island.  Among  the  latter  is  the  celebrated  Gid- 
eon Ousely,  whom  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  in  Dublin. 
He  is  an  original  character,  prepared  alike  to  talk  Latin  to  the 
Catholic  priests  and  confound  them  by  quoting  their  own  author- 
ities, and  to  preach  to  the  wild  Irish  in  Gaelic.  He  has  spent  al- 
most the  whole  of  a  long  life  in  ministering  to  the  reformation  of 
the  most  ignorant  portion  of  his  countrymen.  He  holds  public 
debates  with  the  priests ;  he  publishes  books  and  tracts,  and  visits 
the  common  people  in  their  cabins.  He  has  been  often  exposed 
and  threatened,  but  has  hitherto  escaped.  He  was  cotemporary 
with  the  latter  years  of  Mr.  Wesley,  and  still  holds  the  field  against 
Romanism  and  sin.  He  gave  me,  when  I  parted  with  him,  a  large 
book  and  a  great  roll  of  tracts,  of  which  he  was  the  author,  on  the 
subject  of  the  Catholic  controversy. 

The  Methodist  connexion  in  Ireland  have  a  conference  of  their 
own,  separate  from  the  British  Conference,  to  which,  however, 
the  latter  appoints  the  president.  The  support  of  their  ministry 
and  the  executive  part  of  their  administration  are  all  independent 
of  the  parent  conference,  as  also  are  most  of  their  funds.  They 
have  been  much  in  debt,  and  have  laboured  under  great  disad- 
vantages ;  but  their  debt  is  now  nearly  liquidated,  and  the  con- 
nexion is  rising.  One  great  difficulty,  however,  is,  that  they 
cling  too  close  to  the  establishment.  They  seem  to  prefer  having 
their  children  enter  the  church  than  be  Methodists,  and  especially 


628  IRELAND. 

Methodist  ministers.  This  spirit  is  apparent  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent in  England,  but  it  appeared  still  stronger  in  Ireland.  By  this 
means  the  children  of  the  /most  wealthy  and  respectable  in  the 
Methodist  societies  entirely  forsake,  in  many  instances,  the  reli- 
gion of  their  fathers,  and  with  the  approbation,  and  often  with  the 
high  gratification  of  their  parents,  enter  the  establishment  as  cler- 
gymen ;  or,  if  in  other  professions,  they  withdraw  altogether  from 
the  Wesleyans.  This  is  done,  too,  it  appears  to  me,  in  most  cases, 
from  worldly  motives  and  with  the  hope  of  wordly  promotion.  I 
believe  this  to  be  inconsistent,  not  to  say  sinful.  If  Methodism 
has  done  the  parents  good,  it  is  valuable  for  the  children ;  and  if 
it  is  not  important  for  the  latter,  the  former  ought  to  give  it  up  al- 
together for  themselves  and  for  the  world.  If  Methodism  needs 
not  to  be  sustained  for  the  sake  of  the  children  of  Methodist  pa- 
rents, it  is  not  worth  sustaining  at  all.  Who  will  carry  it  forward 
if  the  children  of  those  who  have  been  supporters  of  the  cause 
forsake  it  ?  I  can  scarcely  account  for  the  too  prevailing  course 
of  the  Methodists  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  on  this  subject. 
They  act  as  though  they  thought  it  of  some  consequence  to  them- 
selves and  the  world  to  keep  up  the  institutions  of  Methodism ; 
but  it  pleases  many  of  them  rather  the  most  to  have  their  children 
adhere  closely,  and  perhaps  professionally,  to  the  established 
church.  They  may  think  it  right,  but,  for  myself,  I  cannot  un- 
derstand it ;  and  certain  I  am,  it  greatly  weakens  the  cause  both 
in  England  and  Ireland.  I  would  say,  however,  in  connexion 
with  these  remarks,  this  feeling  and  practice  are  by  no  means  uni- 
versal.* 

The  members  in  the  Irish  Wesleyan  Conference  are,  the  present 
year,  reported  at  twenty-three  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight,  besides  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  in  the  mis- 
sions. The  number  of  travelling  preachers  belonging  to  the  Irish 
Conference,  exclusive  of  the  missionaries,  is  one  hundred  and 
thiry-four,  of  whom  only  ninety-four  are  efficient.  The  encour- 
agement for  their  pious  young  men  to  enter  the  field  is  small ;  and 
as  they  are  entirely  destitute  of  academic  or  higher  schools  of 
learning,  most  of  the  influence  thrown  over  the  best  educated  of 

*  Notwithstanding  all  this  cringing  to  the  church,  many  of  its  ministers  are  among  the 
strongest  opposers  of  the  Methodists  ;  in  Ireland  especially  they  persecute  and  reproach 
them,  and,  in  some  cases,  exclude  their  children  from  their  schools. 


JAUNTING    CARS.  629 

Methodist  youth  is  likely  to  be  such  as  will  alienate  them  from 
the  Methodist  church.  Under  these  circumstances,  as  might  be 
expected,  those  who  do  enter  the  work  are  a  self-denying,  labori- 
ous, and,  in  many  instances,  a  suffering  class  of  men.  The  good 
they  have  already  done  to  Ireland  is  incalculable  ;  and,  but  for 
their  embarrassments  by  debts  and  by  divisions  among  themselves, 
they  would  have  done  much  more.  From  these  embarrassments 
they  have,  of  late,  been  greatly  relieved,  and  the  connexion  is  in 
a  more  prosperous  state  than  at  any  former  period ;  but,  unfortu- 
nately, this  comes  too  late.  Much  less  can  be  done  for  the  igno- 
rant Catholics  of  Ireland  now  than  could  have  been  done  a  half 
century  since.  The  same  remark  will  hold  with  respect  to  the 
established  church.  Among  them  now  are  more  pious  men  than 
formerly,  and  more  genuine  Christian  effort  is  made  for  the  good 
of  Ireland ;  but  it  comes  too  late.  Goaded  to  madness,  irritated 
with  tithes  and  political  disabilities,  Catholic  Ireland  is  deaf  to 
the  voice  of  instruction,  and  firmly  fixed  against  reform  ;  perhaps, 
however,  when  the  present  paroxysms  of  political  and  religious 
opposition  and  prejudice  have  subsided,  the  result  may  be  more 
favourable.  Already  some  think  they  see  the  dawning  of  light. 
Some  Catholic  priests  and  people  have  lately  renounced  the  su- 
perstitions of  the  Roman  church.  Among  them  is  the  Rev.  Mr, 
Crotty,  of  Birr,  who,  with  his  cousin,  also  a  clergyman,  and  two 
thousand  of  his  congregation,  have  recently  come  out  against  al^ 
most  all  the  peculiar  and  offensive  features  of  the  Roman  church. 
They  have  not  left  the  church,  but  openly  and  publicly  protest 
against  her  errors. 

But  I  am  reminded  that  my  journal  in  Ireland  will  be  longer 
than  my  stay,  unless  I  hasten  on  with  my  pen.  I  must  remark, 
however,  for  it  has  something  to  do  with  our  mode  of  travelling  in 
this  country,  that  in  Dublin,  and,  in  fact,  all  over  Ireland  where  I  vis-, 
ited,  they  have  a  peculiar  kind  of  carriage  called  a  "jaunting  car." 
These  are  divided  into  inside  and  outside  cars.  The  construction 
of  both  is  similar ;  but  in  one  the  feet  of  the  passengers  are  turn* 
ed  outward  on  two  parallel  seats  running  lengthwise,  and  bringing 
their  sides,  of  course,  towards  the  horse,  and  the  parties  on  the  two 
seats  back  to  back.  In  the  other  the  feet  are  turned  inward,  and 
the  parties  sit  face  to  face.  The  former  is  more  common.  In 
both  the  wheels  are  low,  and  the  seats  are  built  out  over  them  * 
53 


630  IRELAND. 

and  in  the  outside  cars  a  wing  hangs  down,  within  perhaps  eigh- 
teen inches  of  the  ground,  to  which  is  attached  a  footstool  or  step, 
on  which  the  feet  rest.  The  seat  is,  in  fact,  a  hanging  settee,  built 
over  the  wheel,  and  furnished  with  a  footstool.  This  footstool  is 
so  constructed,  that  when  you  are  oijt  it  can  be  turned  up,  and  forms 
a  covering  to  the  settee.  When  it  is  turned  down  you  can  step 
upon  it  and  seat  yourself  with  the  greatest  ease.  It  is  the  handi- 
est carriage  to  get  into  and  out  of  that  I  ever  saw ;  and,  withal,  it 
seems  to  be  constructed  as  a  showcase  for  the  rider  ;  for  the 
whole  form,  from  head  to  foot,  is  exposed.  If  it  turns  over,  which 
seems  to  be  almost  impossible,  it  cannot  hurt  you,  for  it  is  a  very 
easy  thing  just  to  step  off  and  free  yourself  from  danger.  The 
stranger,  however,  especially  in  the  city,  rides  in  continual  fear 
lest  his  lower  extremities  should  come  in  contact  with  a  post  or 
some  other  object  or  vehicle,  and  the  more  so  because  these  bat- 
winged  settees  and  footstools  spread  out  much  wider  than  other 
carriages.  By  the  politeness,  however,  of  John  Barrett,  Esquire, 
whose  car  was  much  at  our  service  while  in  Dublin,  and  to  whose 
special  attentions  we  were  particularly  obligated  during  our  stay, 
we  had  the  privilege  of  sailing  round  this  beautiful  city  whenever 
the  weather  would  permit. 

They  have  public  cars  of  a  similar  construction  with  the  above, 
except  that  they  are  much  larger  and  more  coarsely  made,  which 
are  used  for  carrying  passengers  over  the  island.  As  we  failed 
in  getting  into  the  stagecoach,  we  prepared  ta  take  our  chance  in 
one  of  these  Irish  o?nnibuses.  It  is  a  very  cheap  mode  of  con- 
veyance, and,  therefore,  frequently  crowded  by  very  undesirable 
associates.  Luckily  for  us,  a  heavy  shower,  just  as  we  were 
about  to  embark,  drove  us  from  our  purpose,  and  gave  the  decis- 
ion in  favour  of  a  postcoach.  Posting  in  Ireland  is  much  cheaper 
than  in  England.  Our  postcoach  was  one  shilling  per  Irish  mile, 
exclusive  of  tolls,  and  threepence  per  mile  to  the  postillion.  We 
arrived  at  Drogheda,  where  I  had  an  appointment  for  a  lecture  in 
the  evening,  and  where  I  was  warmly  greeted  by  Christian  friends, 
especially  by  the  Reverend  F.  Tackerbury,  the  Wesleyan  superin- 
tendent of  the  circuit. 

Drogheda  has  about  twenty  thousand  inhabitants,  of  whom  only 
about  fifteen  hundred  are  Protestants  ;  and  of  these  a  portion  under 
the  pastoral  care  of  Reverend  Mr.  M'Ghee,  son  of  the  author  of 


4- V»x*      *•».* 


IRISH    BEGGARS.  631 


the  treatise  on  the  Atonement,  are,  as  I  was  informed,  decided 
Antinomians.  The  liltle  Wesleyan  band,  therefore,  seem  to  bo 
the  only  representatives  of  the  true  gospel  light  in  this  dark  town, 
and  they  are  few  and  feeble. 

When  we  left  Drogheda  the  next  morning  we  saw  the  fruits  of 
Romanism  in  the  full  and  abundant  harvest ;  a  harvest  of  degra- 
dation and  want.  Our  coach  was  surrounded  with  beggars,  from 
whose  importunities  it  seemed  almost  impossible  to  escape.  Beg- 
gars, indeed,  annoyed  us  almost  the  whole  route.  Whenever  we 
stopped  we  were  assailed,  and  never  was  there  a  race  better  skilled 
in  the  beggar's  dialect  than  the  poor  Irish.  At  one  place  a  blind 
man  accosted  us,  who  called  himself  "  Poor  Jack,"  and  whose 
sight  seemed  to  have  been  destroyed  by  a  burn,  which  left  his  en- 
tire face  scarred,  shrivelled,  and  deformed.  The  language  of  his 
supplication  was  as  follows  :  "  Have  compassion  upon  Poor  Jack, 
and  God  will  reward  you !"  It  was  uttered  in  a  low,  plaintive 
undertone,  which  sounded  as  if  the  poor  wretch  had  spoken  from 
the  depths  of  a  dark  prison-house.  Such,  indeed,  was  the  gloomy 
habitation  of  his  soul,  for  the  windows  of  his  house  were  curtained 
over  in  perpetual  darkness.  I  shall  never,  I  think,  forget  the  sound 
of  that  voice  in  my  ear.  I  hear  it  still.  Poor  Jack !  who  can 
doubt  but  that  compassion  for  thee  will  meet  the  reward  of  Heaven  ? 
Another  was  the  case  of  a  miserable-looking,  decrepit  old  lady, 
bending  under  the  weight  of  threescore  and  ten.  Her  story  was 
soon  told,  and,  as  it  was  more  simple,  so  it  was  more  expressive 
and  touching  even  than  that  of  Poor  Jack.  Her  voice  was  dis- 
tinct, though  tremulous  ;  and  as  she  reached  out  her  skinny,  with- 
ered hand,  she  said,  "  I  am  a  poor  widow  ;  I  can  do  nothing  for 
myself"  Oh,  merciful  Heaven  !  what  a  world  is  this  !  There 
is  almost  enough  in  such  an  appeal  to  break  one's  heart.  A  poor 
widow,  stretching  out  her  withered,  helpless  hand  for  charity,  and 
her  whole  appearance  speaking  more  forcibly  than  her  tremulous 
voice,  "  I  can  do  nothing  for  myself  /"  Alas  !  how  many  widowed 
hearts  there  are  in  this  world  who  can  do  nothing  for  themselves. 
That  is  not  true,  however,  of  all  the  wretched  poor  we  saw  on 
this  route.  Even  the  healthy  and  the  young  were  ragged  and 
dirty,  and  their  cabins  were  the  most  wretched  dwellings  I  ever 
saw.  I  thought  I  saw  the  most  cheerless  dwellings  in  Italy  that 
mortals  could  well  inhabit,  but  they  did  not  compare  with  those 


632  IRELAND. 

of  Ireland.  These  cabins  are  built  of  turf,  the  walls  are  low,  and 
the  floor  is  of  earth.  The  pig  lives  much  of  the  time  in  the  same 
mud-cell ;  the  donkey  also  enters  in  here  ;  and  sometimes,  when 
he  wishes  to  hold  possession  of  both  the  interior  and  exterior  do- 
main, he  stands  with  his  head  and  fore  feet  out,  while  his  hinder 
parts  are  housed ;  in  this  case  he  nearly  fills  up  the  hole  of  en- 
trance. There  is  evidently  a  good  deal  of  indolence  among  the 
peasantry.  Many  of  them  had  potato  patches  attached  to  their 
cabins,  and  in  these,  for  the  most  part,  the  weeds  had  attained  a 
rank  growth,  and  run  up  to  seed.  It  is  thus  that  thousands  of 
the  Irish  peasantry  live  in  idleness,  poverty,  and  filth.  Whose 
fault  is  it  ?  What  can  we  think  but  that  their  religion  and  their 
priesthood  are  in  a  great  measure  responsible  for  this  state  of  things, 
and  this  the  more  especially  when  we  see  such  a  sensible  change 
as  we  approach  the  north  of  Ireland,  which  is,  for  the  greater  part, 
settled  by  Protestants  ?  Here  the  squalidness  and  poverty  mostly 
disappear,  and  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of  the  people  make 
the  traveller  almost  imagine  he  is  in  another  country. 

The  country  was  much  of  the  way  fertile,  but  part  of  the  dis- 
tance was  through  the  region  of  bogs.  These  bogs  are  a  very  re- 
markable feature  of  this  country  ;  the  amount  of  bog  in  Ireland  is 
three  millions  of* acres,  of  which  more  than  half  is  the  flat  red  bog, 
and  the  remainder  is  mountain  bog.  This  latter  is  quite  frequent 
in  England  and  Scotland,  but  the  low  ground  bog  is  most  abun- 
dant in  Ireland.  The  depth  of  this  substance  varies  from  twelve 
to  forty  feet,  but  the  average  is  about  twenty-five  feet.  The  top 
stratum  is  fibrous  and  loose,  and  the  surface  is  covered  with  heath, 
bog-myrtle,  or  sedgy  grass,  and  sometimes  with  common  grass. 
There  are  some  instances,  I  think,  in  which  they  will  bear  cul- 
tivation ;  but  this  is  not  common.  A  little  below  the  surface  it 
becomes  more  compact ;  but  the  fibre,  like  fine  roots  of  grass  or 
moss,  is  still  visible ;  lower  still  the  fibre  disappears  entirely,  and 
the  substance  is  of  a  very  dark  colour,  and  this  is  still  better  for 
fuel  than  where  the  fibre  is  visible  ;  and  lowest  of  all,  it  becomes 
a  black  compact  mass,  which,  when  dry,  somewhat  resembles 
bituminous  coal,  and  is  capable  of  receiving  a  very  good  polish. 
This  is  very  good  fuel ;  indeed,  this  peat  is  the  principal  fuel  of 
the  island,  and  seems  to  be  a  merciful  provision  to  the  inhabitants 
to  supply  them  with  this  necessary  of  life;  for,  although  time 


BOGS.  633 

was  when  Ireland  was  thickly  wooded,  yet  now  there  are  very 
few  trees  upon  the  island.  The  presumption  is,  that  these  very 
bogs  were  once  a  forest;  and  even  now  large  trunks  and  frag- 
ments of  trees,  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation,  are  found  many 
feet  below  the  surface.  We  saw  numerous  instances  of  this  in 
the  bogs  we  passed ;  and  yet  these  trees  must  have  lain  there 
many  centuries,  for  the  bogs  are  rather  slow  of  growth.  They 
accumulate  by  the  growth,  apparently,  of  moss  and  other  vegeta- 
bles, which  root  in  the  soil,  and  form  a  vegetable  stratum  of  such 
a  nature  that,  by  the  peculiar  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  Acting 
upon  it,  gives  rise  to  another  stratum  over  the  former,  which  be- 
comes, in  its  turn,  the  substratum  for  another,  and  so  on.  The 
bog  may  be  removed  from  the  surface  and  planted  in  another 
place,  and  then  and  there  begin  to  accumulate  and  grow.  When 
all  the  old  bog  is  entirely  removed  from  any  locality,  they  call  it 
a  spank  bog,  and  then,  it  is  said,  another  series  of  accumulations 
does  not  readily  commence  unless  replanted.  In  the  bog  dis 
tricts  the  cutting  out  into  small  pieces,  and  piling  them  up  in  a 
loose  form,  like  new-struck  brick,  to  dry,  is  a  principal  business. 
Some  are  called  floating  bogs.  In  a  wet  time  they  will  swell 
up  in  the  centre,  and  afterward  fall  again.  This  is  occasioned 
by  water  gathering  underneath  ;  and,  in  some  instances,  it  swells 
so  high  as  to  bear  off  acres  upon  the  surface  of  a  swollen  subter 
ranean  lake.  We  passed  one  place  where,  but  the  year  before, 
an  extensive  bog  was  in  this  manner  carried  across  the  highway 
into  an  opposite  field,  which  was  before  free  from  peat,  and  there 
it  was  deposited,  and  is  carrying  on  in  this  new  locality  its  pro- 
cess of  self-propagation. 

We  had  become  acquainted  at  Birmingham  with  the  excellent 
superintendent  of  the  Belfast  circuit,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Waugh. 
After  arriving  in  town,  therefore,  and  taking  lodgings,  I  went  to 
inquire  him  out,  and  found  him  at  his  chapel  in  the  midst  of 
his  people,  just  closing  the  exercises  of  a  "  missionary  tea."  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  addressing  them  on  the  subject  of  missions ; 
and,  having  engaged  to  return  to  them  and  spend  the  next  Sab- 
bath, I  hastened  on  the  next  day  to  the  place  of  our  farthest  des- 
tination in  the  north  of  Ireland,  Coleraine  and  the  Giant's  Cause- 
way. We  had  already  travelled  eighty  miles  from  Dublin  to  this 
northern  capital  of  Ireland,  and  now  we  were  to  go  about  thirty 

4L 


634  IRELAND. 

I 

more  to  Coleraine.  The  day  was  unpleasant,  and  we  had  an 
Englishman  in  the  coach,  who  would  neither  suffer  the  coach 
window  to  be  closed  so  as  to  keep  the  rain  from  driving  in 
upon  me,  nor  yet  change  seats  with  me  and  take  the  storm 
himself.  This  an  English  traveller  in  America  would  call  a  spe- 
cimen of  Yankee  politeness,  and  would  consider  it  one  of  those 
malign  influences  of  our  political  institutions  upon  our  social  and 
domestic  manners.  As  it  was,  I  considered  it  a  proof  that  not 
every  man  in  the  garb  of  a  gentleman  is  one  in  reality  ;  many  in- 
stances of  which  can  be  met  with  in  every  country,  whether  a 
monarchy  or  a  republic.  I  hung  up  my  cloak  to  defend  myself 
as  well  as  I  could,  and  tried  to  be  contented  to  pass  through  the 
country  without  seeing  it.  We  arrived  in  Coleraine  in  lime  to 
deliver  our  letters  of  introduction,  among  which  was  one  to  Lieu- 
tenant Nichols  of  the  royal  navy,  whom  I  found  to  be  a  great 
temperance  man.  We  also  visited  the  same  evening,  one  mile 
up  the  river  Bonn,  on  which  the  city  is  situated,  a  beautiful  salmon 
fishery.  This,  like  many  of  the  other  natural  advantages  of  Ire- 
land, is  a  monopoly,  and  belongs  to  an  absentee  landlord,  who  farms 
it  out  for  his  own  advantage.  It  was  a  beautiful  evening's  ride.* 
.  The  next  morning  our  friends  made  out  a  party,  and  we  started 
off  in  jaunting-cars  to  the  Causeway,  about  nine  or  ten  miles  dis- 
tant. We  took  the  ruins  of  Dunluce  Castle  in  our  way,  which 
were  certainly  well  worth  visiting.  The  coast  all  along  is  bleak 
and  bold.  The  winds  set  in  fresh  from  the  sea,  and  with  such 
blighting  effect  that  vegetation  quails  before  it.  A  few  thorn 
hedges  and  other  shrubs  have  been  planted  here,  but  they  cannot 
live  long.  The  sheltered  side  alone  was  green,  and  even  here 
the  sickly  branches  reached  out  their  arms  like  streamers  to  the 
leeward,  as  if  stretching  to  escape  from  the  wind.  The  entire 
island  also  seemed  perfectly  soaked  with  water.  I  could  compare 
Ireland  to  nothing  so  expressive  of  my  views  of  it  as  a  huge  sponge 
imbedded  in  the  ocean  and  perfectly  saturated  with  water.  When- 
ever we  stepped  upon  it  the  pressure  caused  the  water  to  bubble 
out  around  our  feet.  And  why  should  it  not  ?  for  it  had  rained 
almost  perpetually  since  our  arrival  upon  the  island. 

Dunluce  Castle  was  formerly  the  seat  of  the  earls  of  Antrim. 

*  It  was  near  Coleraine  that  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  was  born ;  and  here  his  father  used  to 
teach  a  school. 


635 

It  is  situated  upon  a  high  insulated  rock  overhanging  the  sea. 
Under  this  rock  is  a  cave  extending  from  the  side  next  the  water 
quite  through  to  the  land  side.  In  the  time  of  its  prosperity  it 
must  have  been  a  place  of  great  strength  ;  but,  like  most  ancient 
fortresses,  altogether  insufficient  for  defence  against  the  modes 
and  weapons  of  attack  in  modern  warfare.  Near  this  castle,  on 
the  top  of  a  rising  ground,  is  a  well-defined  exhibition  of  the  ba- 
saltic columns,  similar  to  those  at  the  Causeway,  and  shooting  up 
in  fine  form  many  feet  above  the  surrounding  base.  This  is 
called  Craig-a-huller. 

On  arriving  at  the  vicinity  of  the  Causeway,  wet,  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course,  from  occasional  showers  which  had  fallen  on  us 
at  the  castle  and  by  the  way,  we  found  no  comfortable  inn  where 
we  might  rest  and  refresh  ourselves,  or  dry  our  clothes.  How- 
ever, we  pressed  on  to  the  great  object  of  our  curiosity,  having  al- 
ready learned  by  experience,  what  I  think  every  traveller  will 
learn,  that  the  system  even  of  feeble  persons  will  endure  much 
more  fatigue  and  exposure  to  damps  and  chills  when  the  mind  is 
intensely  excited  than  at  other  times. 

The  Causeway  is  at  the  foot  of  a  cliff  four  hundred  feet  hfgh, 
and  extends  partly  under  water.  Our  way  to  it,  therefore,  was  a 
winding  course  of  tolerably  rapid  descent  down, to  the  sea.  We 
approached  at  the  south,  and  near  the  southern  extremity  we  came 
to  a  spring  of  fresh  water,  over  which  a  woman  stood  sentinel,  as 
it  at  first  appeared  ;  but  afterward  we  discovered  it  was  only  over 
a  bottle  of  whiskey  which  she  kept  in  the  spring,  with  which  to 
tempt  the  stranger,  who,  of  course,  must  always  stop  and  drink 
of  the  "  Giant's  Well."  As  the  water,  however,  was  good  enough 
for  us  without  the  poison,  we  contented  ourselves  with  the  giant's 
unadulterated  beverage  ;  and  were  not  a  little  edified  withal  at  the 
occasion  this  gave  to  our  friend  of  the  royal  navy  to  give  a  tem- 
perance lecture  and  circulate  some  of  his  tracts,  of  which  he  al 
ways  seemed  to  have  a  supply.  He  did  not  fail  to  give  his  whole- 
some counsel  to  all  the  guides  we  met  with,  many  of  whom  were 
most  officiously  obtruding  their  services  upon  us.  The  appearance 
of  many,  however,  indicated  that  such  counsel  was  lost  upon  them. 

These  guides  were  numerous  and  very  troublesome,  each  one 
wishing  to  force  his  services  upon  us  and  obtain  a  fee.  One  of 
them,  however,  who  appeared  to  be  a  veteran  in  the  service,  was 


I 


636  IRELAND. 

very  musical,  and  filled  up  the  interludes  with  accounts  of  con- 
versations he  had  had  with  the  great  characters  that  had  visited 
the  Causeway,  and  who,  it  seems,  on  account  of  his  wit,  had  en- 
couraged him  to  say  what  he  pleased  to  his  superiors ;  some  of 
whom,  if  we  may  believe  his  own  account  of  the  matter,  had  some 
pretty  shrewd  and  cutting  retorts  from  this  Irish  wit.  It  was  not, 
however,  until  the  wonders  of  the  scene  around  us  had  been  ex- 
amined and  re-examined,  and  the  novelty  and  wonder  had  consid- 
erably abated,  that  we  could  stop  to  listen  to  the  low  humour  of 
the  guide.  When  Nature  makes  an  exhibition  of  her  wondrous 
skill  and  power  like  this  of  the  Giant's  Causeway,  all'pr eductions 
of  man  in  words  or  works  seem  tame  and  uninteresting.  The 
astonished  mind  is  preoccupied  and  lost  in  pondering  upon  the 
process,  the  time,  and  the  reason  of  the  marvellous  work.  As  to 
the  two  former,  the  process  and  the  time,  little  can  be  conjectured 
with  anything  like  a  show  of  consistency.  This  record  of  Nature 
upon  her  own  tablet  was  made,  if  not  before  the  epoch  of  man's 
creation,  at  least  before  the  pen  of  the  historian  or  the  eye  of 
the  naturalist  could  note  the  event.  On  the  process,  the  advo- 
cates of  the  two  schools  of  geology,  the  Plutonian  and  Neptunian, 
have  each  adduced  their  reasons  to  show,  the  one  that  it  must  be 
by  the  action  of,  fire,  and  the  other  by  water.  The  more  modern 
conjecture,  however,  is  the  more  plausible,  that  it  was  the  joint 
product  of  both  agents.  Although  the  advocates  of  these  two 
geological  theories  have  looked  respectively  upon  the  opposite 
theories  with  disapprobation,  and  a  shuddering  that  indicated  a 
disease,  in  the  one  case  of  hydrophobia,  and  in  the  other  of  py- 
rophobia,*  further  experiments  will  probably  satisfy  all  parties 
that  each  has  the  truth,  but  neither  exclusively. 

With  respect  to  the  reason  oijinal  cause  of  this  formation,  we 
may,  at  any  rate,  whatever  other  purposes  have  been  or  may  be 
subserved  by  it,  safely  consider  this  one  of  the  strangest  instances 
of  those  natural  phenomena  which  indicate  the  supervision  and 
productive  energy  of  an  infinite  mind.  The  agency  and  character 
of  God  are  stamped  upon  phenomena  like  these  with  a  depth  of 

*  This  word  and  its  application  are  borrowed  from  Professor  Sedgewick,  who,  in  his 
address  before  alluded  to  in  the  British  Association,  speaking  of  his  conversion  to  the 
Plutonian  theory,  called  his  former  abhorrence  of  this  theory  a  pyrophobia;  a  horror  of 
fire,  of  which  disease  he  was  then  cured. 


THE    GIANT  S    CAUSEWAY.  637 

impression  that  the  blind  fool  who  hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is 
no  GW  cannot  but  see  andfeeL 

This  remarkable  formation  halh  been  so  often  described,  that  I 
might  almost  presume  most  of  my  readers  are  acquainted  with  its 
character.  It  may  not  be  amiss,  however,  to  mention  its  princi- 
pal features. 

The  Giant's  Causeway  consists  of  three  divisions,  like  separate 
piers,  of  different  lengths,  however,  and  all  losing  themselves  in 
the  bed  of  the  sea ;  the  longest  is  visible  out  of  the  water  for  about 
three  hundred  yards.  The  entire  mass  consists  of  regularly- 
formed  basaltic  pillars  or  columns,  arranged  in  such  close  order 
in  a  vertical  position  that  you  cannot  insert  a  knife-blade  in  the 
joints  between  them.  The  columns  vary  somewhat  in  size,  but 
they  average,  in  general,  I  should  judge,  eleven  or  twelve  inches 
in  diameter.  The  form  of  the  columns  is  that  of  a  polygon  of  un- 
equal sides,  varying  in  number  from  three  to  nine,  but  the  hexag- 
onal form  is  the  most  prevalent.  Although  these  sides  are  of  dif- 
ferent lengths  and  of  different  angles,  yet  they  so  exactly  face 
a  corresponding  side  in  the  adjoining  pillar,  that  there  is  not  an 
interstice  either  in  the  principal  seams  or  at  the  corners  that 
will  admit  water.  It  is  true,  at  the  Giant's  Spring  or  well  al- 
ready noticed,  the  water  bubbles  up  between  the  columns;  yet 
even  here,  as  it  spreads  out  over  the  heads  of  the  adjacent  col- 
umns, it  stands  on  the  surface  without  penetrating.  If  the  reader 
would  conceive  of  a  molten  mass  of  basaltic  matter  cooling  and 
settling  down  together  in  a  compact  form,  and,  as  it  cools,  crack- 
ing into  crystallized  prisms  of  the  forms  above  described,  so  as 
to  form  distinct  columns  without  any  separation  of  the  parts,  he 
would  then  have  a  tolerable  conception  of  the  close  joints  and 
compact  character  of  this  stupendous  specimen  of  Nature's  ma- 
sonry. Thus  far,  however,  I  have  noticed  but  a  part  of  the  divis- 
ions ;  each  column  is  also  divided  into  distinct  parts  of  unequal 
lengths ;  these  separate  joints  vary  from  six  inches  to  several 
times  that  length.  Nor  are  the  seams  a  straight  horizontal  cut 
across  the  prism,  but  are,  for  the  most  part,  the  ball  and  socket 
joint,  a  concave  matched  to  a  convex  surface,  and  that  so  exactly, 
that  the  numerous  inequalities  in  the  different  parts  of  the  interior 
planes  of  the  surfaces  exactly  correspond  to  each  other,  indica- 
ting that  these  horizontal  seams  were  also  formed  by  the  cracking 
54 


638  IRELAND. 

of  each  columnar  mass  into  distinct  joints,  without  any  local  sep- 
aration of  the  parts.  There  is  no  uniformity  as  to  whether  the 
top  or  the  bottom  of  each  joint  shall  be  convex  or  concave  ;  some- 
limes  it  is  one  way,  and  sometimes  the  other;  sometimes  one 
joint  will  have  both  its  ends  convex,  and  in  other  cases  both  will 
be  concave,  but  in  every  case  each  is  perfectly  matched  by  his 
fellow. 

Beginning  at  one  extremity  or  corner  of  this  mass,  and  remo- 
ving the  surrounding  earth  and  rocks,  joint  after  joint  might  be 
removed  with  the  strength  of  one  man,  until  the  whole  of  this  gi- 
gantic structure  should  be  demolished.  The  entire  length  of  the 
columns,  judging  from  the  length  of  what  is  supposed  to  be  the 
same  range  in  other  parts  of  the  coast,  is  forty-five  feet.  The 
surface  is  uneven,  owing,  doubtless,  to  the  action  of  the  water  and 
other  external  causes,  by  which  the  upper  joints  of  some  of  the 
columns  have  been  overthrown  ;  some  of  them  still  lie  there  dis- 
jointed and  prostrate,  and  others  have  been  carried  away.  Near 
the  centre  a  large  cluster  of  columns  shoot  up  above  the  rest,  and 
have  obtained  the  expressive  name  of  the  honeycomb,  from  their 
resemblance  to  that  formation.  At  the  time  we  were  there  the 
waves  were  rolling  their  white  crests  upon  the  Causeway,  as 
though  to  show  their  triumph  over  the  works  of  the  giant ;  who, 
it  seems,  in  attempting,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  natives, 
to  erect  a  causeway  across  the  sea  to  Scotland,  has  not  only  failed 
to  scale  old  ocean's  bed,  but  the  billows  themselves  have  made 
his  foundations  their  playground,  and  dance  in  triumph  over  his 
broken  columns.  The  bold  stratified  cliffs  rising  up  three  hun- 
dred feet  in  height  to  the  east  of  the  Causeway  present  similar 
formations  of  basaltic  columns,  which,  in  one  place,  from  their 
resemblance  to  the  pipes  of  that  instrument,  are  called  the  or- 
gan ;  another  place  is  called  the  Giant's  Loom,  and  another  his 
chair ;  everything  here  belongs  to  the  giant,  and,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  natives,  an  enchantment  still  lingers  around  these  localities. 
Some  of  Ossian's  ghosts  still  shriek  here  in  the  wind,  and  these 
basaltic  columns,  wedged  in  as  they  are  in  their  respective  local- 
ities, nevertheless  break  loose  at  particular  seasons,  and  dance  to 
the  hoarse  music  of  the  winds  and  the  waves. 

This  entire  region  is  basaltic,  and  the  formation  is  mostly  col- 
umnar*   It  extends,  as  some  conjecture,  across  under  the  bed  of 


PORT    COON    CAVE.  639 

the  ocean  to  Staffa,  one  of  the  Hebrides,  off  the  coast  of  Scotland, 
where  the  same  phenomena  appears  on  a  magnificent  scale,  the 
columns  being  much  larger  than  those  of  the  Irish  coast.  The 
same  formation  also  continues  to  the  south,  and  shows  itself  at 
Lough  Neagh,  passing  through  that  lake  in  a  diagonal  direction. 

In  leaving  the  Causeway  we  mounted  the  cliff  and  passed  over 
to  Pleaskin  and  Bengore  headlands,  that  rise  in  bold  precipitous 
cliffs  above  the  ocean  to  the  height  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-four 
feet,  one  hundred  and  fifty-four  of  which  is  perpendicular,  pre- 
s-enting,  one  above  the  other,  two  strata  of  columnar  basaltes,  the 
one  sixty  and  the  other  forty-five  feet  in  depth,  separated  by  a 
coarse  rock  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet  in  depth.  The  view  from  these 
cliffs  is  fine ;  but,  with  weary  limbs,  wet  feet,  and  a  body  chilled 
by  the  fresh  winds  from  the  sea,  curiosity  flags,  and  we  were  in- 
duced to  give  over  with  but  a  partial  survey.  On  returning,  how- 
ever, we  could  not  be  persuaded  to  forego  the  pleasure  of  visiting, 
in  the  other  direction,  Port  Coon  Cave.  This  is  a  deep  cave, 
with  an  entrance  from  the  sea  and  another  from  the  land  side. 
The  land  side  entrance  is  occasioned  by  a  deep  natural  cut  in  the 
cliff,  down  which  you  descend  almost  to  a  level  with  the  water, 
and  then,  turning  to  the  right,  you  find  an  opening  into  the  side 
of  the  cliff,  down  a  part  of  which  you  have  descended,  and,  passing 
into  this,  you  strike  the  side  of  a  grotto,  which,  running  under  the 
superincumbent  mountain  of  amorphous  basalt,  mixed  in  with  other 
stones,  finally  opens  into  the  sea.  This  long  cave  is  like  the 
arched  nave  of  a  Gothic  church,  except  that  its  flooring  is,  for  the 
most  of  the  way,  the  rolling  waves.  These  waves  enter  at  the 
mouth,  and,  swelling  up  as  they  become  compressed  in  the  inte- 
rior of  the  cavern,  they  lash  the  sides,  and  almost  leap  to  the  top 
of  the  vaulted  arch,  roaring  and  foaming  in  these  echoing  caverns 
until  almost  the  entire  mass  of  liquid  brine  is  worked  up  into  foam, 
and  there  it  rolls,  approaching  and  receding,  in  ceaseless  uproar 
and  revelry.  Creeping  into  the  noisy  hall,  and  climbing  along 
the  side  gallery  as  far  as  I  dared — for  the  spray,  acting  upon  the 
whinstone,  gave  it  a  greasy  and  extremely  slippery  character — I 
seated  myself,  and  gave  up  the  reins  to  fancy,  until  I  found  my 
own  mind  growing  as  wild  and  frantic  almost  as  the  noisy  elements 
around  me.  The  genius  of  the  cavern  cast  a  spell  over  me  and 
bound  me  to  the  spot.  It  seemed  almost  impossible  to  break 


640  IRELAND. 

away  from  the  scene.  If  I  raised  my  voice,  it  was  noiseless  even 
to  my  own  ear  amid  the  roar  of  the  waters.  The  noise,  the  fear- 
ful rush  and  reflux  of  the  foaming  billows,  and  the  gloomy  char- 
acter of  the  cavern,  all  conspired  to  make  this  a  scene  unlike  what 
I  had  ever  before  beheld.  Nurtured  here,  methought  I  might 
have  been  a  poet,  and  have  rhapsodized  in  these  noisy  halls 
in  wild  and  frantic  verse.  Breaking  away,  however,  from  the 
wizard  spell,  we  hastened  back  to  the  company  we  had  left,  and 
returned,  highly  gratified  with  our  excursion,  to  Coleraine  in  time 
to  attend  a  temperance  meeting  which  the  lieutenant  had  got  up 
for  me  to  address  in  the  evening. 

The  next  morning,  after  engaging  a  man  to  send  me  five  joints 
of  the  Giant's  Causeway  to  Liverpool,*  we  started  in  a  small 
jaunting-car,  which  we  hired  expressly  for  the  purpose,  on  our 
return  to  Belfast. 

This  riding  in  an  Irish  car,  in  pleasant  weather,  is  not  without 
its  interest.  You  have  nothing  to  obstruct  your  vision  in  this 
open  vehicle,  only,  as  you  ride  with  your  side  to  the  horse,  your 
back  is  on  half  the  scenery,  and  you  want  to  come  back  the  same 
way  to  see  the  other  side.  We  passed  a  number  of  interesting 
towns,  such  as  Ballymony,  Ballymena,  and  Antrim.  At  Bal- 
lymena  it  was  market-day,  and  the  streets  were  perfectly  crowded 
with  men,  women,  and  children,  wading  in  the  mud  over  shoe.  We 
had  to  walk  at  a  slow  pace  through  the  town,  on  account  of  the 
crowd,  to  pass  which  was  more  difficult,  because  of  the  many 
who  were  intoxicated,  and  who  therefore  took  up  more  room  than 
they  otherwise  would,  and  were  more  negligent  in  getting  out  of 
the  way.  I  think  I  never  saw  so  much  drunkenness  in  one  day 
and  at  one  place  as  I  saw  here. 

These  market-days  are  fairs.  Everybody  comes  that  has  any- 
thing to  buy  or  sell ;  vegetables,  meats,  live-stock,  wares,  or  mer- 
chandise. The  great  articles  in  trade  here  are  linen  cloth  and 
linen  yarn.  The  country  abounds  in  these  articles.  We  often 
passed  extensive  yards  and  fields  that  were  covered  with  the  cloth 
spread  out  to  bleach. 

The  hotel  where  we  stopped  was  converted  into  a  market-house, 
so  that  it  was  with  difficulty  we  could  find  a  resting-place  for  an 

*  These  came  according  to  agreement,  and  are  now  in  the  museum  of  the  Wesleyaa 
University. 


BELFAST.  641 

hour.  We  were  obliged  to  stop  here,  for  our  Irish  postillion  re- 
fused to  go  any  farther  ;  he  had  got  to  the  end  of  his  acquaintance, 
and  was  too  homesick  to  proceed.  I  could  get  no  other  convey- 
ance ;  and  finally,  by  refusing  to  pay  him  for  what  he  had  done, 
and  by  threatening  to  write  back  to  Coleraine  and  report  him  there, 
I  overcame  his  obstinacy  and  kept  him  through.  We  called  at 
another  public  house  on  the  road,  where  we  found  an  earth  floor, 
a  turf  fire  without  a  chimney,  and  a  poor  woman  spinning  flax, 
who  told  us  she  could  earn  two  or  three  pence  per  day ! 

We  passed  Loch  Neagh,  a  beautiful  sheet  of  fresh  water,  and 
the  largest  in  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  Ladoga,  Onega,  and 
Geneva  lakes,  extending  over  about  ninety-seven  thousand  acres. 
This  lake  often  inundates  thousands  of  acres  on  its  shores,  and  its 
extent  and  depth,  it  is  said,  are  annually  increasing.  The  natives 
suppose  the  waters  are  medicinal,  and  they  also  have  petrifying 
properties.  Antrim,  a  village  of  about  two  thousand  five  hundred 
inhabitants,  stands  on  its  banks. 

We  were  glad  to  find  an  Irish  welcome  by  our  excellent  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Waugh  and  his  estimable  lady  some  time  after  dark  on 
Saturday  evening.  With  these  friends  and  their  devout  congre- 
gation we  enjoyed  a  most  delightful  and  refreshing  Sabbath. 

Belfast  may  be  styled  the  northern  capital  of  Ireland.     It  is  a 
fine,  flourishing  town,  with  wide  streets,  a  growing  commerce,  and 
a  population    of  about   sixty  thousand.     Protestantism  prevails 
here,  as  it  does,  indeed,  in  all  these  northern  counties  ;  and  town 
and  country  seem'  comparatively  flourishing.     The  prevailing  re- 
ligion is  Presbyterianism  of  the  Scottish  stamp,  this  part  of  the 
island  being  mostly  settled  by  the  descendants  of  Scotch  emigrants. 
Religion  has  been  at  a  low  ebb  in  these  churches,  and  Unitarian- 
ism  has  prevailed  to  a  great  extent.     Lately,  efforts  have  been  made 
to  correct  the  errors  of  the  church,  and  draw  up  the  reins  of  dis- 
cipline. •   It  was  found  that  many  of  the  clergy  were  not  only  lax 
in  doctrine,  but  in  morals  ;  and  quite  a  proportion,  it  is  said,  were 
fond  of  strong  drink  ;  many  were  tipplers.     The  first  blow  in  favour 
of  temperance  was  by  Professor  Edgar  of  Belfast,  who  published 
Doctor  Beecher's  sermons  on  that  subject.     Professor  Edgar  is 
still  a  bold  champion  for  the  cause,  and  is  doing  much  to  reform 
his  country,  and  has  now  many  in  the  ministry,  in  his  own  and 
other  churches,  to  assist  him. 

54  4  M 


642  IRELAND. 

Government  now  pays  the  Presbyterian  clergy  an  annuity, 
called  regium  bonum,  so  that  they  may  be  considered  as  a  portion 
of  the  religious  establishment  of  the  country.  Perhaps,  in  this 
way,  if  the  government  was  disposed,  it  might  bring  over  to  its 
interests  the  Catholic  clergy  of  Ireland ;  and,  in  truth,  if  a  reli- 
gious establishment  must  be  kept  up,  why  should  not  the  public 
support  such  religious  teachers  as  the  great  mass  of  the  people 
desire  ?  This,  I  think,  would  be  the  only  way  to  free  the  country 
from  an  undue  foreign  ecclesiastical  influence.  Certain  it  is,  that 
so  long  as*  the  British  government,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
makes  war  upon  the  religious  feelings  of  the  people,  or,  what  is 
the  same  thing,  subjects  them  to  taxation  and  civil  disabilities  be- 
cause of  their  religion,  and  contrary  to  their  wishes,  there  will  be 
an  irritation  of  feeling  and  a  spirit  of  insubordination  among  the 
people.  If  the  Irish  are  ever  proud  to  be  called  West  Britons, 
as  the  Scotch  are  to  be  called  North  Britons,  it  will  be  the  result 
of  according  to  them,  as  to  Scotland,  equal  rights  and  privileges 
with  the  English  themselves. 

We  left  Ireland  much  gratified,  on  the  whole,  with  our  short 
visit ;  only  regretting  that  we  had  no  more  time  to  spend  in  it. 
We  embarked  on  board  a  steamer  for  Glasgow,  which  we  reached 
the  next  morning,  after  a  voyage  as  delightfully  calm  and  smooth 
as  our  passage  from  Bristol  to  Dublin  had  been  rough  and  un- 
pleasant. 

The  principal  object  of  interest  on  the  passage  was  Ailsa  Craig. 
This  is  a  stupendous  insulated  rock  in  the  Frith  of  Clyde,  two 
miles  in  circumference,  and  rising  in  abrupt  cliffs,  one  above  an- 
other, in  a  pyramidal  series,  nine  hundred  feet  above  the  water. 
On  or  near  the  top,  it  is  said,  is  a  spring  of  fresh  water.  It  is  lit- 
erally covered  with  seafowls,  and  is  represented  also  as  abound- 
ing with  rabbits.  These  fowls,  as  it  had  become  nearly  dark 
when  we  passed  the  craig,  had  retired  to  their  roosts  ;  but  a  gun 
fired  from  the  ship,  as  we  skimmed  along  the  south  side-  of  this 
tremendous  pier,  called  them  out,  and,  to  appearance,  hundreds  of 
thousands  brushed  over  us  like  the  rush  of  a  tempest.  This  rock 
is  so  white  that  it  can  be  seen  at  some  distance  at  all  times  of 
night. 


GLASGOW,  643 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

IN  sailing  up  the  Clyde  to  Glasgow  we  passed,  among  other 
places,  Greenock  and  Port  Glasgow.  These  are  four  miles  from 
each  other.  Greenock  has  a  population  of  twenty-five  or  thirty 
thousand,  and  may  be  considered  but  an  appendage  of  Glasgow, 
because  here,  or  rather  at  the  port  above,  all  the  heavy  vessels  in 
the  Glasgow  trade  stop,  and  their  freights  are  conveyed  up  and 
down  the  Clyde  by  lighters. 

Glasgow  is  twenty-four  miles  from  Greenock,  up  the  Clyde, 
the  navigation  of  which  has  been  so  improved  of  late  years  that 
it  seems  almost  like  an  artificial  channel ;  smoothed,  deepened, 
and  straightened,  it  affords  a  delightful  channel  for  the  numerous 
steamers  and  other  craft  that  ply  upon  it.  Steam  navigation  has 
been,  in  fact,  the  making  of  Glasgow.  A  century  since,  the  pop- 
ulation was  about  seventeen  thousand;  in  1801,  eighty-four  thou- 
sand ;  in  1821,  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  thousand;  and,  at 
present,  about  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand.  It  is  now  only 
second  to  Liverpool  in  commercial  importance  and  population, 
and  almost  equals  Leeds  or  Manchester  in  manufacturing  impor- 
tance. It  is  claimed  that  the  first  attempt  to  apply  steam  power 
to  navigation  was  made  here,  although  not  at  first  successful.  The 
first  successful  effort  was  by  Mr.  Henry  Bell,  who  constructed  a 
boat  of  three  horse  power,  which  made  its  first  trip  from  Glasgow 
to  Greenock  on  the  18th  of  January,  1812.  The  Scotch,  in  fact, 
entirely  overlook  our  countryman,  Fulton,  in  this  application  of 
steam  to  navigation,  and  take  all  the  credit  to  themselves.  Some 
of  them  say  even  that  Fulton  got  his  models  and  principles  from 
Scotland.* 

Glasgow  possesses  great  advantages  in  uniting,  as  it  does,  all  the 

*  Patrick  Miller  first  devised  the  plan,  and  Bell  took  his  leading  principles  from  Mil- 
ler. Bell  says,  moreover,  that  Fulton  received  from  him,  in  1799,  descriptions  and  draw- 
ings of  Miller's  plans,  by  which,  in  1801,  he  constructed  the  first  steamboat.  The  truth 
seems  to  be,  however,  that  John  Fitch,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  constructed  the  first 
steamboat  in  1787,  and  Mr.  Fulton  had  the  advantage  of  his  plans. 


644  SCOTLAND. 

facilities  of  commerce  and  manufactures.  The  latter  are  sup- 
ported chiefly  by  the  great  ease  with  which  the  building  material 
is  procured,  which  is  a  beautiful  light  sandstone  that  is  inexhaust- 
ibly abundant  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  of  which  the  whole  city 
is  built ;  and  especially  by  the  abundance  and  cheapness  of  coal, 
which  can  be  procured  in  any  quantity  at  the  rate  of  from  six  to 
seven  shillings  per  ton.  This  is  the  wealth  of  Glasgow.  This 
freights  their  ships,  propels  their  steamers,  swings  their  looms, 
and  throws  their  shuttles.  They  have  in  operation  between  three 
and  four  hundred  steam-engines ;  of  these  about  sixty  are  em- 
ployed in  collieries,  eight  or  ten  in  stone  quarries,  and  the  remainder 
in  steamboats  and  manufactories,  the  former  bearing  to  the  latter 
a  proportion  of  about  one  to  three.  There  are  in  and  near  Glas- 
gow seventy-four  cotton-mills ;  also  extensive  chymical-works 
for  the  manufacture  of  sulphuric  acid,  chloride  of  lime,  soda,  &c. 
These  works  cover  ten  acres  of  ground,  and  consume  six  hundred 
tons  of  coal  weekly.  There  are  also  iron-foundries,  glasshouses, 
sugar-refineries,  &c.,  &c. 

The  architecture  of  Glasgow  is,  in  general,  of  the  Grecian  style, 
and  there  are  very  many  fine  public  and  private  edifices,  and  some 
very  good  monuments.  There  are  four  principal  streets,  inter- 
secting each  other  at  right  angles,  and  dividing  the  town  into  four 
quarters. 

The  churches  of  Glasgow  are  only  sufficient  to  accommodate 
about  seventy-five  thousand  of  the  inhabitants.  Reckoning  that 
two  thirds  of  the  population  possess  suitable  age  and  health  to  at 
tend  public  worship,  it  would  appear  that  there  were  not  "  sittings"* 
enough  for  half  the  population.  This  is  another  striking  instance 
to  show  how  tardily  governments  meet  the  religious  wants  of  a 
growing  community.  Here,  as  in  London,  they  have  been  obliged 
to  resort  to  the  voluntary  system  to  make  up  the  deficiencies  of 
government.  A  society  has  been  formed  for  "  erecting  additional 
parochial  churches  in  Glasgow  and  its  suburbs,"  which,  in  two 
years,  has  raised  upward  of  twenty-four  thousand  pounds,  and  has 
built  or  is  building  six  additional  churches. 

The  operatives  that  have  rushed  into  Glasgow  since  the  great 
increase  of  business  are,  to  a  great  extent,  Irish  Catholics ;  so 

*  A  sitting  is  the  common  phrase  in  England  and  Scotland  to  indicate  a  seat  in  the 
church  for  one  individual. 


JOHN   KNOXfS    MONUMENT.  645 

that,  at  present,  not  much  short  of  fifty  thousand  of  the  population 
are  Catholics.  The  morals  of  the  town,  it  is  generally  declared, 
have  also  greatly  deteriorated.  Instead  of  that  sober,  Sabbath- 
keeping,  regular  character  that  used  to  distinguish  Scottish 
towns,  there  is  much  of  profanity,  Sabbath-breaking,  and  irreli- 
gion.  Still,  however,  the  old  Scotch  character  is  very  prominent ; 
and  I  think  there  is  in  Glasgow  a  good  share  of  genuine  piety. 
There  is  an  increasing  zeal  for  the  mission  cause  and  other  soci- 
eties ;  and  I  was  particularly  struck  with  one  method  they  have 
of  concentrating,  in  the  same  building,  most  of  the  offices  for  the 
Christian  charities  of  the  various  religious  sects.  This  edifice  we 
visited,  and  noticed  in  one  room  charity-boxes  for  about  thirty 
different  societies  ;  all  in  their  character  and  tendency  "  ONE  CON 
CERN,"  and  spoke  a  language  of  union  and  efficiency  at  which  the 
god  of  this  world  and"  his  infidel  and  earthly  auxiliaries  might 
well  tremble.  These  charity-boxes,  arranged  in  beautiful  order, 
looked  to  me  like  the  heavy  ordnance  of  the  church ;  and  although 
each  piece  was  manned  and  charged  by  different  companies, 
yet  they  were  all  of  the  same  army,  and  were  fighting  the  same 
common  foe.  With  such  a  union  of  design  and  of  action,  the 
battle  will  ultimately  be  won.  The  different  congregations  also 
are  in  the  practice  of  supporting  missionaries  and  teachers  for 
particular  fields  of  labour,  such  as  one  in  the  West  Indies,  one 
in  the  Highlands,  &c.  In  this  way  much  is  done  for  the  cause 
of  Christianity. 

The  old  Cathedral,  built  in  the  eleventh  century,  is  an  interesting 
object,  as  is  also  the  cemetery  connected  with  it,  especially  a  new 
part  that  has  been  laid  out  on  an  opposite  hill  over  a  deep  ravine, 
across  which  an  elegant  bridge  has  been  recently  thrown.  Here 
are  some  fine  sepulchral  monuments ;  among  others,  one  to  the 
great  Scotch  reformer,  John  Knox.  The  inscriptions  on  it,  in  ad- 
dition to  those  descriptive  of  Knox's  personal  character,  death,  &c., 
detail  a  number  of  events  connected  with  the  reformation  in  Scot- 
land. The  monument  was  erected  1825  by  subscription  ;  and  is  a 
fluted  Doric  column,  crowned  with  a  noble  statue  of  the  reformer, 
with  a  Bible  in  his  hand,  the  Protestant  text-book. 

A  little  to  the  south  of  this  is  another  monument  to  the  more- 
modern  Protestant  champion,  William  M'Gavin.  He  is  the  au- 
thor of  "  The  Protestant,"  a  work  that  has  been  republished  and 


646  SCOTLAND. 

extensively  circulated  in  the  United  States.  This  work,  it  seems, 
has,  in  the  opinion  of  the  citizens  of  Glasgow,  who  erected  this 
monument,  entitled  him  to  a  place  second  only  to  Knox,  who  la- 
boured in  the  same  cause  at  an  earlier  date.  His  statue  has  one 
hand  supporting  the  Bible,  and  the  other  resting  upon  the  book, 
as  if  he  was  saying  to  the  Romanist,  "  To  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony ;  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  rule,  it  is  because 
there  is  no  truth  in  them."  M'Gavin  was  a  merchant  of  Glas- 
gow, and  died  in  1832. 

This  hill  is  well  calculated  for  tombs,  as  the  base  is  of  the  free- 
stone formation  already  spoken  of,  and  is  so  soft  it  can  as  readily 
be  cut  into  catacombs  as  the  Tufa  strata  of  St.  Sebastian,  near 
Rome.  The  top  of  the  hill,  however,  presents  a  formation  of 
coarse  black  granite  lying  directly  over  this  freestone ;  so  true  is 
it  that  granite  is  the  product  of  almost  every  age  in  the  geological 
history  of  the  world,  although  not  quite  so  recent,  perhaps,  as  some 
alluded  to  by  one  of  the  philosophers  at  Bristol,  who  humorously 
remarked,  that  in  one  place  it  was  so  recently  made  it  had  not  yet 
got  cold  ! 

The  Glasgow  University  deserves  more  than  a  passing  notice, 
yet  this  is  all  I  can  give  it. 

This  is  one  of  four  universities  of  Scotland,  which,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  a  little  over  two  millions,  nevertheless  affords  a  liberal 
patronage  to  all  these  universities.  In  this  at  Glasgow  they  have 
twelve  or  fourteen  hundred  students.  It  has  departments  of  law, 
theology,  medicine,  and  the  arts,  employing  in  the  whole  eighteen 
professors.  It  has  a  public  library  of  about  sixty  thousand  volumes 
besides  libraries  for  all  the  classes  in  the  different  departments 
The  Hunterian  Museum  is  a  fine  collection  in  natural  history,  in 
almost  all  the  departments  of  that  science,  the  work  of  a  single 
life,  that  of  Doctor  William  Hunter,  who  left  the  collection  to 
the  university,  together  with  eight  or  ten  thousand  volumes  of 
most  rare  or  remarkable  books,  a  great  many  coins,  and  some 
splendid  pictures  and  prints,  and  various  other  curiosities.  The 
whole  of  this  splendid  donation,  especially  the  museum  of  natural 
history,  shows  to  bad  advantage  for  want  of  a  convenient  room. 
In  the  university  is  a  sitting  marble  statue  of  Watt,  by  Chantrey, 
afac-simile  of  which,  although  colossal  in  its  proportions,  is  seen 
in  bronze  in  St.  George's  Square,  in  the  centre  of  the  city.  Well 


EDUCATION.  647 

may  Glasgow  honour  Watt ;  to  his  science  they  owe  the  prosper- 
ity and  wealth  of  their  city. 

In  the  examination-room  we  saw  the  "  black-stone"  which  the 
student  sits  upon  for  examination.  Formerly  it  was,  by  itself,  the 
seat  of  the  patient  undergoing  an  examination  ;  but  for  a  long 
time  it  has  been  handsomely  set  in  a  fine  covered  chair ;  a  five- 
minute  sand-glass  hangs  behind,  which  the  beadle  turns  and 
watches,  and,  as  soon  as  the  glass  runs  out,  he  cries  out  to  the 
examiner  to  let  him  know  it  is  time  to  let  the  patient  off.  This, 
perhaps,  is  upon  the  same  principle  as  that  of  the  physician  who 
stands  by  in  cases  of  judicial  torture,  to  give  notice  when,  to  pre- 
vent fatal  consequences,  the  sufferer  must  be  released.  He  must 
be  but  a  poor  fellow,  however,  who  cannot  endure  more  than  five 
minutes  on  the  rack  of  a  college-examination  ;  and  this,  which,  by 
way  of  distinction,  is  called  the  Black-stone  examination,  can  be 
considered  little  else  than  a  mere  form. 

The  cause  of  education  is  receiving  great  attention  in  Glasgow. 
Mr.  David  Stow,  author  of  the  "  Training  System  for  Schools," 
has  bestowed  much  time  and  care  on  the  subject  of  schools,  and 
made  great  improvements  in  this  department ;  and  the  "  Glas- 
gow Educational  Society"  is  making  very  promising  efforts  in  this 
important  work. 

I  visited  the  School  for  the  Blind,  the  Lunatic  Asylum,  the 
Magdalen  Asylum,  and  various  other  institutions,  which  I  cannot 
stop  to  describe.  They  are  generally  flourishing,  however,  and 
appear  to  have  a  good  share  of  public  patronage. 

By  the  politeness  of  Dr.  T.  of  New- York  I  had  an  introduction 
to  Sir  William  J.  Hooker,  the  first  botanist  of  Great  Britain,  if 
not  of  Europe.  We  shared  largely  in  the  courtesy  and  kind  at- 
tentions of  Sir  William  and  his  lady,  and  Sir  William's  father, 
resident  with  him.  At  his  house  we  met  at  dinner  several  gentle- 
men, clergymen  and  others,  together  with  Dr.  Magill,  professor 
of  theology  and  acting  head  in  the  university,  with  whom  we 
spent  a  delightful  evening.  Sir  William's  collection  of  plants  is 
immense,  and  his  library,  I  believe,  fills  all  the  rooms  of  his 
house  ;  at  any  rate,  his  dining-room  was  completely  lined  with 
bookcases.  We  also  spent  a  part  of  another  day  in  examining 
the  Botanical  Garden.  This  was  a  splendid  treat;  the  garden 
itself  is  supported  by  the  citizens  of  Glasgow,  the  university  hav- 


648  SCOTLAND. 

ing  subscribed  two  thousand  pounds  towards  it  in  the  first  instance, 
on  condition  that  a  lecture-room  should  be  erected  for  the  use  of 
the  botanical  professor,  and  that  the  use  of  the  garden  should  be 
secured  for  the  professor  and  his  classes.  The  conservatories  are 
extensive,  and  the  collection  of  plants  amounts  to  about  twelve 
thousand.  The  garden  was  opened  in  1819.  It  does  great  credit 
to  the  citizens  of  Glasgow,  to  the  professor,  and  to  Mr.  Murray,  the 
curator.  The  garden  and  the  residence  of  Sir  William  Hooker, 
who  is  professor,  and  who  lives  near  the  garden,  are  two  miles 
from  the  university,  and  the  classes  walk  out  in  the  morning  to 
receive  their  lecture  before  breakfast. 

We  were  charmed  with  our  visit  to  Glasgow  ;  but  we  were  only 
transient  visiters,  and  had  time  only  to  form  a  short  acquaintance, 
admire,  bid  farewell,  and  depart. 

Our  object  was  to  visit  the  Highlands  in  as  expeditious  a  tour 
as  possible,  and,  at  the  same  time,  cross  the  country  to  Edinburgh. 
To  this  end  we  sent  on  our  heavy  baggage  to  this  latter  city  by 
the  public  conveyance  direct,  that  we  might  traverse  the  lakes 
and  Highlands  unencumbered. 

Our  route  was  down  the  Clyde  to  Dumbarton,  fourteen  miles 
from  Glasgow.  This  is  the  Balclutha  of  Ossian,  and  is  a  place 
of  much  interest.  The  ancient  castle  was  on  a  twin-headed  rock, 
rising  up  abruptly  from  the  harbour  five  hundred  and  sixty  feet, 
about  a  mile  in  circumference  at  the  base,  and  deeply  cleft  at  the 
top,  so  as  to  appear  like  a  mountain  with  two  heads.  It  com- 
mands the  Clyde  and  the  Leven,  which  here  enters  the  Clyde, 
and  may  be  considered  the  key  to  the  western  Highlands.  We 
started  next  morning  in  a  coach  for  Loch  Lomond.  The  ride  up 
the  Leven  was  delightful,  and  the  day  proved  remarkably  fine  ; 
we  passed  a  number  of  interesting  seats,  and,  among  others,  the 
birthplace  of  Tobias  Smollett,  the  historian  and  novelist,  and  an 
obelisk  erected  to  his  memory.  But  the  Leven  itself  is  his  best 
snonument,  which  seems  to  echo  back,  as  it  glides  down  its  soft 
channels,  his  own  sweet  song. 

"  On  Leven's  banks,  while  free  to  rove, 
And  tune  the  rural  pipe  to  love, 
I  envied  not  the  happiest  swain 
That  ever  trod  the  Arcadian  plain . 
Pure  stream  !  in  whose  transparent  wave 
My  youthful  limba  I  wont  to  lave." 


ENTRANCE    TO    THE    HIGHLANDS.  649 

At  the  outlet  of  Loch  Lomond  the  steamer  waited  our  arrival. 
We  embarked,  and  were  soon  gliding  up  this  beautiful  lake,  which 
extends  into  the  very  region  of  romance  thirty  miles,  varying  in 
width  from  seven  miles  to  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  The  southern 
part  is  the  widest,  and  here  are  a  great  number  of  islands,  amount- 
ing, in  the  whole,  to  above  thirty  ;  some  of  these  are  very  beauti- 
ful, covered  with  wood,  and  rising  to  different  heights  ;  others  are 
more  rocky,  with  a  mixture  of  verdure.  One  of  them,  Inch  Mur- 
rin,  is  occupied  as  a  deer-park  by  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  and  is 
the  largest  in  the  lake.  Here  the  scenery  is  fine,  both  in  the  lake 
and  on  the  shore.  The  valley  of  the  Endrick  opens  up  before  you  ; 
the  minarets  of  the  Ross  priory,  where  Sir  Waller  Scott  made  his 
headquarters  when  he  was  traversing  these  regions  to  catch  the 
inspiration  for  his  muse,  are  pointed  out  to  the  stranger ;  as  also 
an  obelisk  to  the  memory  of  George  Buchanan,  and  the  residence 
of  Lord  Napier,  the  inventer  of  logarithms.  These  objects  blend 
together  most  delightfully  the  association  of  the  utile  and  the 
dulce,  and  all  are  heightened  by  the  bold  and  the  beautiful  in  the 
pencillings  and  colourings  of  Nature.  This,  too,  is  the  gate  into 
the  Highlands,  and  now  all  the  magic  influences  of  the  mountain 
scenery  begin  to  entrance  the  soul.  I  speak  not  for  others,  I  can 
only  say  what  was  the  effect  upon  myself ;  an  effect  which,  al- 
though I  have  felt  the  like  before,  yet  never  to  the  same  extent. 
It  was  not  because  I  was  now  in  the  region  consecrated  by  the 
genius  and  enriched  by  the  creations  of  the  great  magician  of  the 
north  ;  it  was  not  because  I  was  in  the  domain  of  the  M'Gregors 
and  the  Colquhouns ;  the  land  of  chivalry,  of  tragedy,  of  romance, 
and  of  song.  All  this  might  have  operated  to  heighten  the  feel- 
ings of  that  moment,  but  it  was  chiefly  the  witchery  of  the  mount- 
ain scenery  that  cast  its  spell  over  my  soul,  and  at  first  electrified, 
and  then  sickened  my  heart ;  sickened  me,  because  all  the  in- 
stinctive feeling  that  could  be  brought  to  act  on  such  a  subject 
revolted  at  the  idea  of  ever  dwelling  longer  in  the  tame  regions 
of  plains  and  moderate  hills.  I  had  been  nurtured  among  the 
mountains,  and  all  my  local  affinities  are  for  the  mountains  still. 
I  felt  as  though  I  was  impelled  almost  irresistibly  to  return  home, 
break  off  my  connexions  with  the  lower  country,  and  fly  back  to 
the  mountains.  It  was  not  the  voice  of  warning,  but  it  was  the 
mysterious  voice  of  taste,  of  instinct,  which  rung  in  my  heart, 
55  4  N 


650  SCOTLAND. 

"  Tarry  not  in  all  the  plain,  but  flee  to  the  mountains."  Who 
that  has  felt  this  spell  would  prefer  that  he  had  never  felt  it  ?  or, 
having  felt  it,  would  wish  to  leave  the  congenial  regions  that  had 
given  it  existence  ? 

These  were  the  feelings  with  which  I  entered  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland.  Ben  Lomond  rose  up  on  our  right  three  thousand  two 
hundred  and  sixty-two  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  lake,  and  on 
whose  placid  waters  it  seemed  to  rest  for  its  liquid  base.  Other 
mountains  skirt  the  lake  or  tower  in  the  distance,  while  occasional 
villages  on  the  shore  give  an  air  of  softness  to  the  more  rugged 
features  of  the  back-ground.  All  this  region  belonged  to  Rob  Roy 
McGregor.  Many  places  bear  his  name  or  are  associated  with 
his  history.  One  is  called  Rob  Roy's  Rock.  It  rises  up  about 
thirty  feet  above  the  water,  where  is  a  flat  platform  overtopped  in 
the  rear  by  another  elevation  still  higher.  Here  this  cruel  chief- 
tain was  accustomed  to  let  down,  by  a  rope  tied  around  the  waist, 
those  who  refused  to  comply  with  his  demands.  Above  this  the 
mountains  are  more  grand  and  imposing,  presenting  new  and  ever- 
varying  features.  Here  we  passed  a  lively  cascade,  which  turns 
the  mill  of  Inversnaid,  on  the  water  of  the  Arkill,  where,  it  is  said, 
Wordsworth  penned  his  "  Sweet  Highland  Girl."  Near  this  is 
Rob  Roy's  Cave,  the  hiding-place  of  this  Highland  chief  and  rob- 
ber. We  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Arkill,  and  sailed  up  to  the 
head  of  the  lake  merely  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  the  entire  loch, 
a  route  which  the  boat  makes  daily,  in  the  same  manner  and  for 
the  same  purposes  with  the  steamer  on  Lake  Como,  to  which  this 
water  has  been  compared.  Lake  Como,  however,  presents  bolder 
scenery  than  Loch  Lomond.  As  the  boat  returned  we  landed  at 
Inversnaid,  to  cross  over  to  Loch  Katrin  or  Ketturin.  Here  we 
found  the  advantage  of  being  free  from  baggage.  The  road  is 
impassable  for  carriages,  except  a  sort  of  rough  cart  which  they 
roll,  I  know  not  how,  over  the  rocks  of  this  rough  mountain  pass. 
The  travellers,  of  whom  there  were  quite  a  number  in  our  com- 
pany, had  to  trust  to  their  feet  or  mount  ponies.  Mrs.  Fisk  and 
myself,  together,  in  fact,  with  most  of  our  company,  chose  the  lat- 
ter. The  distance  over  the  mountain  to  Loch  Katrin  is  five  miles, 
and  the  pass  is  wild  and  romantic.  On  the  right  rises  Ben  Lo- 
mond, piercing  the  clouds.  On  the  left  is  a  high  range  of  barren 
eminences,  mostly  without  wood.  This,  in  fact,  is  the  general 


LOCH    KETTURIN.  65X 

character  of  the  Highlands,  so  that  the  highest  eminences  are  bleak 
and  bald,  which,  with  their  dark  colour,  gives  them  a  most  deso- 
late character.  Along  the  pass  we  traversed,  however,  there  was 
some  vegetation  and  some  Highland  cottages.  We  passed  one 
cottage  where  they  were  making  hay,  engaged  in  which  was  an 
old  Highlander,  who  said  he  had  lived  a  century.  Just  beyond 
we  stopped  to  see  Rob  Roy's  fowling-piece.  It  was  a  long,  sin- 
gularly-proportioned musket,  kept  for  show  by  a  woman  who 
claimed  to  be  one  of  his  family  connexions.  In  the  same  neigh- 
bourhood was  the  house  where  his  wife  was  born.  She,  it  seems, 
was  a  woman  of  some  talent,  although  her  birthplace  was  an 
humble  one,  since  it  was  "  Rob  Roy's  Lament,"  composed  by  her, 
that  gave  him  such  a  "  touch  of  the  heartbreak"  as  finally  drove 
him  into  the  life  and  profession  of  a  freebooter.  He  was  born  a 
gentleman,  and  owned  all  this  region  east  of  Loch  Lomond;  but 
was  dispossessed  of  it,  by  some  legal  process,  by  the  Duke  of 
Montrose,  whose  agent,  in  the  absence  of  M'Gregor,  harshly 
treated  his  wife.  This  drove  him  to  desperation ;  and  he  turned 
his  back  upon  law  and  civilized  society,  and  lived  by  robbery  and 
levelling  black  mail  upon  the  borderers ;  that  is,  they  paid  him 
a  tax  to  purchase  exemption  from  depredations  upon  their  prop- 
erty. 

Near  this  are  the  ruins  of  the  fortress  of  Inversnaid,  built  to 
protect  the  district  against  the  incursions  of  Rob  Roy.  On  the 
rieht  we  passed  the  small  water  called  Loch  Arklet,  from  which 

O  -f 

the  aforementioned  Arkill  takes  its  rise.  And  now  we  approached 
the  descent  to  Loch  Ketturin. 


One  burnish'd  sheet  of  living  gold 
Loch  Ketturin  beneath  its  roll'd, 
In  all  her  length  far  winding  lay 
\Vrth  promontory,  creek,  and  bay, 
And  islands  that,  impurpled  bright, 
Floated  amid  the  livelier  light. 

High  on  the  south  huge  Ben  Venue 
Down  on  the  lake  in  masses  threw 
Crags,  knolls,  and  mounds,  confus'dly  hurl'd 
The  fragments  of  an  earlier  world. 

While  on  the  north,  through  middle  air, 
Ben  Ann  heaved  high  his  forehead  bare." 


652  SCOTLAND. 

This  beautiful  mirror,  so  deeply  set  in  the  bold  framework  ol 
the  mountains,  is  about  ten  miles  in  length  by  one  and  a  half  in 
breadth.  It  is  in  itself  a  most  interesting  object  of  sublimity  and 
beauty,  such  as  Nature  has  not  often  constructed,  and  it  is  rendered 
still  more  interesting  by  the  witchery  which  the  Scotch  magician 
has  thrown  around  it  in  the  poetic  creations  of  his  Highland  muse, 
especially  in  the  "  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  the  principal  scene  of  which 
was  here.  We  found  upon  the  bank  a  large  company,  some  of 
whom  had  just  arrived  in  the  passage-boat  which,  in  its  return, 
was  to  take  us  down  to  the  lower  end  of  the  lake.  This  boat 
was  propelled  by  the  power  of  Highland  muscles,  and  plies  daily 
on  the  lake  for  the  conveyance  of  passengers.  The  two  compa- 
nies, the  boatmen,  and  a  number  of  Highlanders  of  both  sexes  were 
here  assembled  around  a  miserable  hut,  which  passed,  I  suppose, 
for  a  tavern.  If  one  were  disposed  to  turn  from  the  romantic  and 
the  poetic  to  the  coarser  associations  of  common  and  real  life,  in- 
stead of  quoting  from  Scott,  he  might,  in  view  of  the  objects  around 
him,  strike  in  with  the  satirist. 

"  Bleak  are  thy  hills,  oh  Scotia, 

And  barren  are  thy  plains ; 
Barefooted  are  thy  nymphs, 
And  barer  still  thy  swains."* 

We  were  enabled,  however,  for  the  most  part,  to  keep  the  mind 
elevated  above  grovelling  and  commonplace  associations,  and  that 
the  more  readily  because,  after  we  embarked,  our  head  boatman, 
who  was  himself  a  Highlander,  when  he  was  not  chatting  in  Gaelic 
with  his  companions,  repeated  page  after  page  from  the  "  Lady 
of  the  Lake,"  and  pointed  out  to  us  all  the  interesting  localities 
of  that  poem.  This  man  was  so  enthusiastic  in  his  veneration 
of  Scott,  that  he  said,  if  they  would  erect  a  monument  to  his 
memory  on  the  promontory  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  "  Watch 
Tower"  where  Roderic  Dhu  kept  his  vigils  when  Fitz  James 
fell  in  with  him,  he,  poor  as  he  was,  would  give  six  months*  labour 
towards  the  object. 

Before  we  approached  the  landing  the  sun  went  down,  just  in 
time  to  give  a  heightened  interest  to  this  mountain  scenery.  We 
passed  the  island  of  the  "  Lady  of  the  Lake."  We  did  not  land, 
for  "  Ellen's  Bower"  has  unfortunately  been  consumed  by  fire,  and 

*  For  decency's  sake  I  have  altered  the  last  liue 


HIGHLAND    SCENERY.  653 

this  has  robbed  the  island  of  much  of  its  interest.  A  boat  shot 
off  from  the  island,  however,  just  as  we  passed,  with  a  lady  in  it, 
which,  for  aught  we  knew,  might  have  been  Ellen  herself,  espe- 
cially as  the  "  pine  of  Clan  Alpine"  was  standing  up  in  the  prow 
of  the  boat  in  all  the  freshness  of  its  former  glory.  Beyond  the 
island,  on  the  northern  shore,  was  the  spot  where  Fitz  James 
came  down  to  the  bank  and  wound  that  blast  upon  his  horn  which 
brought  Ellen  in  her  skiff  from  "  the  Rocky  Isle."  There  is  now, 
probably,  less  of  wood  about  the  shore  and  the  mountain  side 
than  formerly.  Still,  however, 

"  Boon  nature  scatters  free  and  wild 
Each  plant  or  flower,  the  mountain's  child ; 
Here  eglantine  embalms  the  air, 
Hawthorn  and  hazel  mingle  there ; 
The  primrose  pale  and  violet  flower 
Find  in  each  cliff  a  narrow  bower." 

But  the  finest,  the  rudest,  the  wildest  scene  of  all  is  where  we 
landed.  The  place  is  called  The  Trosachs,  the  meaning  of  which 
is  "The  rough  or  bristled  territory."  It  seems  to  have  been 
formed  by  some  convulsion  of  nature,  which  resulted  in  casting 
up,  in  the  wildest  possible  confusion,  the  varied  materials  of  the 
mountains  and  the  vales ;  and  then,  over  this  wild  scene,  vegeta- 
tion sprang  up,  covering  the  whole 

"  With  wild  rose,  eglantine,  and  broom, 
Which  waste  around  their  rich  perfume ; 
While  birch-trees  weep  in  fragrant  balm, 
And  aspens  sleep  beneath  the  calm." 

The  dusk  of  the  evening  was  settling  down  upon  the  valleys, 
although  the  tops  of  Ben  Ann  and  Ben  Venue  were  still  lighted 
by  the  reflected  rays  of  the  departed  sun ;  the  lake  was  still,  the 
air  was  fragrant  and  mild,  and  all  seemed  to  combine  to  make  the 
impression  of  the  scene  most  vivid ;  all  but  the  cackling  boat- 
men contending  for  their  pay,  and  the  porters  vexing  the  company 
about  their  baggage ;  and  then  there  was  the  haste  to  get  to  the 
inn  at  a  mile's  distance,  which  we  had  to  walk,  and  the  fear  that 
the  beds  would  all  be  engaged  before  we  could  arrive.  It  is  thtfB 
that  the  vulgar  concerns  of  life  break  in  upon  our  imaginative  and 
poetic  reveries,  profaning  these,  as  well  as  our  religion,  with  earth- 
born  inquiries,  "  What  shall  I  eat  ?  or  what  shall  I  drink  ?  or 
wherewithal  shall  I  be  clothed?"  Make  the  best  you  can  of 
55 


654  SCOTLAND. 

man,  there  is  much  of  gross  matter  about  him  still.  Rhapsodize 
as  you  may,  you  cannot  thus  check  the  gnawings  of  hunger,  nor 
sooth  to  rest  the  weary  limb.  Not  all  the  calls  of  hunger,  or  the 
obstructions  of  fatigue,  or  the  noise  of  tasteless  boatmen  and  por- 
ters, however,  could  wholly  break  the  spell  of  that  hour  and  of 
that  scene.  Nature  may  have  many  such  exhibitions,  but  I  have 
not  seen  them.  The  Trosachs  stand  alone,  in  my  mind,  among 
all  the  reminiscences  of  the  past;  and  fancy  still  calls  up  the 
image  of  that  scene  as  fresh  almost  as  when  we  set  foot  upon  the 
shore,  and  walked  the 

"  Dark  ravine, 

Where  twined  the  path  in  shadow  hid 
Round  many  a  rocky  pyramid, 
Shooting  abruptly  from  the  dell 
Its  thunder-splinter'd  pinnacle. 
Round  many  an  insulated  mass 
The  native  bulwarks  of  the  pass, 
Huge  as  the  tower  which  builders  vain 
Presumptuous  piled  on  Shinar's  plain. 
Here  rocky  summits,  split  and  rent, 
Form'd  turret,  dome,  and  battlement ; 
Or  seem'd  fantastically  set 
With  cupola  or  minaret ; 
Wild  crests  as  pagod  ever  deck'd, 
Or  mosque  of  eastern  architect." 

We  passed  the  dell  where  the  "  gallant  gray"  of  Fitz  James 
fell  in  the  chase.  The  scene  which  had  been  so  wild  gradually 
melted  away  into  a  verdant  vale,  and  the  rural  pathway  brought 
us  out  to  a  fine  and  commodious  hotel,  fitted  up  in  a  taste  corre- 
sponding with  the  natural  scenery  around,  and  affording  us  excel- 
lent refreshment  and  rest. 

The  next  day  a  company  of  us  rode  post  to  Stirling.  The 
whole  way  was  enchanting.  We  passed  down  the  glen  which 
Clan  Alpine's  chief  and  Fitz  James  had  travelled  before  us,  and 
carrte  to  "  Coilantogle  Ford,"  where  they  fought,  and  where  the 
former  fell.  Ben  Ledi  and  the  Grampian  Hills  receded  as  we 
rolled  down  the  valley  of  the  Vennachar.  We  passed  the  ancient 
castle  of  Doune,  whose  tower  still  stands  to  the  height  of  some 
eighty  feet.  We  next  passed  the  town  of  Calendar,  celebrated  for 
its  muslin  manufactory,  and  reached  Stirling  in  time  to  visit  all 
that  is  particularly  interesting  in  this  ancient  Scottish  fortress, 
which  so  long  commanded  the  pass  to  the  eastern  Highlands.. 


STIRLING. — EDINBURGH.  655 

Stirling  is  seated  on  a  hill  that  rises  from  the  plain  of  the  valley 
of  Forth,  the  top  of  which  is  an  abrupt  basaltic  rock,  on  the  high- 
est elevation  of  which  is  situated  the  castle.  This  castle  was  for 
a  long  time  considered  impregnable.  It  had  connected  with  it  a 
royal  palace.  All  are  still  standing,  although  in  a  state  of  dilapi- 
dation. This  castle  has  been  a  bloody  place ;  the  room  is  still 
shown  where  William  the  Eighth,  Earl  of  Douglas,  was  stabbed  by 
James  II.,  even  while  under  the  royal  safe-conduct.  The  truth  is, 
these  northern  chieftains,  from  royalty  downward,  cold  as  their 
country  is,  were  a  hot-blooded  race.  The  terrace  around  the  cas- 
tle is  one  of  the  most  splendid  observatories  to  be  found  in  any 
country  :  the  distant  ranges  of  the  Grampian  and  other  mountains  ; 
the  melting  down  of  their  rude  outlines  into  the  mellower  lineaments 
of  the  bordering  hills  ;  and,  finally,  the  vale  itself,  the  meandering 
river,  the  villages,  and  the  meadows,  all  spread  out  beneath  and 
around,  form  a  grand  panorama  rarely  equalled.  Near  by  is  the 
place  where  the  Knights  of  the  Round  Table  used  to  hold  their  tour- 
naments, and  the  "  ladies'  hill,"  where  the  fair  sex  sat  to  behold 
these  martial  sports.  No  fewer  than  twelve  battle-fields  may  be 
seen  from  this  terrace ;  among  which,  about  two  miles  to  the 
southeast,  is  the  field  of  Bannockburn. 

After  dining  we  took  the  public  coach  for  Edinburgh.  Before 
leaving  the  county  of  Stirling  we  crossed  the  ancient  Roman 
wall  built  about  A.D.  140,  by  Antoninus,  to  check  the  irruptions 
of  the  northern  barbarians.  The  ploughshare  now  passes  over  this 
ancient  bulwark  ;  and  instead  of  a  wall  extending  from  the  Clyde 
to  the  Forth,  quite  across  the  island,  a  canal  connects  the  waters 
of  the  western  and  eastern  seas,  on  which  a  great  commercial 
business  is  carried  on.  A  striking  mark  of  distinction  between 
the  two  periods.  Where  we  crossed  the  wall  recent  excavations 
had  uncovered  two  or  three  stone  coffins,  in  which  human  bones 
were  found. 

We  did  not  arrive  until  evening;  and,  on  entering  the  city,  the 
contrast  from  an  open  unsettled  country  to  a  beautiful  and  bustling 
city  was  very  striking ;  the  more  so  because  it  was  sudden  ; 
there  was  none  of  that  sprinkling  of  neighbouring  villages  and 
suburban  country-seats  so  common  in  the  neighbourhood  of  most 
cities,  and  of  this,  indeed,  in  other  directions. 

We  passed  Prince's-street,  which  is  the  great  thoroughfare  of 


€56  SCOTLAND. 

the  city,  having  the  new  town  on  our  left  and  the  old  town  on 
our  right.  Immediately  bordering  upon  our  right,  however,  for  a 
part  of  the  distance,  was  a  deep  ravine  called  North  Loch.  This 
loch,  as  it  is  called,  was  formerly  a  morass,  and  formed  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  city.  It  has  been  drained,  and  the  west  end  has 
been  filled  up  to  the  length  of  seven  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  so  as 
to  form  an  eligible  connexion  between  the  old  and  new  towns.  The 
breadth  here  is  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  and  the  depth  of  the 
earth  thrown  in  is  eighty  feet ;  making,  it  is  said,  a  mound  of  earth 
consisting  of  one  and  a  half  millions  of  cartloads.  Beyond  this  loch 
towered  the  castle  ;  and  there,  too,  were  the  fourteen-storied  houses 
of  the  old  town,  of  which  everybody  almost  has  heard.  On  the 
left  were  some  of  the  finest  edifices,  public  and  private,  in  the  city  ; 
and  the  whole  was  finely  illuminated  with  gaslights.*  At  the 
lower  end  of  this  street  we  found  fine  accommodations,  where  we 
rested  on  Saturday  night  from  the  labours  of  a  busy  and  an  inter- 
esting week ;  a  week  which  had  been  the  more  grateful  because, 
exposed  as  we  had  been,  we  had  been  favoured  throughout  with 
most  delightful  weather  ;  a  circumstance  so  rare  in  our  experience 
on  these  islands,  that  we  prized  it  the  more,  occurring  as  it  did  at 
a  time  when  we  most  needed  it. 

A  Sabbath  in  Scotland,  and  especially  in  Edinburgh,  reminded 
me  of  one  of  those  New-England  Sabbaths  (that  are  now  less 
common,  I  am  sorry  to  say)  of  the  days  of  my  childhood,  and 
more  frequent  now  in  New-England  than  in  any  other  country  I 
have  visited,  Scotland  excepted.  Indeed,  Edinburgh  seemed  pe- 
culiar in  this  respect,  insomuch  that  the  rumbling  of  the  wheels  of 
a  carriage  was  rarely  heard  through  the  day ;  the  people  seem  to 
regard  the  letter  of  the  law  :  "  In  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work, 
thou,  nor  thy  cattle." 

On  Monday  we  commenced  visiting  this  beautiful  city,  and 
forming  some  acquaintance  with  this  interesting  people.  We  had 
introductions  to  some  of  the  professors  of  the  university ;  and  al- 
though the  greater  portion  were  absent,  as  it  was  vacation,  still 
we  found  several  who  treated  us  with  great  politeness,  and  with  a 
frankness,  too,  that  I  could  not  but  admire.  Indeed,  I  find  this 
almost  uniformly  among  gentlemen  of  science  and  literature. 
There  is  a  nobleness  of  mind,  a  frankness  of  manner,  a  discard- 

*  Gaslights  are  very  much  used  in  private  houses  in  Edinburgh. 


EDINBURGH    UNIVERSITY    BUILDINGS.  657 

ing  of  the  trammelling  forms  of  etiquette,  which  cannot  be  said 
of  any  other  class  of  men.  These  are  the  souls  that  seem  worthy 
the  high  destinies  of  rational,  and  the  high  enjoyments  of  social 
beings.  I  cannot  describe  the  pleasure  I  took  in  the  society  of 
these  gentlemen  the  little  time  I  had  to  spend  with  them,  nor  the 
reluctance  with  which  I  tore  myself  from  them  ;  and  now,  when 
I  look  back  upon  that  elegant  city  of  the  north,  and  recall  with 
great  pleasure  her  architecture  and  her  splendid  institutions,  her 
squares,  her  crescents,  and  her  monuments,  nothing  so  delights 
me  in  the  retrospect  as  that  noble  courtesy  with  which  I  was  re- 
ceived and  entertained  by  these  gentlemen.  Who  would  not  be 
pleased  with  a  residence  in  Edinburgh,  the  seat  of  science  and 
of  manly  intellect?  Among  the  first  objects  of  interest  was  the 
university.  Perhaps  my  readers  will  be  weary  of  so  many  notices 
of  universities  ;  but  I  will  promise,  on  this  subject,  to  be  short,  and 
only  notice  a  few  points. 

First,  as  to  the  edifices.  These  are,  principally,  a  noble  quad- 
rangle on  the  south  side  of  the  great  gulf;  that  is,  in  the  old  town, 

and  have  been  built  anew  within  a  fow  years.      Government  gave 

ten  thousand  pounds  per  annum  for  a  number  of  years,  until  the 
whole  was  rebuilt  in  a  style  of  architecture  and  with  such  accom- 
modations as  do  great  credit  to  the  university  and  all  concerned 
in  its  erection.  The  large  library-room  is  a  most  splendid  hall, 
and  contains  one  hundred  thousand  volumes.  One  arrangement 
struck  me  as  very  convenient.  The  more  common  books,  and 
such  as  were  for  every-day  use,  were  selected  out,  and  constituted 
the  "working  library."  These  books  might  be  drawn  out;  the 
others  were  reserved  for  consultation,  but  not  for  circulation. 
There  are  a  number  of  other  libraries  in  Edinburgh,  the  largest 
of  which,  that  belonging  to  the  society  of  Writers  to  the  Signet,* 
is  said  to  contain  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  volumes. 

The  university  museum  is  the  work  principally  of  one  man, 
Professor  Jameson,  who  still  holds  the  chair  in  the  department  of 
natural  science.  It  is  beautifully  arranged  in  two  large  rooms, 
each  twenty  feet  long  by  thirty  wide,  besides  smaller  side  rooms. 
The  lower  room  is  mostly  devoted  to  quadrupeds.  In  the  upper 
room  is  a  collection  of  birds,  amounting  to  about  three  thousand ; 

*  This  is  a  law  corporation,  and  here  a  course  of  instruction  is  given  in  civil  law,  the 
Scotch  law,  and  in  conveyancing. 

40 


658  SCOTLAND. 

here  also,  and  in  other  apartments,  are  shells,  insects,  minerals, 
preparations  in  comparative  anatomy,  &c.,  all  extensive,  beauti- 
^  fully  arranged, and  kept  in  the  nicest  order. 

The  Scotch  universities  differ  from  the  English  in  many  respects. 
The  Senatus  Academicus,  or  the  executive  authority,  is  vested, 
where  it  should  be,  in  the  principal  and  professors  of  the  univer- 
sity. These  are  divided  into  four  faculties,  viz.,  of  arts,  law, 
medicine,  and  theology.  The  classes  in  the  different  faculties  are 
conducted,  in  a  great  measure,  independent  of  each  other.  The 
students  choose  their  own  mode  of  living,  their  own  dress,  and  the 
amount  and  kind  of  studies  they  pursue,  save  that,  to  enter  the 
Christian  ministry,  they  must  go  through  a  given  course ;  as  also 
to  graduate  in  the  department  of  medicine.  In  the  constitution 
of  the  faculties,  it  is  a  singular  feature  in  the  university  of  Edin- 
burgh, that  the  magistrates  of  the  city  possess  the  right  to  nomi- 
nate to  all  the  vacant  chairs  except  six,  which  belong  to  the  crown, 
and  two  others,  in  which  they  have  joint  patronage  with  the  crown. 

This  is  rather  an  anomaly ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared,  although  they 

have  had  and  Still  have  many  able  mon  in  their  chairs,  that,  in  the 

same  proportion  as  the  city  magistracy  comes  under  the  influence 
of  party  politics  and  popular  elections,  they  will  find  such  a  con- 
trol in  the  appointment  of  the  professors  by  a  city  magistracy  a 
most  unfortunate  business  to  the  university.  One  thing,  however, 
may  save  them.  As  there  are  no  funds  for  the  professors,  and 
nothing  but  their  merit  will  either  support  their  institution  or  se- 
cure bread  to  the  incumbents,  there  will  be  little  inducement  for 
novices  to  aspire  to  the  office,  or  for  the  magistrates  to  appoint 
them.  Their  poverty  may  be  their  security  ;  and  that  they  might 
be  in  no  danger  of  lacking  this  protection,  about  sixteen  thousand 
pounds  which  belonged  to  the  university,  and  which  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  town  council,  has  been  lost  by  the  town  council  be- 
coming bankrupt  ! 

The  first  botanic  garden  in  Scotland,  it  is  said,  was  formed  by 
Sir  Andrew  Balfour,  in  1670 ;  this  was  changed  from  time  to  time, 
and  enlarged,  until,  finally,  it  has  obtained,  probably,  a  permanent 
location  a  little  out  of  town,  to  the  north  of  the  village  of  Canon- 
mills,  where  a  tract  of  twelve  acres  has  been  secured  and  enclosed. 
The  garden  was  opened  in  this  place  in  1824,  and  is  now  a  splen- 
did collection  of  plants  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  has  been 


MONUMENTS   IN    EDINBURGH.  6.59 

lately  enriched  with  numerous  American  plants,  especially  from 
California  and  the  more  northern  shores  of  the  Pacific.  The 
glazed  houses  are  extensive  and  fine,  and  in  them  I  saw  the  most 
luxuriant  vegetation  of  the  tropical  plants  that  I  ever  beheld.  It 
is  said,  indeed,  that  rarely  in  the  tropics  themselves  is  such  a 
vegetation  seen.  Doctor  Graham,  the  professor  of  botany,  has 
charge  of  this  garden,  and  receives  from  government  annually  for 
its  support  one  thousand  pounds. 

For  the  ornamental  part  of  Edinburgh,  as  well  as  for  a  fine 
view  of  the  town  and  surrounding  country,  the  stranger  is  attracted 
to  the  Gallon  Hill,  which  is  situated  at  the  southeast  part  of  the 
new  town.  It  should  be  called  Monumental  Hill.  Here  is  the 
new  observatory,  which  was  erected  and  is  sustained  by  an  asso- 
ciation called  the  "  Astronomical  Institution."  This  is  fitted  up 
with  the  necessary  instruments.  Here  also  are  some  beautiful 
monuments  :  one  to  the  memory  of  Nelson ;  to  Dugald  Stewart; 
to  David  Hume ;  to  the  poet  Burns ;  and  to  Professor  Playfair. 
But  the  most  remarkable  is  one  which  has  been  designed  and 
commenced  on  the  model  of  the  ancient  Parthenon  of  Athens, 
and  called  a  "  national  monument."  It  is  to  be  a  Christian  tem- 
ple of  worship  and  a  place  of  sepulture.  The  foundation  was  laid 
in  the  presence  and  under  the  patronage  of  the  king,  George  IV., 
in  1822.  The  portion  finished  has  cost  thirteen  thousand  five 
hundred  pounds,  and  the  edifice  seems  but  just  commenced.  The 
columns  that  have  been  reared,  however,  are  indescribably  beau- 
tiful, formed  of  entire  blocks  of  white  freestone  from  the  Craig- 
leith  quarry,  one  and  a  half  miles  west  of  the  city ;  the  same  ma- 
terial as  that  with  which  the  principal  part  of  the  new  town  is  con- 
structed. 

Another  splendid  monument  is  that  erected  to  the  memory  of 
the  late  Lord  Melville,  in  St.  Andrew's  Square.  This  is  built 
after  the  model  of  Trajan's  column  at  Rome,  with  the  exception 
that  the  shaft  is  fluted  instead  of  being  ornamented  with  sculpture. 
The  height  is  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  feet,  and  is  surmounted 
by  a  statue  of  Lord  Melville  fourteen  feet  in  height.  This  was 
erected  by  the  officers  and  seamen  in  the  naval  service,  on  the 
ground  of  his  "  unwearied  and  successful  exertions  to  promote  the 
interests  of  the  British  navy." 

Another  prominent  point  of  Edinburgh  is  the  castle.     This  is 


660  SCOTLAND. 

on  the  west  end  of  the  old  town,  on  the  top  of  a  rugged  rock, 
covering  an  area  of  about  seven  acres,  and  separated  from  the 
houses  of  the  city  by  a  space  of  about  one  hundred  yards  in  width* 
It  is  a  prominent  and  an  imposing  object,  and  was  once  a  place 
of  great  strength.  Here  we  saw  the  Scottish  regalia.  These 
had  been  a  long  time  concealed,  but  were  discovered  by  commis- 
sioners appointed  for  that  purpose  in  1818,  in  a  large  oaken  chest. 
They  are  now  kept  in  great  state  in  the  "  crown-room,"  an  apart- 
ment which  has  been  fitted  up  for  the  purpose,  under  a  crimson 
canopy,  and  guarded  by  two  wardens,  who  wait  there  to  attend 
upon  strangers  that  call  to  view  these  relics.  They  consist  of  a 
crown,  sceptre,  and  sword  of  state,  and  the  lord-treasurer's  rod 
of  office. 

We  were  expecting,  when  we  visited  the  castle,  to  be  enter- 
tained with  the  bagpipes  as  we  went  in  at  the  regular  review  of 
the  regiments  stationed  there.  They  played  but  little,  however. 
This  music,  so  celebrated  in  Scotland,  is  only  interesting,  I  think, 
from  its  being  national.  It  may  sound  well  among  the  wild  craigs 
of  the  Highlands,  but  it  can  hardly  be  called  civilized  music. 

This  castle  has  endured  several  sieges  ;  was  the  birthplace  of 
James  VI.  of  Scotland  or  James  I.  of  England;  and  was  the 
last  fortress  to  yield  to  the  regent  after  the  imprisonment  of 
Queen  Mary.  It  is  now,  however,  only  used  as  barracks  for  sol- 
diers. 

The  Holyrood  house  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  ancient  ed- 
ifices of  Edinburgh.  It  is  at  the  eastern  extremity,  and  in  quite 
the  lowest  part  of  this  city  of  hills  and  valleys.  It  is  a  beautiful 
building,  in  a  quadrangular  form,  built  round  a  court  of  ninety-four 
feet  square.  It  has  castellated  towers,  and  also  circular  and  point- 
ed turrets,  a  cupola,  &c.  It  is  kept  in  a  very  good  state  of  repair, 
but  seems  to  be  of  little  use  at  present,  being  rather  kept,  like 
the  regalia  of  Scotland,  for  show,  and  as  a  remembrancer  of  the 
past.  It  affords  a  retreat  for  exiled  royalty  occasionally ;  for  here 
the  Count  d'Artois,  afterward  Charles  X.  of  France,  with  the 
Dukes  d'Angouleme  and  Berri,  resided  during  their  exile,  and 
here  the  same  royal  family  lodged  a  while  after  their  second  exile 
in  1831. 

We  were  led  to  Queen  Mary's  apartments,  and  saw  in  one  of 
the  rooms  her  bed,  and  other  furniture,  and  trinkets  still  remaining 


EDINBURGH.  661 

The  curtains  are  of  crimson  damask,  with  green  silk  fringes  and 
tassels  ;  it  is,  however,  so  decayed  that  it  can  hardly  support  its 
own  weight.  Into  this  room  is  a  private  passage,  through  which 
Darnley  and  his  accomplices  entered  on  the  9th  of  March,  1566, 
to  murder  Rizzio,  Queen  Mary's  favourite.  We  were  shown  the 
little  chamber- or  closet,  about  twelve  feet  square,  where  the  queen, 
and  Rizzio,  and  a  few  domestics  were  at  supper  when  the  mur- 
derers rushed  into  the  room.  Rizzio  took  shelter  behind  the 
queen,  but  all  to  no  purpose ;  they  dragged  him  out,  and  in  the 
next  apartment  they  murdered  him,  piercing  his  body  with  fifty- 
six  wounds.  They  pretend  still  to  show  the  stain  in  the  floor 
made  by  his  blood.  Connected  with  the  palace  are  the  ruins  of 
the  ancient  abbey,  originally  built  in  11^8  by  David  I.,  as  a  mon- 
ument of  his  being  miraculously  delivered  from  a  hart  while  hunt- 
ing here,  which  had  turned  upon  him  and  endangered  his  life. 
The  deliverance  was  by  means  of  a  miraculous  cross  put  into  his 
hands.  Hence  the  name  of  Holyrood  ;  for  rood  signifies  a  pole 
or  a  rod,  and  sometimes  a  cross. 

Time  would  fail  me  to  speak  of  the  many  modern  buildings 
which  are  specially  worthy  of  notice  ;  they  are  numerous  and 
very  fine.  Edinburgh  boasts  of  a  resemblance  to  the  ancient  seat 
of  the  arts,  the  classic  Athens,  and  not  without  some  propriety. 
Her  classic  architecture,  her  noble  institutions,  her  philosophers, 
and  her  schools,  place  her  high  among  the  cities  of  modern  times ; 
and,  in  the  opinion  of  some,  she  is  most  elegant.  It  is  difficult 
making  just  comparisons  between  cities,  because  their  features 
are  so  unlike.  Edinburgh  is  certainly,  in  many  respects,  peculiar. 
The  two  parts,  old  and  new,  have  the  appearance  of  being  built 
on  two  parallel  swells,  running  east  and  west,  with  the  deep  gulf 
already  mentioned  running  between  them ;  but,  on  further  exam- 
ination, we  find  the  old  town  especially  divided  into  still  smaller 
eminences,  with  deep  cuts  between,  so  that,  while  you  are  passing 
over  a  bridge  on  a  level  with  the  street,  you  look  off  and  see  an- 
other street  far  below  and  directly  under  you,  running  in  the  other 
direction.  This  it  is  that  gives  rise  to  the  high  houses  so  often 
spoken  of.  At  the  base  of  a  hill,  by  the  side  of  a  street  in  the 
valley,  they  begin  to  build,  and,  after  running  up  several  stories  to- 
wards the  top  of  the  hill  and  against  its  side,  the  edifice  changes 
fronts,  and  opens  on  the  opposite  side  upon  another  street.  This 
56 


662  SCOTLAND. 

becomes  the  ground-floor  to  those  high-street  gentlemen,  and  of 
the  poor  fellows  that  live  below  they  know  nothing.  They  belong 
to  another  section  of  the  city.  The  old  town  has  interest  in  it, 
but.  the  new  has  elegance  and  beauty. 

The  literary  and  benevolent  institutions  and  associations  of 
Edinburgh  are  numerous.  It  has  a  great  number  of  hospitals 
well  endowed  and  well  conducted.  As  in  many  other  cities  of 
the  United  Kingdom,  the  different  trades  are  all  incorporated,  and 
none  can  do  business  in  those  trades  without  being  regularly  ad- 
mitted by  the  respective  fraternities.  Of  these  there  are  fourteen  ; 
one  of  which,  however,  is  the  college  of  surgeons,  who  are  put 
down  among  the  trades,  because  formerly  here,  as  in  many  other 
places  in  Europe,  the  barbers  were  imbodied  with  the  surgeons, 
and  shaving  was,  in  fact,  considered  a  part  of  a  surgeon's  profes- 
sion and  business,  as>though  the  same  person  must  cut  hair  who 
amputated  limbs.  They  are  now  separate,  however.  These 
trades  formerly  had  the  privilege  of  choosing  each  a  deacon  or 
delegate  to  the  town  council.  The  Merchant  Company,  which 
also  was  incorporated,  chose  the  remainder,  the  whole  amounting 
to  thirty-three.  In  1833,  however,  this  close-borough  system, 
which  extended,  in  some  form  of  limitation,  to  all  the  royal  burghs, 
was  broken  up  by  an  act  of  parliament,  so  that  now  all  have  an 
equal  right  to  vote  for  town  magistrates  who  can  vote  for  mem- 
bers of  parliament. 

The  magistracy  of  Edinburgh  consists  of  these  thirty-three 
counsellors,  who  choose  a  lord  provost  and  four  bailies  from  their 
number. 

Edinburgh  is  not  immediately  accessible  by  ships  ;  its  port  is 
Leith,  two  miles  distant.  There  is  a  fine  street  extending  from 
the  city  to  Leith,  and  now  mostly  built  the  entire  distance.  The 
population  of  Leith  in  1831  was  twenty^five  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five,  and  of  Edinburgh  one  hundred  and  sixty-two 
thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-six. 

There  is  much  in  and  about  Edinburgh  to  be  visited,  and  which 
it  might  be  interesting  to  describe,  but  I  must  hasten. 

We  left  Edinburgh  September  twenty-first  for  the  north  of 
England.  Our  ride,  for  the  most  part,  was  without  any  special  in- 
terest. We  occasionally  found  some  battle-fields  and  some  old 


NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.  663 

castles ;  among  others,  at  a  little  distance  from  us,  Abbotsford 
Abbey,  the  residence  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

i  The  moors  are  a  desolate  region  on  the  borders  between  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  mountainous,  and  covered  with  peat  and  heath- 
er, forming  a  natural  boundary  between  the  two  countries.  These 
moors  contain  an  abundance  of  fine  game,  and  are  let  out  for 
sporting  at  a  yearly  or  monthly  rent. 

Our  first  day's  ride  was  one  hundred  and  four  miles,  to  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne.  Here  we  found  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  the 
coal  region ;  and  it  is  to  their  coal,  in  fact,  that  this  section  owes 
its  wealth  and  importance.  To  the  different  coalbeds  railroads 
are  constructed ;  and  so  numerous  are  these  in  some  neighbour- 
hoods, that  they  appeared  more  frequent  than  the  cart-paths  in  a 
common  farming  country. 

Newcastle,  as  its  name  imports,  is  situated  on  the  river  Tyne, 
which  is  navigable  here  for  vessels  of  three  or  four  hundred  tons. 
The  larger  vessels  stop  at  Shields,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  twelve 
miles  from  Newcastle.  This  town  is  rather  crowded,  and  many 
of  the  streets  are  very  steep,  as  it  is  built  upon  a  very  hilly  site. 
We  had  an  opportunity,  however,  of  seeing  very  little  of  it,  as  we 
hastened  on  to  Yorkshire  to  fulfil  engagements  previously  made. 
The  town  is  situated  in  quite  the  south  part  of  the  county  of  Nor- 
thumberland, the  most  northern  county  of  England,  and  contains 
about  forty-three  thousand  inhabitants.  It  exports  six  hundred 
thousand  chaldrons  of  coal  in  a  year ;  and,  in  addition  to  this,  it 
exports  lead,  salt,  salmon,  grindstones,  and  some  of  her  ships  are 
engaged  in  the  Greenland  fisheries.  It  manufactures  iron,  and 
steel,  and  woollen  cloth,  and  glass.  It  is  matter  of  history,  that 
coal  was  dug  here,  under  the  patronage  of  royal  charter,  as  early 
as  the  thirteenth  century,  although,  about  a  century  afterward, 
it  was  forbidden,  by  royal  proclamation,  to  use  coal  for  fuel  in 
London,  because  it  prevented  the  sale  of  wood,  which  abounded  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  city.  How  strangely  have  times  altered ! 
I  have  not  seen  a  wood  fire  in  England,  Ireland,  or  Scotland.  The 
very  bowels  of  the  earth  seem  to  be  in  a  progress  of  being  dug 
out;  the  very  rivers  are  undermined,. and  whole  districts  of  coun- 
try in  some  places  are  settling  down  to  fill  up  the  excavations. 

Our  route  from  Newcastle  was  to  York,  seventy  miles,  through, 
for  the  most  part,  a  beautiful  and  rich  country.  We  passed 


664  ENGLAND. 

through  the  town  and  county  of  Durham.  Durham  is  situated  on 
a  rocky  eminence,  in  a  bend  of  the  river  Wear,  which  flows  al- 
most round  it.  The  ancient  and  imposing  castle  is  now  the  palace 
of  the  Bishop  of  Durham.  Here  are  also  the  remains  of  an  old 
abbey,  which  is  quite  an  interesting  ruin ;  and  a  newly-founded 
college  or  university ;  population  ten  or  eleven  thousand.  The 
Cathedral  is  a  noble  pile,  rising  up  from  an  eminence  eighty  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  river,  four  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  with 
a  principal  tower  two  hundred  and  fourteen  feet  in  height.  The 
see  of  Durham  is  said  to  be  the  richest  in  England. 

The  coachman  and  many  of  the  passengers  could  talk  of  little 
else  but  the  Doncaster  races.  These  are  annual,  about  the  last  of 
September,  and  continue  four  days.  The  English  excel  all  others, 
I  believe,  in  their  fondness  for  strife  to  obtain  mastery  in  all  pos- 
sible forms.  In  some  of  these,  such  as  boxing,  cock-fighting, 
&c.,  they  retain  savage  customs  for  the  gratification  of  this  de- 
praved principle;  and  then  they  have  their  races,  their  running 
and  walking  matches,  their  boatraces,  their  steeple-chases,  and  the 
like,  among  all  ranks,  and  to  the  great  gratification  of  all  grades  of 
society.  In  Bristol  it  appeared  to  me  that  almost  the  whole  city, 
men,  women,  and  children,  were  out  at  a  boatrace.  Often  you  will 
see  in  the  private  parlours  of  the  principal  hotels  a  print  of  some 
celebrated  pugilist,  as  he  appeared  when  he  was  fighting  so  and  so, 
with  an  account  of  all  his  celebrated  fights  where  he  had  whipped 
and  been  whipped  !  One  would  think  that  such  exhibitions  would 
shock  a  refined  and  a  Christian  nation  ;  but  here  they  are  exhibited 
as  very  desirable  ornaments  to  gentlemen's  and  ladies'  parlours ! 
Some  of  the  noblemen  and  great  characters  of  the  nation  encourage 
these  races  and  fights.  They  say  it  keeps  up  the  spirit  of  the  na- 
tion ;  ay,  truly,  if  the  spirit  of  the  nation  is  the  spirit  of  Satan.  But 
the  fact  is,  the  entire  course  of  education  in  England,  and  especially 
at  their  higher  seminaries,  their  public  schools  and  universities,  is 
on  the  principle  of  rivalry  and  ambition.  A  spirit  in  its  nature 
the  very  opposite  of  the  gospel,  and  well  calculated  to  gender 
strifes,  oppositions,  and  efforts  of  rivalry  through  life. 

We  spent  two  nights  in  the  ancient  city  of  York,  where  we  were 
kindly  received  by  friends  to  whom  we  had  introductions,  and  were 
much  entertained  by  the  interesting  objects  of  the  city,  and  espe- 
cially by  the  York  Minster  or  Cathedral,  which  is  the  great  lion 


YORK    MINSTER.  665 

of  the  place.  This  cathedral  is  one  of  the  finest  and  largest 
Gothic  structures  in  the  world.  It  is  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  and 
both  the  nave  and  the  transept  have  each  two  aisles.  It  has  a  lan- 
tern in  the  centre,  and  a  beautiful  choir.  This  latter,  however, 
was  mostly  consumed  by  fire  in  1829,  together  with  the  splendid 
screen  that  separated  it  from  the  nave  and  the  organ.  This  fire 
was  the  work  of  a  fanatical  incendiary  by  the  name  of  Jonathan 
Martin,  who  got  the  impression  that  he  was  commissioned  from 
on  high  to  oppose  the  established  church  especially,  and  do  what 
he  could  towards  humbling  its  pride.  And  how  could  he  do  this 
better  than  to  burn  this  magnificent  temple  ?  He  was  acquitted 
before  a  judicial  tribunal  on  the  ground  of  insanity ;  and  was 
committed  as  a  lunatic  to  St.  Luke's  Hospital  in  London.  The 
part  destroyed,  however,  has  been  beautifully  restored.  The 
greatest  length  of  this  edifice  is  five  hundred  and  twenty-four 
feet  and  a  half ;  that  of  the  transept  two  hundred  and  twenty-two 
feet ;  the  choir  is  one  hundred  and  thirty-one ;  the  nave  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-four  in  length,  one  hundred  in  breadth,  and  ninety- 
nine  in  height.  Its  towers  are  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet 
high.  Some  of  its  windows  are  very  fine,  with  rich  painted  glass. 
" The  east  window"  says  one,  " is  the  wonder  of  the  world  for 
masonry  and  glazing."  It  is  divided  into  two  hundred  compart- 
ments, and  the  subjects  of  the  paintings  are  chiefly  selected  from 
the  Bible.  The  glazing  was  a  three  years'  work.  The  window 
is  seventy-five  feet  high  and  thirty-two  broad.  The  new  organ 
is  a  splendid  affair ;  it  has  four  thousand  five  hundred  pipes,  some 
of  which  are  twenty  inches  in  diameter.  The  screen  is  of  the 
florid  Gothic,  but  so  completely  is  the  stone  cut  up  by  the  re- 
markable sculpture,  that  the  solidity  is  destroyed,  and  the  airy 
screen  stands  forth  in  all  the  open  tracery  of  a  reticulated  gossa- 
mer's web ;  more  heavy,  certainly,  but  copied  as  far  as  great  things 
can  imitate  small.  The  columns  are  clustered,  and  support  arches 
of  surprising  height  and  span.  There  are  also  in  the  church 
many  sepulchral  monuments,  but  I  cannot  stop  to  describe  either 
these  or  the  house  itself  minutely.  I  had  heard  much  of  this 
wonderful  edifice,  but  it  quite  equalled  my  expectations.  A  book 
might  be  written  in  describing  it. 

York  was  once  a  residence  for  Roman  emperors,  and  was  long 
called  the  capital  of  the  north  of  England.    When  it  is  known, 
56  4P 


666  ENGLAND. 

however,  that  its  population  is  only  about  twenty-eight  thousand 
it  will  hardly  be  supposed  to  be  entitled  now  to  that  appellation , 
Its  situation  on  the  river  Ouse  is  not  favourable  for  commerce,  as 
only  vessels  of  small  burden  can  come  up  to  the  city.  As  it  is 
the  capital  and  seat  of  justice  for  the  largest  county  in  England, 
and  also  the  seat  of  a  bishop's  see,  it  derives  from  these  circum- 
stances considerable  importance. 

Yorkshire,  of  which  York  is  the  capital,  is  in  length,  from  east 
to  west,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  miles,  and  in  breadth  eighty, 
and  contains  three  millions,  eight  hundred  and  forty-seven  thou- 
sand, four  hundred  and  twenty  acres ;  larger,  in  fact,  than  several 
of  our  small  states.  This  county  is  not  the  most  important  in 
agricultural  products;  some  parts  are  comparatively  barren,  and 
not  a  little  portion  broken  and  mountainous.  Yorkshire,  however, 
is  a  most  important  section  of  England  in  point  of  manufactures. 

In  our  route  from  York  to  Leeds,  twenty -four  miles,  we  crossed 
a  bold  bleak  mountain  covered  with  peat  and  heather.  Through 
this  mountain,  three  miles,  a  canal  passes ;  but,  as  we  were  in  a 
stagecoach,  we  had  to  mount  it,  and  upon  the  top  we  had  plenty  of 
rain  and  tempest ;  but,  descending,  we  had  something  worse,  an  ac- 
cident which  was,  apparently,  in  a  hair's  breadth  of  proving  fatal. 
The  crossbar  to  which  the  whiffletrees  are  attached  broke,  and 
let  the  traces  upon  the  horses ;  this  frightened  them  into  a  run,  and 
threw  them  mostly  out  of  the  control  of  the  coachman.  He 
succeeded,  however,  as  we  approached  a  team,  to  turn  them  a 
little  one  side,  in  doing  which  the  wheel  struck  a  stone,  and  the 
coach  ran  for  some  feet  on  a  poise,  leaving  us  for  the  moment  in 
suspense  whether  we  should  settle  down  right  or  wrong  side  up. 
Fortunately,  we  came  down,  as  they  say  in  England,  "  all  right," 
and  the  horses  kept  their  speed  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  when, 
passing  the  tavern  where  they  were  kept,  they  gradually  abated 
their  pace  until  they  were  stopped.  Thus  narrowly,  through  a 
kind  Providence,  did  we  escape  a  general  wreck.  These  stage- 
coach wrecks  are  not  uncommon  in  this  country ;  several  have 
come  under  our  notice  since  we  have  been  here.  Their  horses 
are  high-mettled,  their  loads  large  and  very  topheavy,  so  as  to  be 
easily  capsized,  and  their  speed  great ;  so  that,  with  the  best  and 
smoothest  roads  in  the  world,  they  nevertheless  often  get  wrecked. 

Our  lodging  while  at  Leeds,  as  in  most  other  cases  when  we 


LEEDS.  667 

were  entertained  by  private  hospitality,  was  a  little  out  of  town. 
In  this  case  it  was  at  a  little  earthly  paradise  called  Roundhey, 
three  miles  from  Leeds,  in  the  hospitable  mansion  of  Thomas 
Burton,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  of  noble  feeling  and  cheerful  tempera- 
ment, well  calculated  to  enjoy  life  himself,  and  make  everybody 
happy  around  him  ;  and,  in  this  respect,  seemed  happily  connected 
with  an  amiable  wife,  and  blessed  with  pleasant  children.  Nor 
was  the  pleasure  of  our  lodging  limited  to  the  family.  Here 
was  a  little  neighbourhood  of  piety,  courtesy,  and  intelligence ;  a 
lovely  specimen  of  the  appropriate  blending  of  refinement  and  de- 
votion. With  such  a  family  and  in  such  a  circle  we  could  not 
but  enjoy  much  during  the  brief  period  of  our  stay,  which  was 
about  one  week.  Our  intercourse,  too,  with  the  town  was  consid- 
erable, and  our  acquaintance  pleasant.  With  every  facility  for 
visiting  the  town,  we  had  no  occasion  to  regret  that  we  did  not 
lodge  in  it ;  nor  do  I  wonder  that  almost  all  who  are  able  prefer 
a  residence  out  of  the  smoky  manufacturing  towns  of  England. 
They  are  constantly  enveloped  in  a  dense  cloud  of  smoke,  and,  foi 
much  of  the  time,  very  dirty. 

Leeds,  with  its  liberty,  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  principal  business  is  the  manufacture 
of  broadcloth.  It  has  also  manufactories  of  linen,  thread,  sack- 
ing, canvass,  kerseymeres,  carpets,  and  cotton.  It  has  water  con- 
nexion with  both  seas ;  with  the  North  Sea  by  the  river  Aire,  on 
which  it  is  situated,  and  the  Humber ;  with  the  Irish  Sea  by  the 
Liverpool  canal. 

Among  the  edifices  there  is  little  worthy  of  special  notice. 
Like  most  of  the  principal  towns  of  England,  however,  it  has  a 
philosophical  and  literary  hall,  and  a  very  good  museum,  particu- 
larly rich  in  vegetable  and  animal  fossils  taken  from  the  coal- 
mines. Here  also  we  saw  a  mummy,  which,  according  to  the 
hieroglyphics,  was  named  Natsif  Amon,  and  lived  in  the  reign  of 
Rameses  V. 

The  greater  portion  of  cloth  manufactured  in  and  about  Leeds 
is  in  a  domestic  way  ;  and  we  were  informed  that  these  small 
private  manufactories  were  doing  better  than  the  large  establish- 
ments. These  small  manufacturers  only  make  the  white  cloth; 
it  is  purchased,  dressed,  and  finished  by  the  merchants.  The 
quantities  sold  are  immense,  considering  the  time  spent  in  trans- 


668  ENGLAND. 

acting  the  business.  They  have  vast  buildings  called  cloth  halls, 
one  for  white  cloth  and  one  for  coloured.  These  halls  are  very 
extensive,  and  have  the  appearance  of  a  quadrangular  range  of 
buildings  round  one  of  the  squares  of  the  city.  Here,  on  Tues- 
days and  Saturdays,  the  cloth  markets  are  held.  The  doors  are 
thrown  open  at  the  ringing  of  the  bell.  The  merchants  go  along 
by  two  rows  of  tables,  arranged  for  the  purpose,  and  covered  with 
cloth ;  few  words  are  spoken  ;  the  price  is  registered  on  a  book, 
and  the  purchaser  moves  on  to  the  next ;  no  bantering  or  extrava- 
gant recommendations ;  each  is  his  own  judge,  and  decides  im- 
mediately ;  and  the  whole  is  finished  in  about  an  hour. 

We  visited  some  of  the  large  factories,  and  were  astonished  at 
the  immense  business  done  here.  The  many  strong  representa- 
tions of  children's  being  overworked,  and  put  too  young  to  service 
too  severe  for  their  age,  appears  not  to  be  without  good  founda- 
tion, although  they  may  have  been  overcoloured  in  some  instan- 
ces. We  saw  many  young  children,  pale  and  thin,  who  seemed 
to  be  poisoned  by  the  warm  and  foetid  atmosphere  which  they 
continually  breathed,  and  worn  down  with  too  much  labour. 
Many  of  these,  doubtless,  are  put  to  this  service  by  unfeeling  pa- 
rents, who  riot  upon  the  lifeblood  of  their  children,  by  working 
them,  at  this  tender  age,  beyond  due  bounds,  that  they  may  have 
the  more  to  consume  on  their  licentious  appetites.  It  seems  to 
be  the  natural  operation  of  business  that  products  are  reduced 
to  the  least  possible  productive  price.  This  reduces  the  oper- 
ative to  a  bare  livelihood ;  and  if  to  his  necessities  he  adds  ex- 
cesses, suffering  must  follow ;  and  if  he  is  allowed  to  press  his 
children  into  the  work,  his  unfeeling,  sensualized  soul  will  be  like- 
ly to  avail  itself  of  this  means  for  his  increased  gratification.  This 
excessive  labour  from  early  childhood  prevents  mental  cultivation, 
and  the  rising  generation  become  little  else  than  mechanical  au- 
tomatons in  the  performance  of  their  task,  and  sensualists  in  their 
desires  and  indulgences.  It  is  thus  that  the  selfishness  of  man, 
no  matter  what  shape  it  comes  in,  leads  to  the  oppression  of  one 
part  of  our  race  by  the  other.  Many  good  men  see  it  and  re- 
gret it,  but  they  cannot  turn  the  scale ;  and  seem  obliged,  for  the 
time,  if  they  do  business  in  the  world,  to  adopt  the  current  features 
and  habfts  of  the  business  community. 

In  no  part  of  the  kingdom,  probably,  has  Methodism  taken  sucb 


PROVINCIALISMS.  669 

strong  hold  of  the  population  as  in  Yorkshire ;  and  the  character 
of  the  people  gives  their  religion  a  peculiar  cast.  They  are  an 
ardent  people ;  the  commonalty  very  simple  in  their  manners,  but 
apparently  remarkably  sincere  in  their  piety.  Their  dialect  is 
very  strong  and  expressive,  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  very  odd ; 
this  gives  their  religious  communications  a  peculiar  cast,  and  all 
their  conversation,  in  fact,  a  remarkable  interest.  One  of  them, 
in  a  lovefeast,  who  had  been  very  wicked,  was  saying  he  was  the 
greatest  sinner  in  the  world.  Another,  sitting  behind  him,  pulled 
his  coat,  and,  in  a  suppressed  voice,  said,  "John  !  John  !  yo? for- 
gets Tm  here  /"  One  is  tempted  to  ask  them  questions  just  to 
hear  their  answers.  Their  prepositions  and  conjunctions  are 
mixed  up  and  interchanged  for  each  other  in  such  grotesque  order, 
and  their  vowels  are  sounded  so  queerly,  that  every  sentence  is 
amusing.  The  following  answer  to  the  question  "when  will  your 
master  return  ?"  put  to  a  woman  who  kept  the  gate  at  a  porter's 
lodge,  is  quite  tolerable  compared  with  many  :  "  If  he  don't  come 
for  the  end  of  the  week,  he  will  be  here  as  Thursday  next !"  The 
dialects  of  the  different  sections  of  the  country  vary  much  from 
each  other,  and  all  very  much  from  good  English.  I  speak,  of 
course,  of  the  lower  classes.  Between  them  and  the  common  peo- 
ple in  the  United  States  there  is  no  comparison  ;  the  latter  are  al- 
together before  them  in  speaking  the  English  language.  Many 
parts  they  speak  so  badly,  I  find  it  almost  impossible  to  under- 
stand them.  Mrs.  Trollope,  among  other  things,  has  undertaken 
to  give  specimens  of  our  provincialisms.  These,  however,  are 
almost  all  evident  fabrications,  for  she  has  given  those  of  her  own 
country,  and  none  of  ours.  The  truth  is,  the  English  are  sur- 
prised that  any  persons  from  America  should  speak  the  language 
with  grammatical  propriety.  It  was  often  remarked  to  us,  that 
they  thought  it  singular  we  should  speak  the  English  language  so 
well.  One  gentleman,  a  respectable  banker,  concluded  I  must 
have  come  from  one  of  the  West  India  Islands,  where  I  had  had 
good  opportunities  of  associating  with  the  English  from  home. 
Others  supposed  we  were  English  born,  and  had  emigrated  to  the 
United  States,  from  which  we  had  returned  on  a  visit.  Some  per- 
sons of  respectability  gravely  inquired  whether  the  English  lan- 
guage was  generally  spoken  in  the  United  States;  and  others, 
whether  our  citizens  were  generally  white.  One  young  lady,  in 


670  .  ENGLAND. 

a  very  respectable  dining-party,  remarked  that  she  could  not  beal 
to  hear  of  the  United  States,  they  were  such  savages  there.  On 
being  told  by  one  of  the  ladies  that  Mrs.  Fisk  was  from  that 
country,  she  replied,  she  supposed,  of  course,  she  was  not  born 
there ! 

•  The  truth  is,  the  English,  as  a  whole,  know  much  less  of  us  than 
we  do  of  them.  Of  course  I  do  not  speak  of  all.  There  are  many 
who  know  us  well ;  many  who  have  travelled  in  the  United  States ; 
many  others  who  do  business  with  us ;  others,  again,  who,  as 
statesmen  or  as  scholars,  know  us  because  they  know  all  the 
world ;  but  these  are  few  in  comparison  with  the  many  who  know 
little  of  us.  And  it  seems  to  be  the  object  of  many  of  the  tory 
newspapers  to  perpetuate  this  ignorance,  or,  rather,  what  is  worse, 
to  magnify  our  vices  and  follies,  and  conceal  our  virtues.  Every 
little  mob  or  local  outrage,  of  which  we  certainly  have  too  many, 
enough  to  make  us  blush  and  be  ashamed,  is  magnified,  and  the 
whole  represented  as  the  legitimate  result  of  republicanism  ;  and 
as  being  not  exceptions  to  the  general  state  of  things,  but  the  pre- 
vailing characteristics  of  the  nation.  Even  the  "  Watchman,"  a 
paper  in  London  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  Methodists,  con- 
descends sometimes  to  give  currency  to  such  representations.  I 
mention  this  not  by  way  of  censure  or  complaint,  but  to  show 
how  extremely  prevalent  such  sentiments  are  ;  sentiments  which, 
while  they  tend  to  alienate  the  affections  of  the  two  nations  from 
each  other,  do  immense  mischief  to  the  cause  of  humanity  and 
Christianity.  The  truth  is,  our  mobs  are  fewer  and  much  less 
violent  than  they  are  in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  for  most  we 
have  we  are  indebted  to  the  recent  emigrants  from  some  of  the 
British  isles.  If  his  majesty  would  keep  all  such  of  his  subjects 
at  home  as  are  disposed  to  be  factious,  we  should  have  very  lit- 
tle trouble  in  all  our  maturely  organized  states  in  maintaining 
the  authority  of  the  laws.  It  is  greatly  to  be  hoped  that  this 
country  may  soon  know  us  better,  and  then  she  will  do  us  bet- 
ter justice. 

But  I  had  commenced  speaking  of  the  Methodism  of  Yorkshire 
when  I  struck  off  into  the  preceding  episode.  As  Yorkshire  is 
the  Goshen  of  Methodism,  so  Leeds  is  the  capital.  The  chapels 
here  are  large  and  well  built ;  of  several  belonging  to  the  town, 
three  will  hold  two  thousand  five  hundred  each,  Near  one  of 


DISSENTERS.— QUAKERS.  671 

these  is  still  standing  an  old  chapel  where  Mr.  Wesley  first  called 
for  volunteers  for  the  United  States ;  and  the  spot  is  pointed  out 
in  which  Messrs.  Boardman  and  Pilmore  rose  up  and  said,  "  We 
will  go"  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  cause  in  America. 
"  How  great  a  fire  a  little  matter  kindleth."  The  circuits  belong- 
ing to  Leeds  give  six  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty-four*  mem- 
bers ;  add  to  these  the  members  of  the  Manchester  circuits,  five 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty-four,!  and  of  Sheffield  four  thousand 
five  hundred  and  seventy-nine,  and  we  have  for  these  three  towns, 
two  of  Yorkshire  and  one  on  its  very  borders,  and  their  immediate 
villages,  a  membership  of  sixteen  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-six. 

The  dissenters  also  flourish  well  in  these  towns.  The  first 
Sabbath  we  spent  in  Leeds  was  the  time  of  the  annual  effort  for 
the  missionary  cause  among  the  dissenters.  We  went  to  hear 
Rev.  Mr.  Parsons,  who  was  represented  as  one  of  their  most  cel- 
ebrated speakers.  He  had  a  very  offensive  impediment  in  his 
speech,  and  appeared,  withal,  to  have  memorized  his  sermon,  so 
that  the  performance  was,  in  that  respect,  too  much  like  a  re- 
hearsal. It  had,  however,  some  force,  and  native  fire,  and  brilliancy 
in  it.  I  must  confess  that  most  of  the  dissenting  preaching  I  heard 
there  had  too  much  of  the  artificial  about  it ;  a  straining  after  the 
brilliant  in  style.  This  detracts  very  much  from  the  pleasure,  and 
still  more  from  the  profit  of  listening  to  their  discourses.  Rev. 
Mr.  Binney,  of  London,  however,  was  an  exception  to  this  remark. 

There  are  quite  a  number  of  Quakers  also  in  Yorkshire.  With 
a  very  intelligent  member  of  this  society  I  commenced  an  acquaint- 
ance at  Bristol,  and  resumed  it  while  in  Leeds.  From  him  I  learned 
more  of  the  existing  controversy  among  the  Friends  in  England 
than  I  had  before  known.  It  appears  that  the  same  doctrinal 
questions  which  have  divided  those  societies  in  the  United  States 
are  deeply  agitated  here ;  and  are  in  great  danger  of  dividing  the 
English  societies  also.  A  Mr.  Crewdson,  of  Manchester,  who  has 
been  a  very  active  member  in  the  Bible  cause,  perceiving  that  the 
leven  of  Elias  Hicks  was  working  in  England,  wrote  a  small  book, 

*  At  Leeds,  a  few  years  since,  there  was  quite  a  schism  in  the  society  on  account  cf 
the  introduction  of  an  organ  into  the  chapel.  Their  numbers  have  increased  more  rap- 
idly since  than  before,  and  so  have  organs  here  and  elsewhere.  Most  of  the  principal 
•Chapels  in  the  large  towns  have  organs. 

f  Manchester  has  lost  more  than  two  thousand  by  the  late  schism. 


672  ENGLAND. 

called  the  "  Beacon,"  in  which  he  pointed  out  the  errors  of  Hicks, 
and  ably  refuted  them,  warning  the  Friends  of  England  to  be  on 
their  guard  against  those  dangerous  heresies.  For  this  book  he 
was  arrested  by  the  society ;  and,  finally,  his  authority  as  a  public 
teacher  taken  from  him,  and  they  are  still  labouring  with  him. 
He  has  published  a  "  defence"  of  his  "  Beacon."  The  ground  ob- 
jected to  is,  that  he  has  departed  from  the  original  doctrine  of  the 
Friends,  especially  in  the  doctrine  of  the  operations  of  the  spirit. 
He  has,  as  they  think,  attributed  too  much  to  the  letter  and  too 
little  to  the  spirit.  He  acknowledges  that  he  differs  from  Barclay, 
Fox,  Penn,  and  others,  but  claims  he  is  right  according  to  the 
Scriptures.  In  this  he  seems  to  have  mistaken  the  question ;  for 
the  question  is  not  whether  the  Quakers  are  right,  but  whether 
Isaac  Crewdson  is  a  Quaker.  If  the  Quakers  are  wrong,  as 
he  maintains,  it  does  not  follow  that,  as  a  member  of  the  society, 
he  has  made  up  the  right  issue.  If  he  can  convince  them,  very 
well ;  if  not,  he  cannot  complain  that,  true  to  their  own  rules,  they 
discard  him.  The  truth  is,  as  I  think,  he  is  in  the  main  right; 
and  if  he  can  convince  the  whole  society  that  they  are  wrong,  it 
will  be  a  great  achievement.  Many  are  convinced,  and  the  result, 
be  the  issue  of  his  trial  as  it  may,  will  be  disastrous  to  the  integ- 
rity of  the  body.  The  Quakers  are  much  less  numerous  than  one 
would  think  who  has  noticed  the  prominency  of  this  sect  in  sci- 
ence and  in  benevolent  institutions,  public  subscriptions,  &c.,  and 
who  has  noticed  the  frequency  of  the  well-known  dress  in  the  pub- 
lic streets.  Twenty  thousand  is  the  utmost  limit  that  I  have 
heard  them  estimated  at  in  the  United  Kingdom. 

The  Woodhouse  Grove  School,  belonging  to  the  Wesleyan 
Conference,  is  in  this  neighbourhood.  We  rode  out  to  it,  and 
were  much  pleased  with  our  excursion.  Its  location  is  as  fine  as 
that  of  Kingswood  is  dull.  The  hills  were  covered  with  verdure, 
and  the  scenery  was  picturesque.  I  addressed  the  boys,  visited 
all  the  grounds  and  apartments,  and  was  pleased  with  everything 
I  saw  connected  with  the  establishment,  except  the  fact  noticed 
here  and  at  Kingswood,  that  the  poor  boys  seem  homeless  for  the 
want  of  some  spot  they  might  call  their  own,  where  to  deposite 
their  toys,  to  write  a  letter,  to  read,  or  to  think.  This  keeping 
boys  always  in  a  flock  is  not,  in  my  opinion,  the  best  way.  There 
is,  in  this  way,  a  set  of  feelings,  an  important  class  of  mental 


673 

states,  that  are  never  cultivated,  to  say  nothing  of  the  irksomeness 
of  such  a  situation. 

The  wisdom  of  the  Conference  is  exhibited,  both  here  and  at 
Kingswood,  in  the  selection  they  have  made  for  governors  to  the 
schools.  They  are  the  patriarchs  of  their  respective  establish- 
ments, and  their  wives  are  an  honour  to  their  station  and  to  their  sex, 
The  value  of  these  schools  to  the  nation  and  to  the  Methodist 
cause  may  be.  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  there  are  now  in  the 
Methodist  ministry  about  fifty  who  were  sons  of  Methodist  minis- 
ters, and  most  of  whom  were  educated  in  these  schools. 

In  going  and  returning  on  this  excursion  we  passed  the  beauti- 
ful ruin  of  Kirkstall  Abbey,  founded  in  1157  for  monks  of  the 
Cistercian  order.  It  is  in  a  picturesque  vale,  through  which 
passes  the  river  Aire.  The  crumbling  turrets  and  splendid  Gothic 
windows  are  hung  round  with  the  mantling  ivy,  and  the  courts  are 
overgrown  with  trees,  through  which  the  whispering  winds  seem 
still  to  preserve,  in  undying  echoes,  the  low  muttered  prayers,  the 
vespers,  and  the  matins  of  the  long-since-departed  brotherhood. 

With  more  than  usual  regret  we  parted  with  our  friends  in 
Leeds,  where,  notwithstanding  a  severe  cold  caught  on  the  top  of 
a  stagecoach  in  coming  from  Scotland  had  greatly  curtailed  my 
social  and  public  pleasures  and  duties,  we  had,  nevertheless,  en- 
joyed a  week  of  uncommon  interest.  But  we  were  only  ex- 
changing one  scene  of  hospitality  and  fellowship,  of  interesting 
observation  and  remark,  for  another ;  one  company  of  most  at- 
tentive and  courteous  friends  for  another.  The  English  improve 
upon  acquaintance ;  and,  in  addition,  when  once  the  stranger  is 
fairly  introduced  and  becomes  generally  known,  their  natural  re- 
serve and  coldness  towards  him  is  thrown  off.  On  these  accounts 
we  found  the  longer  we  stayed  in  the  country,  the  more  pleasant 
our  stay ;  save  that  home,  a  departure  for  which  was  drawing 
near,  naturally  occupied  more  of  our  attention,  and  exerted  over 
our  feelings  a  constantly-increasing  attraction.  At  night,  when 
we  retired,  we  thought  and  talked  of  home ;  in  the  morning,  when 
we  awoke,  the  sound  of  "  home,  sweet  home"  rung  in  our  ears  like 
the  distant  music  of  an  ^Eolian  harp  inviting  us  away.  The  com- 
pany, and  the  numerous  objects  and  occupations  of  the  day,  how- 
ever, broke  the  spell,  and  kept  our  minds  in  active  interest. 
After  a  ride  of  forty-six  miles  we  entered  Manchester,  and  were 
57  4Q 


674  ENGLAND. 

surprised  to  see,  as  we  entered  the  town,  my  own  name,  in  pro* 
digious  capitals,  stuck  up  in  every  place  of  public  bills.  The 
first  associations  were  not  very  pleasant.  In  our  country  we  put 
up  these  public  bills  for  playactors  and  harlequins,  and  for  thieves. 
I  was  not  a  performer  on  the  stage.  Could  it  be  that  "  a  hue  and 
cry"  was  out  after  me  for  some  crime  ?  The  associated  thought, 
however,  was  very  transient,  since  I  had  before  seen  the  like  in 
England  for  holier  purposes.  Besides,  I  saw  on  the  same  bill  the 
name  of  Doctor  Bunting,  in  whose  company  no  one  need  be  afraid 
to  be  found  under  any  circumstances.  The  doctor  and  myself 
were  to  preach  the  next  day,  and  take  up  a  collection  for  that  poor 
unfortunate  chapel  which  had  been  the  bone  of  contention  in  the 
late  chancery  suit,  and  which  was  deeply  involved  in  debt,  at  the 
same  time  that  it  had  been  stripped  of  its  congregation  by  the 
secession** 

This  mode  of  advertising  special  public  efforts  in  the  cause  of 
the  church  appears  to  me  not  only  laudable,  but  very  beneficial. 
Why  should  we,  in  this  respect,  suffer  the  children  of  this  world 
to  be  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children  of  light  ? 

Another  glaring  and  immense  bill  still  hung  from  the  public 
places  in  Manchester,  announcing  a  public  entertainment  which 
had  just  passed,  and  one  that  has  become  very  common  in  Eng- 
land, called  a  Musical  Festival.  These  are  got  up  at  a  great  ex- 
pense, professedly  with  a  view  of  aiding  some  public  charities 
by  the  sale  of  the  tickets ;  but  a  great  portion  of  the  income  is  ab- 
sorbed by  the  expenditures.  It  is  a  strange  mixture  of  worldly 
pleasure  and  religion,  charity  and  profligacy.  It  is  the  spending 
of  one  pound  for  a  good  cause,  for  the  purchase  of  an  indulgence 
to  spend  five  for  questionable  and  decidedly  sinful  purposes.  It 
is,  in  short,  an  attempt  to  sanctify  worldly  merriment,  feasting, 
and  rioting,  by  the  sanctity  of  approved  names  and  an  intermixture 
of  religious  performances.  With  many  the  bait  takes ;  but  most 
of  the  pious  have  discovered  the  snare,  and  have  guarded  them- 
selves against  it.  At  this  festival  one  celebrated  Italian  singer 
fell  a  martyr  to  her  ambition — Madame  Malibran.  She  was  in- 
terred in  the  old  Collegiate  church,  where,  but  a  day  or  two  before, 
she  had  charmed  admiring  thousands  by  the  magic  of  her  voice. 

*  This  effort  was  to  some  good  purpose.  The  collection  was  above  four  hundred 
pounds  sterling,  or  about  two  thousand  dollars,  It  is  thus  they  do  things  in  England. 


COTTON-TRADE    OF    MANCHESTER.  675 

When  we  arrived  at  the  hotel  we  were  met  by  friends  to  con- 
duct us  to  the  residence  of  Percival  Bunting,  Esquire,  son  of  the 
president  of  the  Conference,  where  we  lodged  during  our  stay  in 
Manchester.  From  this  gentleman  and  his  estimable  lady,  and 
their  respective  family  connexions,  we  received  such  marks  of  at- 
tention and  kindness  as  will  always  embalm  their  memory  in  our 
affection.  Our  stay,  on  the  whole,  in  Manchester,  was  about  two 
weeks.  Our  intercourse  with  many  there,  ministers  and  laymen, 
was  of  the  most  gratifying  kind  ;  and  the  numerous  manufacturing 
establishments  which  we  visited,  the  different  meetings  we  attend- 
ed, the  various  edifices  and  institutions  we  examined,  were  all 
sources  of  great  interest.  Upon  these  I  cannot  dwell  in  detail. 

Manchester  is  the  great  cotton  mart.  All  over  the  town  and 
all  around  it,  and  in  the  neighbouring  towns  and  villages,  cotton- 
factories  abound.  Manchester  seems,  from  a  very  early  date,  to 
have  been  a  manufacturing  town ;  but  its  principal  growth,  and 
the  growth  of  its  manufactures  and  trade,  have  been  mostly  since 
the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century.  From  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  to  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  cotton-trade  had  nearly  doubled  ;  but  this  was  still  small ;  and 
it  was  not  until  after  1769  that  those  improvements  in  machinery 
which  have  been  the  making  of  the  cotton-trade  were  introduced, 
one  after  another,  by  Arkwright,  Hargreaves,  Crampton,  and  oth- 
ers. Crampton  invented  the  mule-jenny  in  1779.  He,  like  most 
of  inventers,  died  in  poverty,  but  the  world  has  been  enriched  by 
his  genius.  These  and  other  improvements,  some  of  which  have 
been  introduced  from  America,  have  had  a  tendency  to  change 
the  entire  character  of  the  manufacture.  Instead  of  spinning  and 
weaving  in  families,  in  a  domestic  way,  the  factory -system  was 
introduced.  Large  establishments  and  concentrated  operations 
under  one  roof  were  the  result.  The  gain,  in  point  of  political 
economy,  has  been  immense ;  the  advantage  to  morals,  to  personal 
independence  and  happiness,  is  more  questionable. 

Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  great  increase  of  this  trade  by 
the  following  statements. 

In  1829,  seven  millions  of  spindles  were  in  operation.  In  1835, 
eleven  millions,  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  thousand,  nine  hundred 
and  ninety.  In  1800,  fifty-six  millions  of  pounds  of  cotton  were 
imported  into  England.  In  1834,  two  hundred  and  ninety-five 


675  ENGLAND. 

millions,  six  hundred  and  eighty-four  thousand,  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-seven  pounds.  In  1835,  three  hundred  and  thirty  millions, 
eight  hundred  and  twenty-nine  thousand,  eight  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  pounds. 

It  is  thought  that  such  arrangements  are  now  preparing  as  will 
increase  the  number  of  hands  in  the  cotton-trade  to  forty-five 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty  more  than  the  present  number  ; 
and  the  business  is  supposed  already  to  give  support  to  one  mil- 
lion five  hundred  thousand  persons.* 

We  went  into  one  factory  where  were  six  or  seven  hundred 
looms  in  one  room.  It  was  magnificent  to  see  and  deafening  to 
hear.  It  was  lighted  by  a  succession  of  roofs  in  the  following 
form  /l/l/l,  the  perpendicular  parts  of  which  were  all  glass 
windows.  Thus,  by  standing  on  one  side  of  the  vast  room,  you 
see  a  profusion  of  light,  but  no  windows  ;  but,  by  standing  on  the 
other  side,  you  see  a  continual  succession  of  windows. 

In  addition  to  cotton  cloth,  there  are  factories  for  small  cotton- 
wares,  such  as  bobbins,  tapes,  &c.,  with  very  curious  machinery ; 
a  factory  for  the  Mackintosh  or  water-proof  cloth  ;  for  the  India- 
rubber  webbings,  &c.,  &c. ;  and  also  very  extensive  silk  manu- 
factories. These,  however,  are  on  the  decline.  They  hardly 
found  themselves  able  to  compete  with  the  Continent  in  this  trade, 
notwithstanding  their  machinery  is  far  superior  to  that  of  the 
French  or  Italians ;  owing,  I  suppose,  to  the  difference  in  the 
price  of  labour  and  to  the  difference  in  the  climate. 

Manchester  contains  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  in- 
habitants ;  or,  if  you  include  Salford,  which  joins  it,  and  does,  in 
fact,  form  a  part  of  it,  as  much  as  Southwark  is  a  part  of  London, 
you  have  about  two  hundred  thousand;  or,  if  you  include  the 
whole  of  what  is  called  Manchester  parish,  which  contains  a  num- 
ber of  neighbouring  villages,  you  have  nearly  or  quite  three  hun- 
dred thousand.  I  make  these  different  statements  to  show  how 
many  different  and  seemingly  contradictory  accounts  may  be  given 
of  the  population  of  many  of  the  English  towns,  growing  out  of 
the  difference  in  the  extent  comprehended  in  the  estimate. 

In  our  way  to  Sheffield  we  stopped  one  night  at  Stockport, 
with  our  excellent  friend  Reverend  F.  A.  West,  who  was  a  fel- 

*  The  late  disastrous  change  in  affairs  will  undoubtedly  put  a  great  check  upon  these 
arrangements. 


DERBYSHIRE    PEAK.  677 

low-lodger  with  us  at  Birmingham.  Stockport  is  another  appen- 
dage of  the  Manchester  trade,  six  miles  distant,  containing  about 
sixty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  an  abundance  of  factories,  some  of 
which  are  very  large.  One  of  them  has  in  one  room,  or  shed,  as 
they  call  them,  twelve  hundred  looms.  As  soon  as  one  is  outside 
of  Manchester,  where  he  can  look  off  at  a  distance,  his  first  im- 
pression is,  that  the  entire  environs  and  neighbouring  villages  are 
filled  with  monumental  towers,  running  up  towards  the  clouds 
from  one  to  three  hundred  feet ;  but,  as  a  black  column  of  smoke 
is  rolling  from  the  top  of  them,  he  soon  perceives  they  are  con- 
nected with  the  manufactories.  They  are  built  thus  high,  partly 
and  chiefly,  I  believe,  because  they  secure  in  this  way  a  better 
draught  and  a  more  perfect  combustion,  and  also  because  the 
smoke  is  carried  off  better  and  with  less  annoyance  in  the  higher 
regions  of  the  atmosphere.  There  is  also  some  pride  and  ambi- 
tion in  building  to  a  height  that  will  equal  or  outcap  their  neigh- 
bours. 

The  distance  to  Sheffield  from  Manchester  is  thirty-eight  or 
forty  miles.  Our  route  was  over  what  is  called  Derbyshire  Peak, 
and  through  the  town  of  Castleton.  In  this  route  we  had  some 
of  the  finest  scenery  that  England  can  boast  of.  The  mountains, 
like  all  other  mountains  of  Great  Britain,  are  without  trees,  and 
covered  with  heather  and  peat.  Over  their  bald  heads  the  road 
winds  its  course,  while  at  every  turn  the  romantic  vales,  and 
scattered  villages,  and  winding  streams  below,  present  new  and 
charming  aspects.  At  the  top  of  the  peak  we  passed  Mam  Tor, 
or  the  shivering  mountain,  which  receives  its  name  from  its  trem- 
bling occasionally.  The  secret  of  this  is,  the  mountain  is  com- 
posed of  shale  and  gritstone.  The  shale  is  decomposed  by  the 
frost  and  rain,  and,  as  the  mountain  is  nearly  perpendicular,  it 
falls  off  and  rolls  into  the  valley  below,  producing  a  great  noise, 
which  is  often  heard  at  some  distance.  Here  are  strong  indica- 
tions of  violent  convulsions  and  extraordinary  geological  changes. 
Marine  exuvia  are  found  here.  Mines  under  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  at  the  depth  of  one  hundred  feet  from  the  surface,  ex- 
hibit the  phenomenon  of  trees  found  entire  ;  and  the  whole  shows 
that  a  part  of  the  mountain  has  fallen  off  and  covered  the  valley 
below.  We  passed  through  a  chasm  called  the  Winnets,  a  con- 
traction, as  is  supposed,  of  Windgates,  because,  from  its  elevation 
57 


678  ENGEAND. 

and  the  peculiar  conformation  of  the  mountains,  the  wind  presses 
through  with  great  force. 

As  you  descend,  the  vale  of  Castleton  lies  before  you  ;  and  near 
the  bottom  is  the  lead  mine  called  Odin  (so  named  by  the  ancient 
Saxons,  who  also  wrought  this  mine).  It  is  a  rare  perpendicular 
vein,  the  top  of  which  is  in  the  shale,  but  the  ore  is  principally  in 
the  limestone.  It  is  worked  horizontally  more  than  a  mile.  This 
entire  region  is  peculiarly  rich  in  rare  minerals.  Here,  and  here 
only,  in  a  mountain  called  Win  Hill,  is  found  the  beautiful  fluor 
spar  called  blue  John.  We  found  at  a  shop  in  Castleton,  oppo- 
site to  the  inn  where  we  stopped,  numerous  superb  ornaments 
made  of  this  spar.  It  occurs  in  massy  crystallizations,  and  ex- 
hibits the  most  beautiful  and  rich  colours,  and  in  veins  that  seem 
wreathed  into  festoons  by  Nature  in  her  most  sportive  mood. 

Castleton  takes  its  name  from  Peveril  Castle,  which  stands  on 
a  hill  near  by.  These  hills  and  mountains  are  also  full  of  caverns, 
some  of  which  are  very  remarkable ;  the  most  so  is  that  called 
Peak's  Hole.  We  did  not  enter  it,  as  our  stay  would  not  permit. 
The  description  of  it  is,  that  the  entrance  is  by  a  lofty  arch  sev- 
enty feet  in  height  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  span,  and 
the  length  of  the  first  hall  is  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  After 
passing  a  narrow  aperture,  part  of  the  way  by  water,  another  hall 
is  reached,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length,  two  hundred  in 
width,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  in  height,  and  then  another, 
and  so  on,  to  the  distance,  in  the  whole,  of  two  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  from  the  entrance.  The  whole  is  through  a 
limestone  formation,  with  frequent  specimens  of  calcareous  spar. 
There  is  another  cavern,  called  the  DeviVs  Hall>  which  conducts 
you  six  hundred  feet  below  the  surface.  Our  time  and  circum- 
stances, however,  forbade  our  spending  time  to  examine  these  won- 
derful curiosities. 

Our  ride  through  the  vale  and  along  the  Derwent  Water  was 
delightful ;  again  we  mounted  a  high  range  of  hills  and  another 
bleak  aspect  of  moors.  We  passed  the  region,  too,  where  Mary 
Queen  of  Scots  was  for  a  long  time  confined,  and  a  part  of  the  do- 
mains of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  whose  almost  unbounded  wealth 
cannot  sustain  his  boundless  profligacy  ;  and,  arriving  at  Sheffield 
in  the  afternoon,  we  took  lodgings,  according  to  previous  arrange- 
ment, with  Mr.  Henry  Longden,  son  of  him  of  the  same  name 


THE    POET   MONTGOMERY.  679 

whose  memoirs  are  so  favourably  known  in  the  United  States. 
With  this  kind  and  hospitable  family  we  spent  several  days,  and 
through  their  introduction  we  made  many  agreeable  acquaintances 
in  this  interesting  town;  among  others,  Mr.  John  Holland,  the 
author  of  the  life  of  Rev.  John  Summerfield,  and  the  poet  James 
Montgomery,  Esq.  With  Mr.  Montgomery  we  were  much  pleased. 
We  spent  an  evening  with  him,  and  had  his  company  also  from 
Sheffield  to  Manchester.  Mr.  Montgomery's  age  is  about  sixty- 
three  or  sixty-five ;  under  the  common  size ;  his  hair  white  and 
head  bald  on  the  top ;  a  most  beautifully  turned  and  symmetrical 
forehead,  large  nose,  short  chin,  small  face,  and  a  large,  floating 
blue  eye,  worthy,  certainly,  of  his  poetic  fame.  He  was  very  so- 
ciable, and  expressed  himself  on  a  variety  of  topics  with  much  ease. 
He  said,  in  writing  poetry,  he  knew  of  no  inspiration  but  what  was 
gained  by  close  thought  and  hard  study.  His  "  Pelican  Island," 
he  said,  was  continually  floating  in  his  mind,  in  dim  and  undefined 
outlines,  for  two  or  three  years ;  but  he  could  get  no  satisfactory 
view  of  it,  until,  from  a  view  of  a  natural  landscape,  the  whole  burst 
upon  him  at  once  almost,  so  that  he  went  to  his  desk  "  arid  poured 
the  contents  of  liis  inkstand  upon  the  paper" 

Mr.  Montgomery  also  remarked  that  this  was  not  the  age  of 
poetry ;  that  poets  and  poetry  were  at  a  great  discount.  The  age 
was  too  political,  too  commercial,  too  business-like,  and  too  pros- 
perous for  poetry.*  He  seems,  however,  to  write  still,  at  least 
some  short  and  fugitive  pieces,  in  proof  that  neither  age  nor  the 
spirit  of  the  times  can  check  the  poetic  emotions  of  his  own  heart 
His  poems  have  lately  been  collected  and  published  in  three  vol- 
umes, a  copy  of  which  he  presented  to  our  university.  He  also 
presented  Mrs.  Fisk  with  a  little  volume  of  poems,  accompanied 
by  a  manuscript  copy  of  an  original  poem  by  himself. 

Mr.  Montgomery  stands  very  high  in  Sheffield,  and  deservedly 
so.  He  is  much  interested  in  the  missionary  cause,  in  schools, 
and  in  various  benevolent  institutions.  He  is  a  Moravian  in  liis 
church  relationship  ;  but,  as  there  is  no  Moravian  society  in  Shef- 
field, his  usual  practice  is  to  attend  the  established  church  once  a 
day,  and  once  at  the  Methodist  chapel.  For  many  years  Mr. 

*  Speaking  of  American  poets,  Mr.  Montgomery  said  he  thought  they  succeeded  best 
when  they  wrote  American  poetry ;  whea  it  was  inspired  by  the  scenes  and  events  of  their 
own  country. 


680  ENGLAND* 

Montgomery  was  editor  of  the  Sheffield  Iris,  a  paper  that  was  de- 
voted to  the  cause  of  liberty ;  and  so  free  was  the  editor  in  ex- 
pressing his  sentiments  of  the  ruling  powers  and  their  measures, 
that  he  was  twice  imprisoned  at  York,  and  fined  fifty  pounds. 
These  were  such  political  offences  as,  at  the  present,  are  as  current 
as  the  periodicals  of  the  day.  This  fact,  more  than  anything  else, 
shows  the  change  that  has  passed  over  the  British  nation  within 
the  present  century.  The  Iris  has  been  out  of  Mr.  Montgomery's 
hands  for  a  number  of  years,  and  has  degenerated  into  a  low  rad- 
ical paper ;  a  grade  of  politics  with  which  the  former  editor  has, 
I  believe,  no  sympathy.  Sheffield,  however,  as  well  as  Manches- 
ter and  Birmingham,  and  most  of  the  new  manufacturing  towns, 
is  decidedly  whig  in  its  politics. 

The  great  business  of  Sheffield,  as  the  world  knows,  is  cutlery. 
Plating,  also,  and  the  best,  perhaps,  in  the  world,  is  carried  on 
here,  as  also  the  casting  of  stoves,  grates,  and  hollow-ware.  SteeJ 
making  is  also  a  great  branch  of  business  here.  We  went 
through  various  establishments  in  these  different  departments  of 
business. 

In  the  manufacture  of  steel  there  are  three  processes  by  which 
the  different  kinds  are  produced.  When  iron  is  baked,  blistered 
steel  is  the  result ;  by  repeated  casting,  cast  steel ;  and  by  re- 
peated and  thorough  weldings  or  kneadings,  shear  steel.  Steel 
is  beginning  to  be  made  in  the  United  States,  as  also  many  other 
of  the  Sheffield  products ;  and,  by  means  of  the  tariff,  we  are  sup- 
planting many  of  these  products,  so  far  as  our  own  consumption 
is  concerned.  This  was  a  subject  of  complaint  among  the  produ- 
cers there,  and  one  gentleman  undertook  to  convince  me  that  our 
protecting  duties  were  all  wrong;  and,  if  they  must  be  perpetual, 
so  doubtless  they  are,  except  in  such  peculiar  products  as  may 
be  necessary  for  a  nation's  defence  and  support,  and  which  are  li- 
able to  be  cut  off  by  international  wars  ;  but  as  the  protection  of 
our  iron  products,  as  well  as  some  others,  is  proposed  only  to  give 
an  opportunity  to  call  out  and  make  fair  proof  of  the  resources  of 
our  country,  I  did  not  feel  all  the  force  of  his  arguments,  espe- 
cially as  I  could  not  but  think  they  all  had  in  them  a  large  mix- 
ture of  self-interest. 

Mr.  Rodgers's  knife,  razor,  &c.,  manufactory  was  one  of  the 
greatest  interest  that  I  visited.     It  was  the  name  I  used  to  read 


SHEFFIELD   MANUFACTURES.  681 

Upon  my  penknife  in  my  boyhood,  and  this  was  the  establishment 
where  it  was  made.  The  reputation  of  the  house  is  sustained,  I 
believe,  and  their  trade  is  great.  In  their  showroom  is  a  most 
splendid  display  of  wares  and  toys.  Among  the  latter  is  a  fac- 
simile of  a  knife  presented  to  the  king,  having  two  hundred  blades 
and  instruments  of  various  kinds  attached  to  one  handle.  Another 
knife,  not  bigger  than  a  pheasant's  egg,  had  seventy-five  blades. 
There  are  a  great  many  Lilliputian  toys,  one  of  which,  a  pair  of 
scissors,  Mrs.  Fisk  had  presented  to  her,  about  half  an  inch  in 
length.  In  short,  if  any  one  wishes  to  see  the  perfection  of  art, 
let  him  visit  this  shop.  We  followed  through  the  various  rooms, 
from  the  first  rude  block  to  the  polished  knife ;  the  changes  are 
numerous. 

Many  of  the  workmen  in  the  Sheffield  business  are  very  dis- 
solute in  these  times  of  prosperity ;  they  work  only  about  half 
of  the  time,  and,  by  means  of  the  "  trades'  unions"  and  combina- 
tions, they  control  their  masters  and  fix  their  own  wages.  This 
warfare  between  the  employers  and  the  employed  is  a  most  un- 
happy one  to  all  parties.  If  the  master  does  not  submit,  he  is 
forsaken  by  his  hands,  and  his  contracts  must  fail.  If  the  labour- 
ers do  not  submit,  they  are  punished  by  their  fellows  with  perse- 
cution and  personal  violence  ;  and  all  this,  in  most  cases,  that  they 
may  have  the  more  time  and  the  more  money  for  idleness  and 
rioting.  The  present  is  their  harvest;  a  change  of  times  will 
leave  them  at  the  mercy  of  their  masters,  and  the  result  may  be 
readily  foreseen. 

The  grinders  are  a  rough  as  well  as  a  short-lived  race,  rarely 
exceeding  the  age  of  thirty-five  years.  This  was  stated  especially 
of  a  class  of  grinders  who  occupy  successively  positions  on  a 
stream  of  water  a  little  out  of  town.  An  invention  has  been  made 
to  protect  them  against  inhaling  the  grit  that  is  supposed  to  shorten 
their  days ;  but  they  said  among  themselves,  in  this  way  the  bu- 
siness will  be  overstocked  with  hands,  and  will,  of  course,  com- 
mand less  wages ;  with  the  motto,  therefore,  "  a  short  life  and  a 
merry  one,"  they  discarded  the  aid,  work  on,  and  die  prematurely 
to  keep  the  business  good  ! 

Sheffield  is  situated  in  a  valley,  and  the  site  itself  is  quite  un- 
even ;  this  inequality,  however,  adds  greatly  to  the  interest  of  the 

4R 


682  ENGLAND. 

town,  and  the  scenery  around  is  very  fine.  It  has  a  population  of 
about  sixty  thousand. 

In  Sheffield  I  found  many  warm-hearted  and  devout  Christians ; 
indeed,  I  think  I  met  with  a  greater  number  of  truly  fervent  and 
deeply  devoted  Christians  here  than  in  any  other  place  I  visited  in 
England.  No  Methodist  in  Sheffield  asked  me  whether  I  thought 
religious  revivals  advantageous  to  the  cause  of  Christianity. 
With  these  they  are  very  familiar,  and  to  them  the  church  owes 
much  of  her  prosperity. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  societies  of  the  old  connexion,  the 
Kilhamites,  or  "  New  Connexion,"  have  several  chapels,  and  so 
also  have  the  "  Primitive  Methodists,"  so  called ;  so  that,  taking 
the  whole,  there  is  probably  a  greater  influence  in  favour  of  the 
general  doctrines  and  principles  of  the  Wesleyans  in  Sheffield, 
according  to  the  population,  than  in  most  towns  of  the  kingdom. 

A  proprietory  school  is  about  to  be  established  here  of  a  high 
character,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Methodists,  for  the  purposes 
of  general  education ;  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the  connexion,  with 
the  exception  of  those  for  the  ministers'  children  already  noticed. 
Should  these  schools  become  common  in  Great  Britain,  and  should 
they  add  to  these  a  grand  central  collegiate  institution,  it  would 
do  more  towards  establishing  their  societies  and  keeping  up  their 
characteristic  influence  as  a  denomination  than  any  other  step  they 
can  now  take. 

We  were  nearly  a  weeK  in  Sheffield,  and  saw  much  that  I  can- 
not describe ;  for  I  find  I  am  swelling  my  volume  beyond  the 
limits  of  modern  journals  ;  and,  as  there  is  a  fashion  in  all  things, 
if  I  am  unfashionably  long,  I  shall  be  counted  dull  and  uninter- 
esting for  this  if  for  no  other  cause. 

We  returned  to  Manchester  by  a  new  route,  over  another  sec- 
tion of  the  heights  and  moors,  which  was  quite  interesting,  although 
not  equal  to  the  "  Peak."  During  a  few  more  days  of  delay  at 
Manchester,  I  had  an  opportunity  of  attending  several  missionary 
meetings,  this  being  the  time  for  their  annual  visitation  by  the 
deputations  appointed  by  Conference.  These  missionary  efforts 
are  generally  introduced  by  a  sermon  ;  then,  in  the  week  following, 
a  platform  meeting  is  got  up,  with  a  number  of  addresses,  and  fre- 
quently this  is  followed  up  by  a  missionary  tea.  In  this  way  the 
public  feeling  is  inspired  in  behalf  of  the  cause,  the  fruits  of  which 


ROUTE   FROM   MANCHESTER   Tp   LIVERPOOL.  683 

are  received,  not  merely  in  the  public  collections  at  the  time,  but 
in  the  silent  streams  that  are  flowing  in  through  the  year  by  means 
of  the  collectors,  who  go  about  and  call  on  the  individuals  from 
whom  they  expect  to  receive  aid,  and  by  means  of  private  dona 
tions,  yearly  subscriptions,  &c. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  October  we  bade  farewell  to  our  friends  at 
Manchester,  and  started  for  Liverpool,  which  we  reached  in  two 
hours  ;  passed  in  our  way  a  natural  curiosity  in  the  form  of  a  large 
bog,  the  largest  we  had  seen,  called  Chat  Moss.  It  is  five  miles 
wide  and  six  long,  and  it  is  said  to  be  thirty  feet  deep,  and  is  very 
wet  and  spongy.  The  railroad  passes  through  the  centre  of  it. 

We  passed  also  on  the  route  the  little  borough  of  Newton, 
which,  before  the  Reform  Bill,  sent  two  members  to  parliament, 
although  there  did  not  appear  to  be  half  a  dozen  houses  in  the 
place,  while  the  large  town  of  Manchester  had  none.  With  such 
facts  respecting  the  old  representation,  is  it  not  strange  that  there 
should  have  been  a  single  opposer  to  the  Reform  Bill  ? 

We  found  the  tunnel  of  the  railroad,  as  we  enter  Liverpool, 
completed  ;  by  which  we  were  conducted  into  the  very  heart  of 
the  town  by  passing  two  miles  underneath  the  surface.  In  this 
way  all  annoyance  to  the  town  is  avoided ;  and,  what  is  of  more 
consequence  in  the  present  case,  a  hill  is  perforated.  A  most 
beautiful  architectural  front  has  been  erected  at  the  termination  of 
the  railroad,  and  convenient  depots  prepared. 

We  took  lodgings  at  our  old  friend's,  Thomas  Sands,  Esq. 
Here  we  spent  a  few  days  in  preparing  for  our  departure,  during 
which  a  Sabbath  intervened,  and  I  preached  my  last  sermon  in  Eng- 
land. And  it  may  be  in  place  here  to  remark,  that,  for  the  same 
length  of  time,  I  have  never  preached  with  so  little  satisfaction 
to  myself  as  during  my  stay  in  England.  This  I  attribute  ma'inly 
to  two  causes.  My  health  in  England  has  been  generally  bad ; 
the  climate,  however  healthy  it  may  be  to  others,  is  wretchedly 
bad  for  me.  The  humidity  of  the  atmosphere,  combined  with 
the  abundant  smoke,  seems  to  be  anything  but  salutary  for  weak 
lungs.  Another  cause  is  the  almost  entire  want  of  ventilation  in 
their  chapels.  They  are  very  much  afraid  of  the  air,  even  in  the 
warmest  of  the  weather.  Many  of  the  chapels  are  so  constructed, 
in  fact,  that  they  cannot  be  ventilated  except  by  a  contrivance 
ihey  have  of  raising  one>  or,  at  the  farthest,  two  squares  in  a  win- 


684  ENGLAND. 

dow ,  and  where  they  might  ventilate  they  take  no  pains  to  do 
it.  The  consequence  is,  as  might  be  expected,  with  crowded 
congregrations  a  man  with  weak  lungs  can  do  but  little.  The 
physical  effort  to  speak  so  as  to  be  heard  reacts  upon  the  mind, 
and  language  and  ideas  fail  with  the  voice. 

The  construction  of  their  houses,  also,  is  a  violation  of  all  the 
approved  principles  of  acoustics.  The  pulpit  is  a  sentry-box,  just 
about  big  enough  to  bury  one  in  a  perpendicular  posture  up  to  the 
middle  ;  and  is  elevated  high  in  air,  with  the  altar,  and  frequently 
some  "  free  sittings"  in  the  rear ;  so  that  it  is  in  advance  from  the 
end  of  the  chapel  about  one  fourth  of  the  distance  towards  the  op- 
posite end.  This  position,  with  a  high  ceiling  to  help  on  the  em- 
barrassment, makes  the  whole  an  awkward  and  a  heavy  business. 
The  truth  is,  they  have  been  so  accustomed  on  the  eastern  conti- 
nent to  houses  of  worship  constructed  for  anything  rather  than 
public  speaking,  that  even  when  they  build  for  public  speaking 
their  old  habits  and  acquired  tastes  perpetuate  the  error.  Happily 
for  us  in  the  United  States,  we  have  broken  away  from  this  error, 
however  many  new  ones  we  may  have  acquired. 

The  Methodist  chapels  are,  in  the  great  whole,  rented  in  slips 
to  families,  contrary  to  the  practice  in  the  greater  portion  of  the 
Methodist  churches  in  the  United  States  ;  all  have,  however,  more 
or  less  of  free  sittings,  and,  in  some  instances,  these  free  sittings 
are  fenced  out  by  a  low  partition  from  the  other  parts  of  the  house, 
so  that  the  occupants  do  not  go  in  and  out  at  the  same  door  with 
the  others ;  nor  can  they  approach  the  altar  without  passing  out 
and  coming  in  another  way  ;  yet  the  English  have  no  prejudice 
of  caste  !  All  this  sin  lies  at  the  door  of  Americans  !  and  some 
in  England  are  schooling  us  most  stoutly  for  our  wicked  distinc- 
tions !  If  we  have  sins,  we  are  certainly  none  the  less  guilty  be- 
cause our  neighbours  have  sins  also ;  but  still  there  might  be  some 
advantage  in  having  reprovers  to  whom  the  sentiment,"  Physician, 
heal  thyself;"  or  that  other,  "  First  cast  the  beam  out  of  thine  own 
eye,  and  then  thou  shalt  see  clearly  to  cast  the  mote  out  of  thy 
brother's  eye,"  did  not  apply  with  so  much  emphasis. 

The  church  service  is  read  in  a  great  many  of  the  Methodist 
chapels  in  the  principal  places  of  England  and  Ireland.  It  every- 
where>  however,  seems  to  be  an  appendage  that  does  not  belong 
to  the  system,  and  sits  awkwardly  upon  it ;  it  is  David  in  Saul's 


REV.  MR.  M'NEAL.  685 

armour.  By  saying  this  I  mean  nothing  disrespectful  of  the 
church  service.  This  is  undoubtedly  good,  although  the  stereo- 
typed praises  that  are  heaped  upon  it,  which  seem  to  forbid  any 
complaint  of  any  part  of  this  venerable  liturgy,  is  no  part  of  my 
creed.  It  undoubtedly  might  be  improved  in  many  parts,  and  the 
Wesleyans  do  abridge  it ;  but  a  greater  improvement,  after  all, 
would  be  for  them  to  omit  it  altogether.  There  is  not  an  agree- 
ment among  them  in  reference  to  it;  and  I  noticed,  in  those 
churches  where  the  service  was  read,  the  attendance  was  limited 
compared  with  the  congregation  that  got  in  by  the  time  the  extem- 
pore services  commenced.  It  seems  to  be  an  attempt  to  incorpo- 
rate partially  upon  a  system  something  redundant  and  foreign. 

The  last  Sabbath  evening  before  leaving  Liverpool  I  called  at 
the  church  of  Rev.  Mr.  M'Neal,  a  church  clergyman,  whose  zeal, 
evangelical  sentiments,  and  reputed  popular  talents  as  a  preacher 
had  given  him  much  celebrity.  We  found  the  house  thronged, 
and  could  only  get  a  standing  position  within  the  doors,  where  we 
stayed  long  enough  to  ascertain  that,  whatever  merit  may  be  at- 
tached to  some  of  Mr.  M'NeaPs  performances,  his  discourse  of 
that  evening  had  nothing  either  of  eloquence  or  logic  to  entitle  him 
to  the  character  of  a  great  preacher.  But  no  man  should  be  judged 
by  one  discourse.  It  appears,  however,  that  it  takes  much  less  tal- 
ents to  make  a  man  a  popular  preacher  in  the  established  church, 
if  he  only  adopt  a  warm  and  an  evangelical  mode  of  preaching,  than 
it  does  out  of  the  establishment.  This  shows  the  strong  feeling 
in  favour  of  the  national  church. 

Mr.  M'Neal  more  than  hinted  at  a  sentiment  that  is  getting 
quite  common  among  a  portion  of  those  clergymen  who  are  styled 
evangelical,  viz.,  the  doctrine  of  Chrisfs  personal  reign  upon  the 
earth.  This  is  supposed  to  be  connected  with  very  extraordinary 
judgments,  that  will  destroy  a  great  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth ;  so  that  the  triumphs  of  Christ's  kingdom  are  not  to  be 
the  triumphs  of  grace  so  much  as  the  victories  achieved  by  the  ex- 
ertion of  a  destructive  power,  which  shall  purify  the  earth  by  de- 
populating it ;  and  then  the  Saviour  is  to  erect  his  temporal  and 
secular  throne  in  the  midst  of  the  few  in  whom  the  Son  of  man, 
when  he  cometh,  shall  find  faith  on  the  earth. 

This  period  is  thought  to  be  very  near.     Many  expect  to  live 
to  see  it ;  and  one  clergyman  in  Bedfordshire,  I  was  told  whea 
58 


686  ENGLAND. 

there,  had  said  he  expected  to  walk  arm  in  arm  with  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  This  sentiment  gives  a  peculiar  cast  to  the  religious 
character  and  preaching  of  those  who  embrace  it.  One  of  the  bad 
effects  is,  that,  to  a  great  extent,  it  cuts  off  missionary  efforts  on 
the  part  of  its  advocates.  Why  should  they  engage  in  an  enter- 
prise to  convert  the  world  when  they  never  expect  the  world  to  be 
converted  ? 

Our  host  of  Manchester,  with  his  honoured  father,  the  president 
of  the  Conference,  came  down  to  Liverpool,  and  spent  the  last 
night  with  us  previous  to  our  embarking  for  America.  The  lat- 
ter, with  our  hostess  of  Liverpool  and  other  members  of  the  fam- 
ily, accompanied  us  to  the  ship,  and  showed  us  all  the  kind  atten- 
tion we  could  desire  at  our  departure.  A  mournful  pleasure  made 
up  the  feelings  of  that  morning.  It  was  a  matter  of  joy  that  we 
were  about  to  embark  for  our  much-loved  country  and  home,  but 
it  was  painful  to  part  from  friends  whose  faces  we  expected  to  see 
no  more ;  but  they  will  live  in  our  memory  and  in  our  affections. 

England  has  disappointed  me  in  some  respects,  and  yet  I  can 
hardly  tell  why.  Not  a  single  feature  had  I  imagined  which  I 
have  not  found,  except,  perhaps,  she  is  more  cold,  more  selfish, 
and  more  conceited  than  I  had  imagined ;  and  yet  she  is  warm, 
and  liberal,  and  of  great  moral  worth.  If  these  statements  are 
paradoxical,  I  cannot  help  it.  I  draw  the  character  as  it  appears. 
If  you  want  to  excite  a  whole  nation  for  some  real  or  imaginary 
wrong,  a  better  subject  than  England  cannot  be  found ;  and  yet, 
if  she  is  invited  to  take  the  stranger  by  the  hand,  the  motion  is  re- 
luctant, and  the  touch  is  cold  and  feeble.  She  has  heat,  but  it  re- 
quires strong  friction  to  call  it  out;  besides,  it  is  more  of  a  social 
than  individual  heat ;  her  combustibility  is  less  like  her  own  bitu- 
minous coal,  and  more  like  our  anthracite.  She  burns  best  in 
masses  and  in  a  strong  draught;  but,  when  once  ignited,  the  heat 
is  intense. 

I  speak  of  selfishness  and  liberality,  because  these  seem  to  me 
to  be  strangely  mixed  in  the  English  character.  Jf  the  inconve- 
nience and  labour  be  indirect,  and  the  proper  occasion  presents 
the  English  are  liberal,  they  are  munificent ;  but  if  the  labour  and 
sacrifice  be  direct  and  immediate,  they  will  not  be  bothered.  They 
do  noble  things  in  a  noble  way.  Of  course  I  speak  of  general 
character  and  national  tendencies.  There  are  individual  excep- 


PASSAGE    HOME.  687 

tions ;  and  vital  godliness,  with  other  influences,  greatly  modify 
these  national  tendencies.* 

The  foreigner  would  not  hesitate  to  accord  to  England  a  high 
rank ;  possibly  some  might  be  willing  to  say,  taking  her  all  in  all, 
the  highest  rank  of  moral  and  physical  worth ;  but  he  would 
choose  to  do  it  voluntarily,  without  prompting  or  demand  on  the 
part  of  her  who  is  to  be  commended.  It  vexes  him  that  she  claims 
it ;  that  she  has  found  out,  at  least,  all  her  own  excellences,  and 
prizes  them  quite  up  to  their  real  value,  and  demands  of  every 
stranger,  as  her  right,  that  he  should  sign  the  verdict.  And  it 
vexes  him  more  that,  while  she  blazons  her  own  excellences  upon 
her  crest,  and  publicly  advertises  them  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
she  will  not  own  her  faults ;  and  it  vexes  him  most  of  all,  that,  not 
content  with  her  own  fame,  she  tries  on  all  occasions  to  make  him 
feel  his  inferiority. 

But,  "  England,  with  all  thy  faults,  I  love"  and  honour  "  thee  still." 
Shores  of  Albion,  farewell !  Friends  of  England,  farewell !  We 
meet  no  more  till  we  meet  above. 

It  was  our  good  fortune  to  take  passage  in  our  old  and  tried  sea- 
boat,  the  Roscoe,  with  our  old  and  tried  commander,  Captain  De- 
lano. We  had  also  a  kind,  and,  on  the  whole,  very  pleasant  com- 
pany of  cabin  passengers.  Our  voyage,  as  the  return  voyages 
generally  are,  was  some  days  longer  than  our  passage  out,  extend- 
ing, from  wharf  to  wharf,  to  twenty-nine  days.  Our  seasickness, 
however,  was  not  so  excessive  ;  not  that  either  Mrs.  Fisk  or  my- 
self got  over  the  disease ;  I  was  as  sick  the  last  day  but  one  as  I 
had  been  at  any  period  of  the  voyage ;  but  there  were  intervals  of 
comfortable  days,  and  the  system  was  not  so  deranged  and  pros 
trated  as  in  our  outward-bound  voyage.  I  will  not,  however, 
dwell  on  this  subject' ;  it  is  over,  and  it  must  be  a  strong  call  to 
induce  me  to  try  it  again. 

As  my  journal  has  been  swelled  beyond  my  original  design,  I 
will  take  up  no  more  time  or  paper  with  reflections  and  comments, 
although  much  might  be  said  that,  perhaps,  under  other  circum- 

*  I  have  reason  to  acknowledge  English  and  Irish  liberality,  as  they  gave  me  about 
two  thousand  dollars  for  our  university,  including  a  donation  of  valuable  books  from  the 
Conference  worth  one  hundred  pounds  sterling.  To  this  I  ought  to  add  a  beautiful 
collection  of  plants  and  minerals  by  Rev.  H.  Fish,  sent  since  I  left,  and  worth,  perhaps, 
one  hundred  pounds  sterling. 


688  CONCLUDING    REMARKS. 

stances,  would  not  be  without  its  interest.  I  cannot  close,  how 
ever,  without  recording  our  acknowledgments  to  that  watchful 
and  protecting  Providence  which  has  guarded  us,  in  the  most  per- 
fect safety  and  exemption  from  injury,  or  insult,  or  pecuniary  loss 
during  a  tour  of  about  sixteen  thousand  miles,  performed  in  the 
course  of  fifteen  months,  through  some  fifteen  or  twenty  different 
sovereignties,  whose  inhabitants  speak  a  great  variety  of  different 
languages  and  dialects,  and  of  whose  laws  and  customs  we  were 
in  many  instances  ignorant.  Scarcely  a  casualty  has  befallen  us 
worth  recording ;  little  or  no  property  stolen ;  nothing  of  one  dol- 
lar's value  left  by  forgetfulness.  In  short,  with  the  exception  of 
the  cases  of  sickness  already  mentioned,  our  entire  journey  has 
been  prosperous.  Wearied  we  have  often  been,  from  the  reason, 
chiefly,  that  we  had  too  much  to  accomplish  in  a  given  time , 
perplexed  we  have  often  been,  as  who  would  expect  exemption 
from  little  vexations  under  such  circumstances.  Happily,  how- 
ever, for  man,  the  fatigue  and  the  vexations  pass  away  almost  with 
the  occasion,  or  are  but  dimly  seen  in  the  retrospective  distance, 
while  the  prominent  objects  of  observation  and  interest  brighten 
in  the  sunshine  of  memory,  and  glow  in  increased  beauty  in  the 
kindlings  of  an  untiredand  vivid  imagination.  With  us,  the  wea- 
riness is  gone,  the  perplexities  are  over,  but  the  scenes  are  not 
faded,  the  events  have  not  lost  their  interest.  The  welcome  of 
friends,  their  kind  inquiries,  the  oft-repeated  question  and  answer, 
the  sweets  of  home,  the  kindlings  of  patriotism  which  one  expe- 
riences when,  returning  from  foreign  travel,  he  contrasts  the  cher- 
ished institutions  of  his  own  country  with  many  he  has  visited 
abroad,  all  serve  to  prolong  the  vision  and  heighten  the  interest. 
One  only  drawback  in  this  regard  has  fallen  to  my  lot,  and  that 
is  the  preparation  of  this  volume  for  the  press.  But  this,  too,  is 
now  finished,  and  its  fate  is  committed  to  the  judgment  of  the  pub- 
lic. If  that  judgment  prove  favourable,  the  toil  and  the  perplexity 
of  the  composition  will  also  be  forgotten. 


THE   END. 


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